The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot

Our book for February is The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot.  We will be meeting on February 22nd at 7:30pm at Heather's house.

This book has become a best-seller and tells a fascinating true story. Click here to read an excellent article and summary about this book from the NY Times (thanks to Heather for sharing). The following summary is from GoodReads.com.

"Rebecca Skloot first learned about HeLa cells more than a decade ago, while enrolled at community college. Named after Henrietta Lacks, a poor African-American woman born in 1920, the famed cells were taken from a tumor removed during Lacks's treatment for cervical cancer. While she died from the disease, her cancer cells proved uncommonly hearty, reproducing at an unheard-of rate, and years later, billions of these cells are used in laboratories around the world.

"The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks is a story about science and so much more. Lacks died unaware that doctors would be using her cells to further advances in the scientific community and cashing in on such developments and never received a dime. In search of justice, Skloot seeks out Lacks's descendants to learn if they're aware of the famed cells and to see if they've derived any benefit from the important contribution to science their relative made. A fascinating discussion of the enduring legal and ethical questions that human-tissue research raises, Skloot's debut is a gem."

LDS Book Exchange

Do you ever wish you had access to more books by LDS authors?  I have always wished that there was some kind of Mormon library where I could read the LDS books I want to without having to purchase them.  (I know, I'm pretty cheap!) As Relief Society Secretary in a previous ward, I helped to organize an LDS Book Exchange.  It worked well enough that I've continued the idea in other wards and am now throwing the idea out to this group since I know you all love to read.

What I've done in the past is had people send me a list of what LDS books they own and I compile a master list of titles and authors followed by the owners' names (with a phone number and email address directory so you can get in touch with each other).  Then I would distribute the list to you all and you'll be able to find out who owns the books you're dying to read.  Then you just need to contact that person to ask to borrow their book.

Now I know some people are very protective of their books, so if you're not willing to lend out, that's fine.  Personally, I'm getting ready to order some more LDS books, and I figure if I'm spending the money, it'd be nice to have other people to share them with.  (Of course I also wouldn't want to buy any books that I know I can borrow from someone else!) ;)

So, if you'd like to participate, just email me a list of what LDS books you have that you are willing to lend out and I'll start compiling a list to share with everyone.  Feel free to add whatever types of LDS books you're willing to lend out--from inspirational favorites by Mary Ellen Edmunds, Emily Watts, Sheri Dew, etc., to more doctrinal books by apostles and prophets, or even LDS novels. So, if you want to participate, please get me your list of books (either by email or on paper) by February 1st, and we can all look forward to reading some great LDS books!

The Wednesday Wars by Gary D. Schmidt

Our next book is The Wednesday Wars by Gary D. Schmidt.  We will be meeting on January 25th at 7:30pm at Lauren's house.  This is a fun, quick read--an excellent young adult novel that won a Newbery Honor medal in 2008.

Here's a summary from GoodReads.com:

"While all his classmates are enjoying (?) religious instruction, seventh-grader Holling Hoodhood shares Wednesday afternoons with Mrs. Baker, his Camillo Junior High teacher. Not surprisingly, Holling lacks enthusiasm for mid-week appointments with an instructor who assigns him Shakespeare as out-of-class reading. Holling has other things on his mind besides English Renaissance drama. For his dad's sake, he's trying hard to stay out of trouble, but with hovering bullies and other impinging crises, that seems to be a full-time job. Fortunately, help arrives from an unexpected source." 

A more detailed plot summary can be found here on Wikipedia for those of you who aren't able to read the book.  But BEWARE, this is a detailed summary and contains spoilers!