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I know it's been mentioned in this thread, but I just finished "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks" by Rebecca Skloot. I really enjoyed this book - I admit that part of the intrigue was the fact that I live in the Baltimore area and know Turners Station as well as the neighborhood around Johns Hopkins and the other areas mentioned in the book. The people in the book seemed very familiar to me; I may not have known them personally but I know people very much like them. In fact, in discussing the book with my sister (who taught in the Baltimore County Public School System) I learned that one of Henrietta's grandsons had been one of her students.
It amazed me that I had never heard about HeLa cells or any of this before. I had never heard the "urban legends" surrounding Johns Hopkins years ago and the fear in the community that the scientists there would scour the streets to "snatch up" African-American children to experiment on them. Fascinating...and I felt that the author handled the subject very well in contrasting the science with the real live people involved. She didn't idealize or demonize any of the people in the book, but seemed to accurately portray everyone...warts and all...without being judgmental or condescending.
I've started my first Jhumpa Lahiri book, "Namesake". A quarter of the way through, so far it's rather ho-hum, but OK and readable.
Quite frankly, I find cross-cultural writers to be a little bit preachy and overly explicatory. I wish they would just write their story as a good novelist, and let me fathom how their culture colors their experiences. I enjoy Japanese writers, who seem to be writing for a Nikkei market, and just let the story tell iteslf and assume the reader grasps the sentiments. Or, even better, who do not write about cross-cultural issues at all, and just write as competent novelists. I've no doubt that Lahiri could write a perfectly respectable novel about western characters who have no connection with India at all, and I wish she would.
Have you read Wonderful Tonight: George Harrison, Eric Clapton, and Me by Pattie Boyd?
I really liked that one and I could not put it down. Talk about tangled romance....it has everything including a lot of trivia that is very interesting. George was always my favorite and Eric Clapton is the man, IMO.
Last two summers read Marianne Faithfull's. First is Faithfull, second is Memories, Dreams, and Reflections. Second is more inhibited (uncharacteristic of her, of course), as first one made some folks angry. First is a better read, imho, but as a fan, I enjoyed both.
Have John Densmore's Riders of the Storm on my shelf, yet to get to. I've read a few rock autobios, and have others yet to get to. I'll bet Pattie Boyd's is very interesting. She's not a rocker, of course, but the woman of two great rock legends. I'll put it on my list, thanks.
I'm reading Unbroken, by Karen Hillenbrand. It is the true story of an Olympic athlete who served in WW2 & was taken as a POW. Only just started, but I've heard great reviews from some of my book club who've already read it (it's our June title).
I will be reading Henrietta Lacks soon!! I think that would be a great book for book club!
I started "Life of Pi" and as of right now (only 50+ pages into it), I'm wondering why I've heard people say this is one of their favorite books of all time. It's good, but I'm not impressed...yet.
When I got to where you are, I got weary of it, and I skipped ahead to Part 2. Go ahead, it's really a wonderful story after the fold. It's a book that rewards perseverance.
I just finished a really nice story called Rainwater by Sandra Brown. One of those nice books to curl up to and enjoy on a rainy weekend or on a beach.
I know, it's old (1987) and somewhat schlocky, but I am enjoying the heck out of it.
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