Current Read: The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks

I am obsessed! Obsessed with the book right now! It is so damn fasinating! I mostly read fiction since I am a sucker for a good story but the author writes this story from both the scientific as well as her adventures in tracking down Henrietta's family.  It is insane how many medical advancements are due to this women that effect us all yet she is so unknown. 

(Description via Amazon)

Her name was Henrietta Lacks, but scientists know her as HeLa. She was a poor Southern tobacco farmer who worked the same land as her slave ancestors, yet her cells—taken without her knowledge—became one of the most important tools in medicine. The first “immortal” human cells grown in culture, they are still alive today, though she has been dead for more than sixty years. If you could pile all HeLa cells ever grown onto a scale, they’d weigh more than 50 million metric tons—as much as a hundred Empire State Buildings. 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 remains virtually unknown, buried in an unmarked grave.
Now Rebecca Skloot takes us on an extraordinary journey, from the “colored” ward of Johns Hopkins Hospital in the 1950s to stark white laboratories with freezers full of HeLa cells; from Henrietta’s small, dying hometown of Clover, Virginia—a land of wooden slave quarters, faith healings, and voodoo—to East Baltimore today, where her children and grandchildren live and struggle with the legacy of her cells.

Book Review: Ship Breaker by Paolo Bacigalupi

This book is good...like really good.  Like hard to put down I keep thinking about it good.  

"In America's Gulf Coast region, where grounded oil tankers are being broken down for parts, Nailer, a teenage boy, works the light crew, scavenging for copper wiring just to make quota--and hopefully live to see another day. But when, by luck or chance, he discovers an exquisite clipper ship beached during a recent hurricane, Nailer faces the most important decision of his life: Strip the ship for all it's worth or rescue its lone survivor, a beautiful and wealthy girl who could lead him to a better life. . . ."

Summer Reading

I am back from my last vacation of the summer!  I am due back to work a week from today.  I have a few days to get ready and then I have kiddos on Friday.  This is hands down the fastest summer I have had yet.  I have to admit that on our camping trip I was terrible about taking pictures.  I had my camera but the idea of leaving the water/beach/camping chair to get it sounded awful so I just didn't do it.  We had a great time but words can't explain how ready I was to go home to my bed and shower after 5 days on sleeping on an air mattress and camping in sand.  One thing I did get up and pull out of my tent was my books.  I managed to finish one and then another while there and that reminded me how negligent (or just busy) I have been about my book updates.  Although I don't think there is a bad book in the bunch my favorite by far was The Book Thief by Marcus Zusak.  I seriously couldn't put this book down. 

The Replacement By Brenna Yovanoff

This book was an interesting twist on your classic spooky story and it told from the "monster's" point of view. 

Jesus Land by Julia Scheeres

What a crazy book (and true story!) about a White sister and African American brother growing up in during the 70s in rural religious and deeply racist Indiana and then eventually being sent off to a messed up Christain reform camp. 

Salem's Lot by Stephen King

I pick this book up because after reading The Dark Tower series I learned that a lot of the characters for that series cross over into most of Stephen King's books. I really wanted to read The Stand but it was in a box somewhere. This is a good classic vampire tale. It managed to spook me a little bit which I was surprised about.

The Book Thief by Marcus Zusak

Hands down the best book I have read in a long time.  Its about a little girl growing up in Germany right as the Nazi's start to take control.  It is told from "Death's" perspective.  It is such a unique book!

The Uglies by Scott Westerfeld

This series was recommended to me by a student of mine.  It seemed a more mild version of the Hunger Games but still entertaining none the less.

The Pretties and The Specials by Scott Westerfeld

Part 2 and 3 of The Uglies series.  Good but getting a little perscriptive. I still had to finish it to see what happened! The ending of The Specials was abrupt and not what I thought it was going to be.

The Color Purple by Alice Walker

I remember watching the movie late one night when I was a teenager.  I also remember crying my eyes out.  The book is just as good if not better.

Crispin The Lead Cross by Avi

This is my current read.  Its a nice change from what I have been reading and so far it is about a serf boy in the 14th century ousted from his English village after the death of his mother.

The Book List

I love love love reading and sharing books with friends.  One of the nice things about working at a high school is the library.  I can check out as many books as I want for however long I want.  Of course I try to get them back as soon as possible but it is just so handy to have a library at my work.  

I have been asked in the past what I am reading and what I think of certain books so I thought there is no better idea than to share current and past reads here. I will try not to spoil anything but if I do I will give you a fair warning.   This list will be ongoing so check back for more updates.

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson

Little Bee by Chris Cleave

I'm going to go ahead and put a warning in front of this review.  I didn't like it.  And I just didn't kind of not like it but I really didn't like, however I won't ruin the book for you.  I didn't realize what my problem with it was till I shoved the book in my mom's hands and asked her to read it too.  After she read it not only did she confirm that it is awkwardly written and overly descriptive but it is a story about two females going through extreme and life altering circumstances written in a man's perspective.  Sorry guys.  Nothing against you and nothing against trying to write in a female's voice but it was just so far off the mark and the characters make decisions that just seem odd.  However I do encourage you to read it if you are interested.  I have a feeling it is one of those books you love or hate and if you look up reviews that is generally what you will find.  Hell, Oprah even plugged this book.

American Gods by Neil Gaiman
This book was great.  I had read The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman and I really loved Coraline so it was hard to go wrong with this book.  It centers around the character shadow and various characters he runs into that are God's from various cultures and stories brought by the people who immigrated here.  It was hard for me not to be sucked into this book.  Neil Gaiman has an amazing way of making the creepy and unbelievable feel as if it is truth. 

The Giver by Lois Lowry

I really liked this book.  It was a short read but it immediately grabbed my attention.   It follows a 12 year old boy, Jonas, who lived in a utopian society and his discovery of how dysfunctional the society really is.  I am still not sure how I feel about the ending.  It was a little abrupt for me but I have still been thinking about it for the past week so I guess that means it was good or at least got me to think.   

Happy Things

January is a rough month for me.  It is long and cold, my bills all seem higher for some reason, and I find that the only thing I look forward to is the spring which seems far far away.  With all that said I am trying to focus on the little things that make me happy.

Getting to finally dress up my cat. I have been threatening to do this for awhile. Bradley has refused to let me do it though. However I ignored this and found this adorable beer maid dress for $3 all of which went to charity. I rule. The best part was Olympia really didn't seem to care she was in a dress

Current read:  The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaimen

This book was a surprise!  I am an avid reader and I will consume books very quickly.  My work started a book club with the students and although I have yet to attend the book club meetings I have read all the books.  This is their current read and I knew nothing about it when I picked it up and was happily surprised.  It is about a boy who is raised by ghosts in a graveyard and is full of these wonderful illustrations by Dave McKean.  The author also wrote Coraline so if you liked that book/movie you will probably like the Graveyard Book.  It is really dark and sweet.


















My Husband.  I love him and he is so funny.

He took the day off yesterday from work and drove to Denver  by himself to go to this restaurant called Casa Bonita.  If you are from here (or watch South Park) Casa Bonita is this infamous mexican restaurant that is designed for kids.  There are caves to crawl though, cliff divers, puppet shows and insanely bad food.  If you grew up in Colorado you have fond memories of it as a kid.  He brought me back a sopapilla and a pinata when he picked me up from work.




Shoes... and getting amazing deals on shoes
I found these at Kohl's last Friday on sale from $62 to $42. I knew I had a coupon at home (I am a big coupon user/nerd) so i thought I would come back the next day. However when I found the coupon I realized that it was expired and required me to use my Discover card and I am not currently using any credit cards since they are all evil. So I looked online, found them even cheaper and Kohl's online was offering 99 cent shipping. So ultimately I got the shoes for $31. F ya!  www.retialmenot.com is an amazing site to find online coupons. I am looking forward to wearing them with this cute dress I ordered from Urban Outfitters