"The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks" by Rebecca Skloot

Synopsis:
Henrietta Lacks, as HeLa, is known to present-day scientists for her cells from cervical cancer. She was a poor Southern tobacco farmer who worked the same land as her slave ancestors, yet her cells were taken without her knowledge and still live decades after her death. Cells descended from her may weigh more than 50M metric tons.

HeLa cells were vital for developing the polio vaccine; uncovered secrets of cancer, viruses, and the atom bomb's effects; helped lead to important advances like in vitro fertilization, cloning, and gene mapping; and have been bought and sold by the billions. Yet Henrietta Lacks was buried in an unmarked grave.

The journey starts in the "colored" ward of Johns Hopkins Hospital in the 1950s, her small, dying hometown of Clover, Virginia -- wooden slave quarters, faith healings, and voodoo. Today are stark white laboratories with freezers full of HeLa cells, East Baltimore children and grandchildren live in obscurity, see no profits, and feel violated. The dark history of experimentation on African Americans helped lead to the birth of bioethics, and legal battles over whether we control the stuff we are made of.

My review:
Due to my reading slump, it actually took me months to finish reading this book.  I started it at the end of September 2013 and I just finished it this week.  It was an interesting read and I did enjoy it very much.  Despite the complex science involved in biochemistry and genetics, the writing is done in such a way that you could understand it.  The main focus of the book is the search for the identity of HeLa and the personal history of Henrietta Lacks and her family.  It's a mix of biography and science history book with more emphasis on the personal story.  The writing style felt like the author were talking to you rather than trying to teach you something.  I liked how the topic of race relations in general but most specifically regarding Lacks and her progeny was interwoven with the history of biochemistry and genetics.  It was an enjoyable read and I'm glad I finally finished it.

Read on,
Paula

Rereading

Sadly, I am still suffering from a reading slump.  That being said, I am still reading.  I have been rereading books I've already read.  And I have been dipping in and out of a variety of non-fiction books. I think part of the reason for my book slump is an underlying fear of reading a book that I don't like.  I have so many books on my TBR that I worry that anything I pick to read won't appeal to me and I won't like it but that it's just a matter of timing.  Most of my reading is done by whim based on how I'm feeling.  And since there is so much change in my personal life, I am having difficulty finding previously unread books that interest me enough to actually read them.  But I long for the days when I can get lost in a book that I love.  I miss them very much.

Read on,
Paula

Rereading children's books

Listening to The Readers podcast episode about children's classics reminded me of when I reread the first book in the Nancy Drew series (The Secret of the Old Clock) last year.  I had bought a reprinted edition a few years ago and had never gotten around to reading it.  I LOVED the Nancy Drew series when I was a girl.  I loved that it was a smart young woman who solved mysteries.  I loved the stories that featured hidden passageways.  I had such fond memories of the series.

And then I reread the first book in the series.  Bad idea.  As an adult, the book just didn't stand up to my childhood fascination.  The plot was unrealistic.  I found it so different from my remembered expectations and so unpalatable to my adult mind that I couldn't even finish it.  And that's part of what the episode of The Readers is about: how rereading childhood favourites can be detrimental to your love of the books.  I have also found this to be so with beloved childhood television shows.  They just don't stand up to the test of adulthood.  And I so wish that were not the case.

Read on,
Paula

Getting out of my reading slump *fingers crossed*

Listening to book-related podcasts is always good for boosting my mood.  I almost always find a title that either I want to read or I think patrons of the libraries I work at would be interested in.  My current reading slump included not listening to book podcasts.  Yesterday I listened to 13 back episodes of Books on the Nightstand, two episodes of The Readers, and a few of Dear Book Nerd and BookRiot.  And they have fired up my interest in reading again.  One of the BOTNS episodes talks about book slumps and I feel better now.  Until I heard that episode, I felt guilty and uncomfortable about being in a book slump.  Especially because I work in two libraries and therefore surrounded by twice as much reading material.  And somehow, I forgot about the iBooks app on my iPhone that I have loaded with 68 books.  And then there is still my home library with books I haven't read yet.  I have plenty of material to read.  The problem is that where I used to automatically pick up my book and read for hours, I have not been doing that for a while.  I still want to read, I just haven't been.  But hopefully that won't be for long.

Read on,
Paula

What could be worse than not reading?

It took me a month and a half to read "Invisible Chains: Canada's Underground World of Human Trafficking" by Benjamin Perrin because I was only reading it on my hour-long meal breaks at work.  Currently at home I have three titles on the go and another one waiting to be started.  They, too, are taking me so long to read because I am distracted by other things going on in my life.  I still love reading...I just don't do it as often as I used to.  Tonight I actually broke down and cut my 2014 Goodreads Reading Challenge in half just because I'm not sure this current trend will change.  We'll see how it goes.  I miss being such a prolific reader though.  I see others reading and wonder where their imagination has taken them.  I am still finding titles of interest since that is a by-product of working in libraries.  I find I am reading predominantly non-fiction these days though.

Read on,
Paula

BTT: Conditioning

Conditioning (from Booking Through Thursday)

Are you a spine breaker? Or a dog-earer? Do you expect to keep your books in pristine condition even after you have read them? Does watching other readers bend the cover all the way round make you flinch or squeal in pain?

I prefer my books to stay in pristine a condition as possible.  I have learned this the hard way.  I keep contemplating replacing my copies of the Harry Potter books because I made the horrible mistake of highlighting parts I thought foreshadowed events to come and wrote notes in the margins.  It HORRIFIES me to see it now.    I regret it so much.

Any curling of the paperback covers during reading will eventually be pressed out by being shelved generally tightly in my home library.

I am definitely not a dog-earer.  On the rare chance that I do not have a bookmark with me, I will use anything (a scrap of paper, kleenex, paper towel, any flat object) to use as a bookmark.  In fact, I am so not a dog-earer that I will un-dog-ear any dog-ears I find in books I'm reading.

Granted, this is how I feel about my books and this is my opinion.  But I still cringe when I see the way other people treat books.  Working in a library makes this a common occurrence when you see people return books ruined by food, drink, or other unacceptable substance and think that the book is perfectly fine for other people to read.  *shudder*

Read on,

Paula

Cookbook expectations

I borrowed "Gordon Ramsay's World Kitchen" by Gordon Ramsay and "Jamie Oliver's Food Escapes" by Jamie Oliver recently.  I have only ever seen a few episodes of each of their television shows and have formed an opinion of the men based on those shows.  So when I picked up these books, I was expecting Ramsay's to be pretentious and convoluted and Oliver's to use common ingredients.  Wow, was I wrong!  In fact, it was the opposite.

Jamie Oliver's book is more of a travelogue with food.  It focuses on the stories and photos of his trips.  The recipes stay true to the country's food culture and it was nice to read but I found no recipes I was interested in trying.  The recipes called for ingredients that I couldn't find because I live in a small town, not in London or the appropriate country.

Gordon Ramsay's book was more to my tastes since I found a few recipes I would like to try.  There was a French recipe for Brandade with Garlic Toast that sounded complex but is really just cooked fish shredded and mixed into mashed potatoes.  Perhaps it is the nature of cookbooks to seem more complex than it really is just because of the step-by-step process that is required.

I guess you could say that I have learned not to judge a cookbook based on the chef's personality.

Read on,
Paula

BTT: Book Meme

Book Meme (from Booking Through Thursday)

1. What was the last book you bought?  "The Healthy Gluten-Free Lifestyle" by Tammy Credicott

2. Name a book you have read MORE than once  "The Blue Castle" by L.M. Montgomery

3. Has a book ever fundamentally changed the way you see life? If yes, what was it?  "Quirkyalone" by Sasha Cagen didn't change the way I see life but it did teach me that there are other people in the world like me

4. How do you choose a book? (eg. by cover design and summary, recommendations or reviews)  By plot summary

5. Do you prefer Fiction or Non-Fiction?  Although fiction is more prominent, I prefer to read both

6. What’s more important in a novel – beautiful writing or a gripping plot?  I prefer both but plot in general (not necessarily gripping) is more important to me.

7. Most loved/memorable character (character/book)  Corinna Chapman from Kerry Greenwood's Corinna Chapman series

8. Which book or books can be found on your nightstand at the moment?  "Dancing With Mr. Darcy" compiled by Sarah Waters, "Red Plaid Shirt" by Diane Schoemperlen, "Soulspace" by Xorin Balbes, "Leave Me Alone, I'm Reading" by Maureen Corrigan, and "Reading In Bed" edited by Steven Gilbar

9. What was the last book you read, and when was it?  I finished "August Frost" by Monique Roffey on 26Dec13

10. Have you ever given up on a book half way in?  Even though I love non-fiction books about the science of music, I just could not finish "Musicophilia" by Oliver Sacks

Read on,
Paula

BTT: Villainy; Autumn reading

Villainy (from Booking Through Thursday)

Terrorists aren’t just movie villains any more. Do real-world catastrophes such as 9/11 (and the bombs in Madrid, and the ones in London, and the war in Darfur, and … really, all the human-driven, mass loss-of-life events) affect what you choose to read?  And, does the reality of that kind of heartless, vicious attack–which happen on smaller scales ALL the time–change the way you feel about villains in the books you read? Are they scarier? Or more two-dimensional and cookie-cutter in the face of the things you see on the news?

I do not read anything that involves terrorism, war, crime, or any kind of scary topics as a general rule.  Scary topics freak me out because of my active imagination and I prefer not to be uncomfortable.  This is why I don't read crime novels and murder mysteries because of the typical amount of gory detail they contain.
  

Autumn Reading (from Booking Through Thursday)

Does the changing season change your reading habits? Less time? More? Are you just in the mood for different kinds of books than you were over the summer?

For the most part, my reading habits don't change from season to season.  The only thing that changes is where I read: I read outside more during warm weather.  I try to read more winter/holiday-themed books during the winter/holiday season.  Aside from that, I generally continue to read the same amount and read by whim.

Read on,
Paula

Year-end book review 2013

1.  Best book(s) I read in 2013: "Dust and Shadow" by Lyndsay Faye, "August Frost" by Monique Roffey, "Up and Down" by Terry Fallis, and "Half The Sky: Turning Oppression Into Opportunity For Women Worldwide" by Nicholas Kristoff and Sheryl WuDunn.

2.  Most disappointing book of 2013: I would say "Vampires in the Lemon Grove" by Karen Russell except that it was so disappointing that I didn't finish it.  Of the ones I actually finished, it would be "The Museum's Secret" by Henry Chancellor.

3.  Most surprising (in a good way!) book of 2013: "The Rosie Project" by Graeme Simsion...I was surprised at how funny this book was.

4.  Books I recommended most to people in 2013: "Up and Down" by Terry Fallis

5.  Best series I discovered in 2013: The Coldwater Springs series by Jenn Roseton

6.  Favourite new author(s) of 2013: Jenn Roseton

7.  Most thrilling, unputdownable book of 2013: "Dust and Shadow" by Lyndsay Faye

8.  Book I most anticipated in 2013: "Tempest Reborn" by Nicole Peeler

9.  Favourite cover of a book I read in 2013: 

10. Most memorable character in 2013: It's a tie between August Frost ("August Frost") and Don Tillman ("The Rosie Project")

11. Most beautifully written book of 2013: "The Snow Child" by Eowyn Ivey

12. Best book that was out of my comfort zone or was a new genre for me in 2013: "Half The Sky: Turning Oppression Into Opportunity For Women Worldwide" by Nicholas Kristoff and Sheryl WuDunn

13. Book that had the greatest impact on me in 2013: "The Unapologetic Fat Girl's Guide to Exercise and Other Incendiary Acts" by Hanne Blank

14. Book I can't believe I waited until 2013 to FINALLY read: "To Kill A Mockingbird" by Harper Lee

15. Book I read in 2013 that would most likely be reread in 2014: "August Frost" by Monique Roffey

16. Book that had a scene in it that had me reeling and dying to talk to someone about it? (A WTF moment, an epic revelation, a steamy kiss, etc.  No spoilers!): "Dust and Shadow" by Lyndsay Faye


Some fun stats:
Books completed: 127
Books by male authors: 34
Books by female authors: 93
Fiction: 95
Non-fiction: 32
Children's books: 11
YA books: 3
E-books: 57
Longest book title:
Longest book: "A Tree Grows In Brooklyn" by Betty Smith
Big fat books (more than 500 pages): None, my longest book was 496 pages long.
Shortest book: any one of the BBW romance ebooks I read
Re-reads: 2

Although I didn't fully accomplish my Goodreads Reading Challenge, 127 out of 150 isn't bad (that's 10.5 books a month).  Even though I don't like that I couldn't finish it and thought I wouldn't do the challenge again this year, I've decided to put my challenge goal lower than last year.  Knowing that I have intentions to do more adventurous stuff outside of reading, I think 100 could legitimately be a challenge.  I got an iPhone in September and so I now have the Kindle and iBooks apps to take advantage of any unplanned reading time (like waiting for cabs to arrive) and it also gives me access to more e-books than before.  Having whittled down my TBR, I have high hopes for my 2014 reading.  I hope 2014 brings you much great reading too!

Read on,
Paula