Monica said...
Sooo,Book club is coming up. We'll meet Sunday November 14th at Monica's house at 6:00PM. The book,as I'm reading is offering NOTHING in the way of food inspiration.I think the only food mentioned is items in Speed's Convenience store! I really have no thoughts as of now. I'm sure something will come to me as it gets closer. Immortal food?? Food that looks like cells? Food served in laboratory equipment? Who knows. I'm sure it will be good whtever we have. See you in November. Monica
October 8, 2010 9:47 PM

Next Book Club Meeting

Hey all-Next meeting is November 14th at my house. Sunday evening,say,6:00PM.Details to follow. The book is The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks

Our newest book club selection is....

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot (click to connect to Amazon.com)

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?

Smithsonian Magazine posted this article on their website:

http://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/Henrietta-Lacks-Immortal-Cells.html

A 10 minute story is also available from WNYC RadioLab (click to connect to RadioLab.org)

We are planning this book club for November-hope to see you all there!

The Postmistress

Hello Everyone!

Our newest book club selection is:

The Postmistress by Sarah Blake

This meeting will be held at Chris' home on May 23rd. More details to follow. As always, everyone is invited to attend...come join us for drinks, great food and great company!

Here is a short synopsis of the book:

Weaving together the stories of three very different women loosely tied to each other, debut novelist Blake takes readers back and forth between small town America and war-torn Europe in 1940. Single, 40-year-old postmistress Iris James and young newlywed Emma Trask are both new arrivals to Franklin, Mass., on Cape Cod. While Iris and Emma go about their daily lives, they follow American reporter Frankie Bard on the radio as she delivers powerful and personal accounts from the London Blitz and elsewhere in Europe. While Trask waits for the return of her husband—a volunteer doctor stationed in England—James comes across a letter with valuable information that she chooses to hide. Blake captures two different worlds—a naïve nation in denial and, across the ocean, a continent wracked with terror—with a deft sense of character and plot, and a perfect willingness to take on big, complex questions, such as the merits of truth and truth-telling in wartime.

Devil In The White City Book Club Meeting

Hello Everyone!



We had our most recent book club meeting to discuss Devil In the White City. Held at Diane's house, we had a good discussion about the book....more importantly, we had FANTASTIC Chicago Style Hot Dogs!



There were mixed reviews/opinions about this particular selection...some loved it, some didn't...but, that is what the book club is all about!



Enjoy some pictures from this meeting!

Hello Everyone! The NWH Book Club will be meeting February 28th to discuss the current selection:

Devil in the White City by Erik Larson

This will be a Chicago themed meeting: pizza, hotdogs, beer, etc. We hope you all can come. As always, if you haven't had a chance to read the book, feel free to come and enjoy the company and food!

Look forward to seeing you!

Alison