"The Help" by Kathryn Stockett

I just finished reading "The Help" by Kathryn Stockett and loved it!  It is the first book published by this author and I love the way she writes.  I heard that this is going to be made into a movie very soon and it is easy to see why.  

This book takes place in the early 1960's and was written as if from the point of view of three different women, one, Miss Skeeter, is a white woman who feels more out of place with the friends she grew up with that she would in a completely new place, two, Aibileen, a black woman who has accepted what she thinks is her place in life and that she is growing old and just can't change things and three, Minny, a younger black woman who thinks that change must be coming for the south.  "The Help" is set in the times of segregation when Martin Luther King, Jr. goes on his famous march and change is definitely taking place throughout the country.
I loved how well I got to know the three main characters and to see how close they grew and how many of the people in Jackson, Mississippi had intertwining stories in ways you didn't necessarily see coming.  Of course, since I know that this is going to be made into a movie I tried to picture who I thought would be perfect for the characters, here's what I think:

Miss Skeeter - Maggie Gyllenhaal
Aibileen - Oprah Winfrey
Minny - Monique
Leroy - Cuba Gooding, Jr.
Constantine - Holly Berry
Elizabeth Leefolt - Kirsten Dunst
Hilly Holbrook - Anna Kendrick
Stuart Witworth - Ryan Phillippe
Celia Foote - Scarlet Johannsen

Read it for yourself and see what you think!  It's a fast book and you won't want to put it down.