Summer Reading Celebration

Everything about Henrietta Lacks and her family was heartbreaking. Henrietta was lost to history and not even a footnote in her own story. Her genes were used over, and over again. Her DNA was used in so many breakthroughs in science and not even a mention. What a harrowing life. Henrietta's story was tragic, dying young of cancer and so riddled with tumors that pain was her only companion. What was more tragic was her children's mistreatment, malnuroshment and torture at the hands of the people that should have protected and sheltered them in their time of grief. Circumstances were just not on the Lacks family side. Most of the children were dead or imcarcerated before the book was even published. The author, Rebecca Skloot did so much research and talked to the family extensively even when said family was very against even that for a long time. This book was good and very interesting but oh so devastating. Please read this story, if not to hear this family's story but to get the true behind the immortal genes and where they really came from.

Alien Rik and the Ingergalactic Waffle Protocol was pure and unadulterated chaos and hilarity. Rik, an alien, crash lands on Earth with his robot assistant Glubax. He befriends Debra, Bud and a goat named Clarity, forms a cult around breakfast and toasters, and reforms a Pentagon agent assigned to shut down his cult. Rik even manages to befriend DJT amd gain a nemesis in an evangelical pastor by the of Lyle Grindle. There are waffles, syrup, guru enlightenment and only a little chia seeds in this romp into one aliens journey to found family, pancakes and a world wholly different from anything he ever experienced on his home on Astralara. The first book in this book was funny, irreverent and entertaining if not equally confusing all at once. Here, Somehow was a little more straightforward but not without equal parts humor. Assistant to Nicola Tesla, Stefan Petrovic is accidentally transported through time from 1895 to current times in an experiment gone wrong. Stefan blindly stumbles through Times Square, New York City until NYC cops pick him up and introduce him to Mira, an NYC Civil outreach coordinator. Mira decideds he is mostly harmless amd takes him into her home until Stefan and Tesla can figure out how to get him home. Stefan meets a lot of people, finds out more than he ever cared to about Instagram while also falling in love. This book reminded me of the 1994 movie IQ where Albert Einstein, played by Walter Matthau, tries to set up Meg Ryan, his niece, with a mechanic played by Tim Robbins. IYKYK. I really enjoyed the relationship between Mira and Stefan and was glad that Stefan decided to stay in the future with Mira.

This history of the influenza pandemic of 1918-1920 was written for young adults, but is informative and even engaging reading for adults as well. It captures the horror of the flu pandemic and the First World War, and puts it into context using photos, letters, songs, art, and even children’s games. Science didn’t have a clear understanding of the differences between bacteria and viruses at that time, and the book chronicles the research of the day as well. When the book was published in 2018, 100 years after the events it describes, the cover depicting a woman wearing a cloth mask was quite arresting. Even though the mask is commonplace now, I recommend this book as a must read for anyone wishing to learn more about pandemics and their effects on various aspects of society and culture, and how the current pandemic was expected any time, by epidemiologists.

I read where someone compared this to an updated Huck Finn story, and that's pretty close. More of a fantasy-style fiction, but the setting is quite historically accurate, which made for a great read. Recommended!

Outlander fans will not be disappointed!! The latest installment in the series is as good as the rest.... the new characters are fully fleshed out and we fall in love again with the characters we've known for so long. I highly recommend this!!

Well written historical novel that portrayals what it might have been like for a woman in the medical profession in England in the 1800's.

4.75 stars. I’m sad that I’m done with this series. Chestnut Springs will be a dear place in my heart!

Woman gets a chance to visit other possible lives when she reaches a crossroads in her own. It was pretty good, although there were a few places that seemed to drag. Overall, not bad

Magic Tree House series book 20. Read with grandson. He loves these books.

It was a great book and one of the first to actually surprise me!