The Immortal Life Of Henrietta Lack, January 2013 + Thumbs Up/Thumbs Down: A Year Of Reading In Review (*Updated 3/28/13)

Our first selection of 2013 is the nonfiction book, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot. 

From the BroadwayPaperbacks/Publisher: "Her name was Henrietta Lacks, but scientists know her as HeLa. She was a poor black tobacco farmer whose cells - taken without her knowledge in 1951 - became one of the most important tools in medicine, vital for developing the polio vaccine, cloning, gene mapping, and more. Henrietta's cells have been bought and sold by the billions, yet she remains virtually unknown, and her family can't afford health insurance. This phenomenal New York Times bestseller tells a riveting story of the collision between ethics, race, and medicine; of scientific discovery and faith healing; and of a daughter consumed with questions about the mother she never knew."

For information on author Rebecca Skloot, visit her website by clicking here.

You can also visit the Henrietta Lacks Foundation website by clicking here.

We'll meet to discuss The Immortal Life Of Henrietta Lacks on Thursday, January 31, 2013, at 7pm at the Atlantic Highlands Branch of the Monmouth County Library located inside Borough Hall on 100 First Avenue, Atlantic Highlands. 

Thumbs Up/Thumbs Down: 2012, A Year Of Reading In Review
On Thursday, December 27, 2012, the Atlantic Highlands Evening Bookclub held our first annual Holiday party during which we voted on our favorite and least favorite reads of 2012! 

Here is Lori's great wrap of the party:
"We had a great time at the party and we missed everybody who couldn't make it! In fact we had so much fun, we're thinking of turning it into an annual event. Thank you to everyone who brought food and drink. We were there so long, we closed the place! I have to apologize to Faye and Val for making them stay late the next time I see them. I've attached a picture from the meeting. Unfortunately, Jo left before it was taken. All the books found new homes except for one and I'll bring it to the next meeting to see if anyone wants it.

We voted on our favorite and least favorite books and here are the results:
Favorite was A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith. (Everyone give it a thumbs up. Not one person gave it a "meh" or a thumbs down).
Least favorite was Brazzaville Beach by William Boyd. (No one gave it a thumbs up).

Now the break-down of all the other books we read in 2012 (members who didn't read that particular book didn't vote):
The Big Stone Gap by Adriana Trigani: 4 yes, 1 meh, 1 no
Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare: 2 yes, 1 no
The Woman Who Walked Into Doors by Roddy Doyle: 3 yes, 1 no
The Kitchen House by Kathleen Grissom: 2 yes, 3 no
My Antonia by Willa Cather: 3 yes, 2 no
Lucia, Lucia by Adriana Trigani: 1 yes, 2 meh, 2 no
Major Pettigrew's Last Stand by Helen Simonson 5 yes, 1 no (Guess who voted no?)
Bel Canto by Ann Patchett: 3 yes, 2 no
The Particular Sadness of the Lemon Cake by Aimee Bender: 5 yes, 2 meh
SantaLand Diaries by David Sedaris: 2 yes, 1 meh, 4 no

Jo is going to post this on the blog. Please feel free to vote and or leave comments.

During the evening, we discussed the difference between young adult fiction and adult fiction. I said the big difference is that there aren't any subplots (for the most part, I'm sure some do). After the meeting, I remembered a few other differences. One is obvious I can't believe I didn't remember it! The protagonist is usually a teenager or young adult. Another difference is when it comes to describing characters and things, adult fiction can go on for a page sometimes more. Not so with YA literature. No self respecting teenager is going to put up with two pages describing wallpaper. So the reader gets the basic idea, but not every detail. Hey, all you YA readers out there; let me know if I've forgotten anything else."

For those who read with us in 2012, but weren't at the party, please feel free to cast your vote in the comments below for the books you liked (yes/thumbs up), didn't like (no/thumbs down) or were in the middle about (meh). 

We've also had some great discussion going on via email about the differences between Young Adult (YA) fiction and adult fiction, please feel free to continue the discussion here in the comments below or add your thoughts if you haven't done so!

Best wishes for 2013 and here's to another fascinating year of reading together!

*Update 3/28/13: To view the NYT's article "The Immortal Life Of Henrietta Lacks, The Sequel" by Rebecca Skloot, please click here.

SantaLand Diaries by David Sedaris, December 2012

This month's selection, SantaLand Diaries, is a short story that was published in David Sedaris's Holidays On Ice (as well as in Barrell Fever).  It is an account of Sedaris's time as a Christmas Elf in the SantaLand of a Macy's Department Store.

We're gathering to discuss this short story and have a Holiday Party & Book Exchange on Thursday, December 27, 2012, at 7pm at the Atlantic Highlands Branch of the Monmouth County Library located at 100 First Avenue inside the Borough Hall Building.

Further details about our Holiday Party & Book Exchange will be available soon via email.  If you're not currently on the AHLEBC email list, please send an email requesting to be added to ahlebc@gmail.com.

Best wishes for a happy holiday season & a healthy new year! 

Brazzaville Beach by William Boyd, November 2012

From the Harper Perennial paperback edition:

"In the heart of a civil war-torn African nation, primate researcher Hope Clearwater made a shocking discovery about apes and man. . . .

Young, alone, and far from her family in Britain, Hope Clearwater contemplates the extraordinary events that left her washed up like driftwood on Brazzaville Beach. It is here, on the distant, lonely outskirts of Africa, where she must come to terms with the perplexing and troubling circumstances of her recent past. For Hope is a survivor of the devastating cruelties of apes and humans alike. And to move forward, she must first grasp some hard and elusive truths: about marriage and madness, about the greed and savagery of charlatan science, and about what compels seemingly benign creatures to kill for pleasure alone."

For information on author William Boyd, please click here to go to his site.

We will meet to discuss Brazzaville Beach on Thursday, November 29, 2012 at 7pm at the Atlantic Highlands Branch of the Monmouth County Library, located at 100 First Avenue, Atlantic Highlands.  (Inside Borough Hall).  

Major Pettigrew's Last Stand by Helen Simonson, October 2012

From the 2011 Random House Trade Paperback edition:

"In the small village of Edgecombe St. Mary in the English countrside lives Major Ernest Pettigrew (retired), the unlikely hero of Helen Simonson's wondrous debut.  Wry, courtly, opinionated, and completely endearing, the Major leads a quiet life valuing the proper things that Englishmen have lived by for generations: hnor, duty, decorum, and a properly brewed cup of tea. But, then his brother's death sparks an unexpected friendship with Mrs. Jasmina Ali, the Pakistani shopkeeper from the village. Drawn together by their shared love of literature and the loss of their spouses, the Major and Mrs. Ali soon find their friendship blossoming into something more. But, village society insists on embracing him as the quintessential local and regarding her as the permanent foreigner. Can their relationship survive the risks one takes when pursuing happiness in the face of culture and tradition?"

For information about the author, please click here to go to her site. 

We'll meet to discuss this novel on Thursday, October 25, 2012 at 7pm at the Atlantic Highlands Branch of the Monmouth County Library located at 100 First Avenue (in the Borough Hall Building), Atlantic Highlands. 

Bel Canto by Anne Patchett, September 2012

 

From the 2001 Perennial/Harper Collins paperback edition:

"Somewhere in South America at the home of the country's vice president, a lavish birthday party is being held in honor of Mr. Hosokawa, a powerful Japanese businessman. Roxanne Coss, opera's most revered soprano, has mesmerized the guests with her singing. It is a perfect evening until a band of terrorists breaks in, taking the entire party hostage.  But what begins as a life-threatening scenario slowly evolves into something quite different. Friendship, compassion, and the chance for great love lead the characters to forget the real danger that has been set in motion and cannot be stopped."

For information on author Anne Patchett, click here for the Wikipedia bio and here for her website.

We will meet at the Atlantic Highlands Branch of the Monmouth County Library, located at 100 First Avenue in Atlantic Highlands in the Borough Hall building, at 7pm on Thursday, September, 27, 2012.

The Particular Sadness Of Lemon Cake by Aimee Bender, August 2012



From the publisher/paperback edition:

On the eve of her ninth birthday, unassuming Rose Edelstein bites into her mother's homemade lemon-chocolate cake and discovers she has a magical gift: she can taste her mother’s emotions in the slice. To her horror, she finds that her cheerful mother tastes of despair. Soon, she’s  privy to the secret knowledge that most families keep hidden: her father’s detachment, her mother’s transgression, her brother’s increasing retreat from the world. But there are some family secrets that even her cursed taste buds can’t discern.

For author info, please click here.

We will meet to chat about this novel on Thursday, August 30, 2012, 7pm, at the Library (located at Borough Hall, 100 First Avenue).

Lucia, Lucia by A. Trigiani, July 2012

From goodreads.com:  It is 1950 in glittering, vibrant New York City. Lucia Sartori is the beautiful twenty-five-year-old daughter of a prosperous Italian grocer in Greenwich Village. The postwar boom is ripe with opportunities for talented girls with ambition, and Lucia becomes an apprentice to an up-and-coming designer at chic B. Altman's department store on Fifth Avenue. Engaged to her childhood sweetheart, the steadfast Dante DeMartino, Lucia is torn when she meets a handsome stranger who promises a life of uptown luxury that career girls like her only read about in the society pages. Forced to choose between duty to her family and her own dreams, Lucia finds herself in the midst of a sizzling scandal in which secrets are revealed, her beloved career is jeopardized, and the Sartoris' honor is tested. 

For author info, please click here for her website.

We'll meet at the Library to discuss Lucia, Lucia on Thursday, July 26, 2012 at 7pm.