Give a Book!

"Do give books for Christmas.

They're never fattening,

seldom sinful,
and permanently personal."
Lenore Hershey

Is there any better gift to give then a book? I know when I receive one I am elated. That someone took the time to think of me, to choose a book that they thought I would enjoy curling up with~~I can't think of a more generous gift.

Here are some favorites I enjoyed this year, and hopefully one will make you go "aha! I know just who love this!"

Cleopatra: A Life

Stacy Schiff

Schiff introduces us to a Cleopatra who history has not been kind to. This Cleopatra is full of warmth and humanity; smart, witty, ambitious  and very proud and fond of her children. This is not the Cleopatra we are used to~~great descriptions of Egypt during 30 BC, which I found fasinating. This was fun, interesting and an enlightening book to read.

Life

Keith Richard with James Fox

The simply amazing thing about this biography is that Richards remembers anything at all~~much less that he is still alive to tell it. What a wild ride this man and his friends had! For those of us who grew up with the Rolling Stones this is a great insight about them from Richards viewpoint; the ups, downs, good, bad and the ugly. Richards leaves nothing out, and he gives us a book that is very profane, full of dark humor~~and strangely, charming. He proves he's not the walking dead after all~~

Room

Emma Donogue

You won't want to put this book down. A Mom and her five-year old son, Jack, live in a Room. The Room is a soundproof, converted shed behind a house owned by Old Nick, who had kidnapped and kept Jack's mother captive for years~~where Jack was born and is the only world Jack has ever known. Talk about the resilience of the human spirit, here Donogue shows amazing it can be.

Medium Raw

Anthony Bourdain

Nobody does food-porn better then Bourdain. Here he once again will have you laugh, blush and yet, still want to go out to a restaurant to eat.  Brash, profane, spicy~~who knew that there were secret gatherings of top chefs that can be compared to mafia summits? Bourdain gives us a view inside the food industry, restaurants and chefs like nobody else...and doesn't cut slack for anybody, no matter how famous a chef they are.

Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience and Redemption

Laura Hillenbrand

Meet Louis Zamperini, juvinile delinquent, trouble maker, teenage punk; Zamperini took his anger and rage and devoted it to running, where he discovered he had a talent for it. He competed in the 1936 Berlin Olympics as a runner and  did very well in the four-minute mile. He joined the Air Force when the war came, survived his plane crashing into the Pacific Ocean, only to picked up by the Japanese where he became a prisoner in one of the most horrific POW camps  the Japanese ran during the war.  Hillenbrand gives a true testament to what the human spirit can endure, and to Zamperini, who survived to share his story. Powerful story of survival, keeping your dignity, and living beyond what you've lived through.

I Still Dream About You

Fannie Flagg

What can I say? Fannie Flagg has had a place in my heart since Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe.  This is a gem, full of Southern charm, wisdom, love and look at that! A murder thrown into it that threatens secrets that members of the town would rather let lie. Delightful little heart-tugger that will make you smile while you read it.


                              Moonlight Mile

Dennis Lehane

Since I first met Patrick Kenzie and Angela Gennaro in A Drink Before the War, they became my favorite PI couple. I was sad to hear that this is the last time we would get to hang around with them~~but at least it's a good send off. There are six books in this series, I will say that you have to read Gone, Baby, Gone before you read Moonlight Mile. It gives you the background of why everyone is where they are in Moonlight Mile. Gritty, hard-boiled noir with interesting secondary characters~~great series, terrific book. 

I'd Know You Anywhere

Laura Lippman

Eliza Benedict was fifteen years old when Walter Bowman kidnapped her and held her captive for six weeks. He also kidnapped another girl, who he killed. Eliza is now 38, married with two children. Bowman, in jail for killing and raping his latest victim contacts her. Memories come flooding back as well as questions: What does he want? What does he want from her? Why is he so insistent she contact him? 

This is one of Lippman best psychological thrillers so far and will keep you on the edge of your seat

                                  

 A Journey: My Political Life

 Tony Blair

I liked this biography by Blair. He tells us about his rise to power as head of the New Labour party in a landslide victory. What interested me the most was his view, and opinion, on the Iraqi War, and I wasn't disappointed. Blair proves himself to be savvy, charming and has quite the sense of humor.

 

Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks

Rebecca Sklott

***Please read previous blog about this book. It was the best book I read this year.

                             It's a Book                                       

Lane Smith

Love this book and this is the book I am giving to those who will appreciate what it means. While this may look like a book for kids, it's definilty not for young kids, but a good gift for most ages. It's a delight to read: a digital techie donkey vs the literary gorilla. For me, a reminder that there is nothing like a book.

There you go! My very strong, and varied, suggestions of great books to give to the readers in your life.

  

May your days be merry and bright, your Christmas and New Year's be full of joy and peace.

Happy Reading!

Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks

Whenever science makes a discovery,
the devil grabs it while the angels are debating the best way to use it.
Alan Valentine

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks
by Rebecca Skloot

This is a fascinating account of how one woman became one of the most important people in the world and would never know it. Insight into science, medicine, racism, poverty, cancer and how things were in 1951 all come together is this eyeopener of a book.

Henrietta Lacks, unknowingly, was the mother of the HeLa cells. These were the only human cells to live and reproduce outside of the body. If you could pile all Henrietta's cells and weigh them, they would weigh over 50 million metric tons. Thanks to the HeLa cells, we came to have the polio vaccine, uncovered secrets about cancer, help for a cure for HIV and AIDS. They advanced sciece with invitro- fertilization, cloning, gene mapping and effects of the fall-out from the atomic bomb. HeLa cells went into space on one of the first space flights to see how human cells reacted in space. All these amazing miracles from one woman who died in 1951 of cervical cancer in John Hopkins Hospital.

One of the things that science and doctors were trying to do during this era was reproduce human cells to do research on, and until Henrietta, this had never happened. Healthy cells and cancerous cells were removed from Henrietta before her surgery, without her knowledge,  and sent out to see if they would live outside the body. Henrietta was not the first to have cells removed and sent out to see if they lived and reproduced outside the body, it was something done on other patients, but hers were different. Doctors were astounded to find that Henrietta cells not only lived, but reproduced at an amazing rate. You can imagine the excitement with this discovery.

Skloot does a wonderful job of putting a face on the woman behind the cells. The background on Henrietta Lacks isn't always happy; a poor, young black woman who worked on the family tobacco farm, raised in a house full of relatives after her mother died; she had five children of her own before she was 32. This didn't stop Henrietta from going out and dancing with her cousin Sophie at the local jazz place. Henrietta knew something was wrong with her, Henrietta went to John Hopkins Hospital several times before they discovered  her cervical cancer. The treatment for women with cervical cancer will make your mouth hang open, but again, it was 1951 and this was how it was treated. 

So begins the story of the wondrous and amazing things that the world has this woman to thank for.

While the HeLa cells became a multi-million dollar business, Henrietta's family was unaware of this. While the name of the originator of the HeLa cells was well known among the medical and scientific community~~doctors even went back to the family to take more blood tests to see if they had cells that reproduced also, telling the family they were testing to make sure they didn't have cancer like the one that killed their mother.

The HeLa cells became a multi-million dollar business for some, a medical marvel for doctors and a scientific bonanza for research, the Lacks family had no knowledge of any of this.

It took Skloot time and patience to earn the trust of the Lacks family. Other reporters had come around and it hadn't gone well. The family was wary of what Skloot would get out of writing a book about Henrietta, they had no idea what was accomplished from Henrietta cells. While some of the family wanted monetary reimbursement for the selling of her cells, they also wanted recognition for Henrietta from the medical and scientific fields.

I had to keep reminding myself that this happened in Baltimore, not the deep South. The Lacks family was alarmed to find that Henrietta's cells were still alive and reproducing. They envisioned that there were clones of Henrietta walking around England; that her cells were used to make half-human half-animal creatures; did it hurt when they injected viruses into her cells to infect them to see how they would react. Most of all, if Henrietta was so important to medicine and science, how come her children couldn't afford health insurance?

This is a non-fiction that reads like fiction~~I read it in three days because I couldn't put it down. I stayed up until 2 in the morning reading it. It was the most fascinating book I have read in a long time and the best book I read this year. This book is so rich in information about science, medicine, and how one person can unknowingly change the world. Skoolt takes no sides on who was right and who was wrong with what transpired. Was it ethically right what was done to Henrietta Lacks? Was it morally right what the family went though?

For me, I cannot recommend this book highly enough. Put it on your to read list, you will be so glad you did. 

Happy Reading!

It's A Book - By Lane Smith

Don't Fear the Reaper

All our times have come

Here but now they're gone

Seasons don't fear the reaper

Nor do the wind, the sun or the rain...

we can be like they are

Halloween~~the time of year where some people like to scare the wits out of themselves to ensure they are ready to celebrate with the true spirit of the night....and yes,  I am one of those people. There's nothing like locking the doors, windows, I don't close the blinds because if something is going to come get me~~I want to see it or them.

In no particular order, here is a list of some my favorites scary/creepy books made into a movie or TV mini-series.

Come on baby...don't fear the reaper
We'll be able to fly...

Invasion of the Body Snatchers ( 1956) Based on the book by Jack Finney's, The Body Snatchers.

When some of Dr. Miles Bennell patients start telling him that their family members just aren't the same, he and his psychiatrist buddy blame it on epidemic paranoia. By the time Bennell realizes there is more going on then he thought~~like finding a decomposing body turning into dust with a giant pod next to it becoming the copy of the body~~there are only a handful of normal people left. The tension builds slowly, and the enemy isn't a alien you can see, they look just like your friends and loved one. The big problem is trying to stay awake because the Pod People take over the body while you are sleeping, even if you just doze off. When some of his friends are caught and made to sleep, they become Pod People, Bennell ends up running down a major highway trying to spread the word yelling...."They're here already! You're next! You're next!" while starring into the camera.... Does anybody listen? Will the Pod People take over? What are those trucks rolling down the highway filled with?

This is on the list of  the best science fiction movies ever. Kevin McCarthy and Dana Wynter starred in it~~It is a classic, and they did a great job with Finney's book. (The original!)

We can be like they are
Come on baby....don't fear the reaper
Baby take my hand...don't fear the reaper
We'll be able to fly....


Burnt Offerings (1976) based on the book Burnt Offerings by Robert Marasco

Does it get any better then leaving Queens NY and heading out to mansion-sit for the summer on Long Island? In the book the Rolf family, Marian, Ben, son David and aging Aunt Elizabeth do, but in the movie they go from a city in California to a mansion in the California countryside.  Besides taking care of the mansion, they are instructed to take care of the reclusive mother that lives upstairs. Just leave the food outside the door, don't try and interact with her. Strange things begin to happen, death, depression, accidents~~and every time there is an accident or someone dies or gets hurt, the house rejuvenates, flowers bloom, woodwork shines and the pool gets cleaner. When the family begins to realize somethings not right and try to get away, trees fall into the road, the car doesn't start or some other inconvenience occurs. Goose bumps as we come to the end of the book and the movie. Is that really the wind rattling the windows? Karen Black, Oliver Reed and Bette Davis starred in it.

Love of two is one
Here but now they're gone
Came the last night of sadness
And it clear she couldn't go on

The Haunting (1963) based on the novel The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson

(again, watch the original, not the 1999 version)

Dr. Markway wants to find scientific evidence of the paranormal, so he invites three people, Eleanor, Theodora and Luke, who have experienced the paranormal, to come to Hill House for a few weeks. Seems the caretakers won't stay near the house after dark, they lock the gate and go home and won't return until the morning. Plus, nobody else has a key to the gate.....any one's radar start to go off about now? The four strangers get to know each other, and Dr. Markway fills the other three in on the house history~~suicide, death, the usual strange goings on in a old house; doors that have heartbeats, walls that moan...and a portrait of the dead owner whose spirit comes to life. Nobody chooses to leave, because seeing/hearing is believing right? To this day, one of the best ghost stories ever written, and the movie shows that you don't need blood and gore to make the hair on the back of your neck stand up. Julie Harris, Claire Bloom, Richard Johnson and Russ Tamblyn starred in this one.


Then the door was open and the wind appeared
The candles blew then disappeared
The curtains flew then he appeared...saying don't be afraid
Come on baby...and she no fear


Jaws (1975) based on Jaws by Peter Benchley.

If there was a book that will make you think twice about swimming, this is the book. When the remains of a dead girl washes up on the beach, Sheriff Brody is told she died from a shark attack. Sheriff Brody wants to close the beaches because of the shark attack, but hey! It's summer and it is the time of year that Long Islanders make their money so Mayor Vaughn nixes that silly idea. The book grabbed me right away and they did a wonderful job with the movie. The timing of the release of the movie was great, the beginning of the summer, and close to where I live. The music in the movie built of the tension...dun dun dun dun...SHARK! We all searched the horizon for fins before we jumped in the ocean that summer...mostly we sat on the beach. Roy Scheider, Richard Dreyfuss, and  Robert Shaw starred in this.

And she ran to him....then they started to fly

They looked backward and said goodby...

she had become like they are

Salem's Lot (1979) based on Salem's Lot by Stephen King

Okay, while reading this book, years ago~~I didn't sleep much for the next few weeks. When Tobe Hooper was doing the mini-series for TV, yes I had to watch it. Hooper and King~~talk about great minds... I did have the doors locked, windows bared, wore my three cross necklaces (all at once) just happened to have a nice piece of wood handy....and any kids flying around after dark were not allowed in, even if I knew them. For me, this is one of the scariest, creepiest books I have read, and the series did the book justice. Once again we have a creepy house with a bad history. Ben Mears is a writer who returns to his home town, Salem's Lot, after 25 years to write a book about the creepy Marsten House. Mears also was hoping to rent it~~someone beat him to it.  Shortly after this, a young boy is killed and strange things begin to happen. Seems the boy isn't dead, he has been turned into a vampire and beginning with his brother, starts to turn others into the undead. This is one of  Stephen King's early books and still one of his most popular. Just thinking about it, I will make sure I am home before dark~~and lock, bar the doors and windows. David Soul, Bonnie Bedelia star in this with the wonderfully sinister James Mason as the ancient vampire's familiar.


She had taken his hand....she had become like they are
Come on baby....don't fear the reaper.
(Thanks to Blue Oyster Cult)

I know there are many more to choose from, I had to narrow the list down, but these are a couple that I have fond (?) memories of, and I wanted to choose those that I thought were great scary books that had been done justice by the movie or mini-series.


Lock the doors~~turn the lights on~~check one of these out, movie or the book.


Happy Reading! ~~and watching...