Until I find a book that I am interested in reading, I have decided to read into a self-help book called Find Your Purpose, Change Your Life.  It is a book by Carol Adrienne that helps you understand what your purpose is in life, how to accept that purpose, and then how to obtain your purpose.  I find this book interesting because many people, including myself, go through life thinking that what they are doing at the moment is what they are suppose to be doing for the rest of their life.  Mothers think that their job is to be a mother their whole life, homemakers think that tending to the home is all they are meant for and so on.  Most people are content with what they are doing because they have not challenged their full potential.

The first chapter of the book is almost like a life checklist or test in that you get honest with yourself and find out what is really important in your life; what makes you wake up in the morning and seek life.  There is a quote in the beginning of the second half that states "Our relationship to time is what it is because we lie to ourselves about what we are and what we can do and we hide from ourselves what we are meant to be and what we are meant to serve. -Jacob Needleman."

If you look to much into this statement it can be a tongue twister but if you take it for what it is, the statement is actually really helpful.  To me this statement pushes me to always be honest with myself in terms of what makes me happy and it also pushes me to keep going in school as I know that I was meant to help students achieve greatness. 

I finished The Secret Life of Bees today, and am so glad that I decided to read it.  At the end of the story Lilly comes face to face with everything she had runaway from.  Lilly went through a morning stage where she felt lost, angry, and confused over her mother leaving her with her father and also with the idea that she had been the one who had accidentally killed her.

Just as Lilly is getting over her morning and gets back into living, T-Ray (Lilly's Father) shows up and demands that she come home.  T-Ray hits her and basically is physically forcing her to go with him when the Daughters of Mary surrounded her with support.  She ended up staying with August and being raised as one of their own. 

Throughout the story I could almost feel the heat of South Carolina and I can picture the pink house and bees to be a real place.  I have already said this once but will say it again, the author did such an amazing job building the story with her creative use of language.  When you are reading this book you can actually feel the words.  I am still trying to find my next book but I am looking to read more of her novels.


Reading Log: June 3-9
Monday- 25 mins
Thursday- 15 mins
Friday- 20 mins
Saturday-45 mins

I have almost finished The Secret Life of Bees and I am almost sad that it is over.  What a great author and such a beautiful yet sad story line.  The language within the book is so vivid that I can almost feel the words as I read them.  I never thought that I could say that as I was never a reader but I have thoroughly enjoyed this book.

Towards the end of the book there is so much that goes on, it is hard for me to even put it all in words.  Zach, a young boy who helps on the bee farm, is imprisoned unjustly.  The news travels to May and it drives her to suicide.  After the morning of May the family begins preparing for a feast of worship to celebrate their "religion" and saint, Our Lady in Chains (Mary, or a form of).  As the worship begins Lilly's secret of being a runaway unravels but to her surprise the members of the house, August, May, & June, already knew who she was.

The truth of her identity led to August telling Lilly about her mother and the truth of her life.  The information about her mother is heartbreaking and it turns out that she did leave Lilly behind as a baby.  This news throws Lilly into anger, which is an emotion that is carried on throughout the story.  I left out with Lilly and August going through a hatbox of her mothers items.