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Book
Group
Organized by
Join
us for companionship and discussion of interesting books. It
is not necessary to have read the current book to attend book
group discussions.
Current
book meeting:
May 25, 5:30 pm at The Scenic Cafe on the Scenic Highway just past the
French River. We are reading "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks"
by Rebecca Skloot.
From a single, abbreviated life grew a seemingly
immortal line of cells that made some of the most crucial innovations
in modern science possible. And from that same life, and those cells,
Rebecca Skloot has fashioned in The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks a
fascinating and moving story of medicine and family, of how life is sustained
in laboratories and in memory. Henrietta Lacks was a mother of five in
Baltimore, a poor African American migrant from the tobacco farms of Virginia,
who died from a cruelly aggressive cancer at the age of 30 in 1951. A
sample of her cancerous tissue, taken without her knowledge or consent,
as was the custom then, turned out to provide one of the holy grails of
mid-century biology: human cells that could survive--even thrive--in the
lab. Known as HeLa cells, their stunning potency gave scientists a building
block for countless breakthroughs, beginning with the cure for polio.
Meanwhile, Henrietta's family continued to live in poverty and frequently
poor health, and their discovery decades later of her unknowing contribution--and
her cells' strange survival--left them full of pride, anger, and suspicion.
For a decade, Skloot doggedly but compassionately gathered the threads
of these stories, slowly gaining the trust of the family while helping
them learn the truth about Henrietta, and with their aid she tells a rich
and haunting story that asks the questions, Who owns our bodies? And who
carries our memories? --Tom Nissley
Future
books:
Buyology: Truth and lies about why we buy by Martin Lindstrom
Read about the Mayan predictions for the year 2012 (the end of their calendar
system). Potential titles include: The Mystery of 2012: Prediction Prophecies,
and Possibilities by Braden et al; Toward 2012: Perspectives on the Next
Age by D. Pichbeck.
List
of previous book selections:
| Title |
Author |
Year
read |
| A bed
of red flowers: In search of my Afghanistan |
Nelofer
Pazira |
2005 |
| A Brief
History of Time |
Steven
Hawkins |
1997 |
| A mile
in her boots: Women who work in the wild |
Jennifer
Bove |
2007 |
| A Natural
History of the Senses |
Diane
Ackerman |
1997 |
| A Solitaire
Mystery |
Joestein
Gaarder |
1998-1999 |
| A Walk
in the Woods |
Bill
Bryson |
2002-2003 |
| A Year
Without Made-in-China |
Sara
Bongiorni |
2008 |
| An Unquiet
Mind |
Kay
Redfield Jamison |
2007 |
| And
The Waters Turned to Blood |
Rodney
Barker |
1998-1999 |
| Animals
in Translation |
Temple
Grandin |
2009 |
| Bayou
Farewell |
Mark
Tidwell |
2006 |
| Beloved |
Toni
Morrison |
1998-1999 |
| Blackberry
Winter |
Margaret
Mead |
1997 |
| Cod:
A biography of the fish that changed the world |
Mark
Kurlansky |
2009 |
| Composing
a Life |
Mary
Cathrine Bateson |
< 1997 |
| Darwin
on Trial |
Philip
E. Johnson |
1997 |
| Deep
Ocean Journey |
Cindy
Lee Van Dover |
2000-2001 |
| Deep
Water Passages |
Ann
Linnea |
< 1997 |
| Down
the Wild River North |
Constance
Helmericks |
< 1997 |
| Einstein's
Wife |
Andrea
Gabor |
1997 |
| Encounters
with the Archdruids |
John
McPhee |
1999-2000 |
| Failure
is Impossible |
Lynn
Sherr |
< 1997 |
| Field
Notes from a Catastrophe |
Elizabeth
Kolbert |
2007 |
|
| Galileo’s
Daughter |
Dava
Sobel |
2001-2002 |
| Gunflint:
Reflections on the Trail |
Justine
Kerfoot |
< 1997 |
| Having
Our Say |
Sarah
& A. Elizabeth Delany |
< 1997 |
| Isaac's
Storm: A man, a time, and the deadliest hurricane
in history |
Erik
Larson |
2006 |
| Last
Child in the Woods |
Richard
Louv |
2006 |
| Leaving
Mother Lake |
Yang
Ereche Namu and Christine Mathieu |
2005 |
| Living
a Country Year |
Sue
Hubbell |
< 1997 |
| Man's
Search for Meaning |
Viktor
E. Frankl |
< 1997 |
| Mayada:
Daughter of Iraq; one woman's survival under Saddam Hussein |
Jean
Sasson |
2005 |
| Me Talk
Pretty One Day |
David
Sedaris |
2001-2002 |
| Menopause
and the Mind |
Clair
Warga |
1999-2000 |
| Mother
Nature |
Sarah
Andrews |
1999-2000 |
| Music
of the Earth. |
Ron
Morton |
< 1997 |
| My Sister's
Keeper |
Jody
Piccoult |
2006 |
| Naked
in Baghdad: The Iraqi war as seen by NPR's correspondent Anne Garrels |
Anne
Garrels |
2004 |
| Neither
Wolf Nor Dog: On Forgotten Roads with an Indian Elder |
Bert
Hoff |
1998-1999 |
| Nickel
and dimed: On (not) getting by in America |
Barbara
Ehrenreich |
2005 |
| Now
You See Her |
Whitney
Otto |
< 1997 |
| Oh Pioneers |
Willa
Cather |
2003-2004 |
| Our
Stolen Futures |
J.P.
Meyer, T. Colborn, & D. Dumanoski |
1998-1999 |
| Peace
Like a River |
Leif
Enger |
2002-2003 |
| People
of the Book |
Geraldine
Brooks |
2009 |
| Perfume |
Patrick
Suskind |
< 1997 |
| Prodigal
Summer |
Barbara
Kingsolver |
2001-2002 |
| Reading
Lolita in Tehran: A memoir in books |
Azar
Nafisi |
2005 |
| Reason
for Hope |
Jane
Goodall |
2000-2001 |
| Sand
County Almanac |
Aldo
Leopold |
< 1997 |
| Sex
on the Brain: Biological Difference Between Men & Women |
Deborah
Blum |
1997 |
| Snow
Falling on Cedars |
David
Guterson |
1999-2000 |
| Something
in the Water |
Mike
Arage |
1998-1999 |
| Storm
of the Century |
Willie
Drye |
2006 |
| Tales
of a Female Nomad |
Golden
Gelman |
2003-2004 |
| Teaching
a Stone to Talk |
Annie
Dillard |
< 1997 |
| Tender
at the Bone |
Ruth
Reichl |
1998-1999 |
| The
Addictive Organization |
Anne
Wilson Schaef & Diane Fassek |
< 1997 |
| The
Botany of Desire |
Michael
Pollan |
2002-2003 |
| The
Curious Naturalist |
Sy Montogmery |
2003-2004 |
| The
Curve of Time: The Classic Memoir of a Woman and Her Children Who
Explored the Coastal Waters of the Pacific Northwest |
M. Wylie
Blanchet and Timothy Egan |
2008 |
| The
Earth Around Us: Maintaining a Livable Planet |
Jill
Schneiderman |
2000-2001 |
| The
Glass Castle |
Jennette
Walls |
2007 |
| The
Good Earth |
Pearl S. Buck |
2005 |
| The
Great Lakes Water Wars |
Peter
Annin |
2008 |
| The
Hungry Ocean |
Linda
Greenlaw |
2000-2001 |
| The
Lobster Chronicles |
Linda
Greenlaw |
2006 |
| The
Lovely Bones |
Alice
Seibold |
2003-2004 |
| The
Moon by Whale Light |
Diane
Ackerman |
1998 |
| The
Number One Ladies Dectective Agency |
Andrew
McCall Smith |
2003-2004 |
| The
Omnivore's Dilemma |
Michael
Pollan |
2007 |
| The
Perfect Storm |
Sebastian
Junger |
1997 |
| The
Poisonwood Bible |
Barbara
Kingsolver |
2000-2001 |
| The
Red Tent |
Anita
Diamant |
2002-2003 |
| The
Road to Corran |
Jill
Ker Conway |
< 1997 |
| The
Science of God |
Gerald
Schroeder |
2001-2002 |
| The
Secret Life of Lobsters |
Trevor
Corson |
2006 |
| The
Stone Diaries |
Carol
Shields |
< 1997 |
| The
Temple of My Familiar |
Alice
Walker |
1999-2000 |
| The
Zen of Fish |
Trevor
Corson |
2009 |
| The
Walmart Effect |
Charles
Fischeman |
2008 |
| The
War Against the Beavers |
Verena
Andermatt Conley |
2004 |
| The
Weathermakers |
Tim
Flannery |
2007 |
| The
World Without Us |
Alan
Weisman |
2008 |
| The
Zookeeper's Wife |
Diane
Ackerman |
2009 |
| Their
Eyes were Watching God |
Zora
Neale Hurston |
2006 |
| They
Went Whistling |
|
2002-2003 |
| Thinking
in Pictures |
Temple
Grandin |
2009 |
| Three
Weeks with My Brother |
Nicholas
and Micah Sparks |
2009 |
| Throwim
Way Leg |
Tim
Flannery |
1998-1999 |
| True
North |
Jell
Ker Conway |
< 1997 |
| Uneasy
Cariers & Intimate Lives |
Abir-am
& Outram |
< 1997 |
| White
Silk & Black Tar |
Page
Spencer |
< 1997 |
| Women
of the Four Winds |
Elizabeth
Fagg Olds |
< 1997 |
| You
Just Don't Understand |
Debra
Tannen |
< 1997 |
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