This is Tatiana De Rosnay who is British and French

She wrote our last book " Sarah's Key" which was

chosen by Donna Smith and which turned out to

be enjoyed by all who were present at the discussion last night.

We gathered at my house to share pizza, salad and a birthday

cake for the December girls who are Madeleine, Betsy and Diane

who joined the group by skype from her warm Florida condo.

Others who attended were Kathy, Julie, Sarah,

Donna S., Donna R. and Carol.

The book has 2 parallel stories about the July 16, 1942 roundup

of 13000 Jewish people taken to the Velodrome de Hiver in Paris,

treated inhumanely and eventually sent to death camps. One story is

from the view point of a child named Sarah who is a victim who

locks her younger brother in a closet for safekeeping. The other

story is from the viewpoint of an American reporter, Julia Jarmond

who is investigating the incident 60 years later. The 2 stories

come together quite seamlessly in the end but we do miss

the voice of the young girl in the 2nd half of the book.

What we learned was that eventualy 76000 Jews were killed

in France and that the French people chose to cover up the

shameful incident though they were under Nazi occupation and

only recently have markers and monuments been put in place.

"We Should Never Forget" is the admonishment of the author

to us readers.

Kathy chose the book "Scottsboro" by Ellen Feldman

which we discovered is available at the library and Amazon.com

for a mere penny plus $3.99 shipping.

We decided to wait till February 9th , 2011 as this is a

fairly large book and allowing 2 months will give us time.

Kathy says not to skip the prologue for there lies the meat

of the story. Happy reading to all and stay warm.

THE IMMORTAL LIFE OF HENRIETTA LACKS

Who is Henrietta Lacks?

I am sure many people would not know who she is.

Her cells revolutionized research and enabled

the polio vaccine to be developed. Her immortal cells

are very important in just about every research about

how cells work and the testing for every treatment

of diseases. These are things we learned in our last

book entitled, "The Immortal Life Of Henrietta Lacks".

These cells keep on living even though the donor died in

1951 of cervical cancer and multiply so rapidly that they

were sold to researchers worldwide while some companies

have made huge profits.

Her family were not aware of this until a reporter

Rebecca Skloot decided to write a book about this

phenomena. They were never compensated in any way.

The mother was a poor, black, tobacco sharecropper.

Skloot devoted 10 years in researching this book and

had difficulty gaining the family's trust.

So the book has a technical side which I must admit

I might have absorbed very little of and a human side

with the family's story. She had five children.

There were 9 members present last night to discuss.

Madeleine, Kathy W., Diana, Betsy, Donna R, Donna S., Sarah, Julie

and I were there. We had all read the book except for Donna Smith.

In general, we agreed it was not the most exciting book but we

learned so much. Even Sarah who had worked with these "HeLa" cells

when she was in graduate school did not know the whole story behind

the donor until she read the book. Some people loved it.

We discussed whether scientists have a right to use cast

offs from surgical procedures in research. Who owns tissues? Do

we need a waiver in place to ban use and what monetary rights do

people have if a breakthrough produces profits?

Personally I would not need to take my appendix home in a bottle.

Wouldn't research be stymied if all these legal issues were put

in place?

We did not think the Lacks family was owed anything but it was

just simply ironic that none of them could afford health insurance when

their mother's cells effected so many cures. Thankfully the author set

up a scholarship fund for the grandchildren and acknowledgement

seems to be forthcoming since the publication of the book.

We did think the family needed acknowledgement and answers

to their many questions as they were totally ignorant of all

that was being done with the cells.

Donna Smith chose, "Sarah"s Key" by Tatiana de Rosnay
and December 8th was decided to be the next meeting.

The Great Santini by Pat Conroy

On October 6, we met at Uno's to discuss

Pat Conroy's "The Great Santini". Sue, Donna Smith, Betsy,

Diana, Kathy and I were present and we had all read

the book.

Conroy wrote this book about his Dad

who was a Marine and who supposedly

was a domineering, egotistical, homophobic,

alcoholic, narrow minded, abusive bully.

The book created many rifts in the

Conroy family as it was too close to

home and resulted in divorces of the parents as

well as the author and his wife. Sue said the author had to write

this book to put the past behind him.

Above is Pat Conroy and below is his Dad, Don Conroy The book was set in Ravenel but was filmed in

Beaufort S.C. and the house is featured

below. These photos were taken by Kathy

who happened to be vacationing there earlier

last month. This was also the venue for the movie

"The Big chill".

Don't you love the Spanish moss hanging from the trees
and the way they evoke the humid, sweltering south?

We discussed the many negative characteristics

of Bull Meacham and how they related to his

treatment of his family. The only good thing

we could say of him was that he was a good

Marine and that explained his values system as he

was a stereo-typical Marine.

We all got to say one word that we thought described Bull

and had to support it with 2 examples that demonstrated this.

In this way we all got to recall parts of the book that we

remembered. Therefore we covered a lot of meaty

subjects. I thought it was one of the better discussions

we have had.

I think Conroy is a great author and I found myself

laughing out loud many times.

The next book was chosen by Donna Riker in absentia.

It is "The Immortal Life Of Henrietta Lacks" by Rebecca Skloot.

It is a non fiction story about the medical research on the cells

of a poor black southern farming woman which have

been very important in medicine and which are still

alive despite the woman being dead for 60 years.

Have we piqued your interest yet?

Tentative date is November 10.

Still Alice

On August 18th, we gathered at my

house to discuss "Still Alice" by

Lisa Genova. Not only is she a

fine author but she also has a

phd from Harvard in Neuroscience.

It is a work of fiction based on a lot

of research about a brilliant Harvard

professor of cognitive psychology who

is diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer's

at age 50. The story was told from the

patient's perspective not the caregiver's.

It is a fast progressing disease with such

a downward spiral in life which has no cure

and current medicines may slow the growth

but eventually the result is the same.

Some of the subjects we discussed was her

husband's decision to continue his research

despite Alice's condition. We wondered if Alice

had attempted suicide as most early onset

patients do. Most of us had encountered or

knew victims of this harrowing disease.

We all had to laugh at the sometimes funny

events like the book in the microwave and

the Blackberry in the freezer. Although we

all admitted that we lose our keys, purses,

cameras (some of us more than others),

and we lose our train of thoughts as we age.

This is normal. The book was not depressing.

Alice formed a support group and made the

most moving speech at the Alzheimer's

Association symposium. It is worth re-reading

that speech.

Thanks to Madeleine for choosing this

very informative and interesting book.

This book is the author's debut and is

very much endorsed by the Alzheimer's

Association.

We had salad and pizza and snacks and

enjoyed a beautiful cool summer evening

outdoors. Marsha measured my kayak for

a future purchase.

Our next book was chosen by Sue and it

is "The Great Santini" by Pat Conroy.

Catholics should love it. October 6th which

is a Wednesday will be the next meeting.

I will send out reminders.

"Undress Me In The Temple of Heaven"

On July 13, 2010 a small group of 7 met at Uno's
to discuss Susan Jane Gilman's book "Undress Me In
The Temple of Heaven". Those in attendance were
Diane, Madeleine, Julie, Donna, Nancy, Betsy and
Nettie. We had all read the book and agreed that it was
a page turner.
Two friends who just graduated from Brown University
decided to visit China in 1986 just as it was being opened to the western world. They figured they could handle
anything the world could dish out after all they were
Brown graduates. They were totally unprepared for the
trip as they were backpacking and not using the services
of the CTS (China Travel Service).
What they discovered was that they were stripped of
every comfort level in a strange land. They were without
cultural understanding, language, status, physical health.
Needless to say they could not handle the culture shock
and one girl who may have been Schizophrenic had a
breakdown there. The story was told in a funny way.
They had to fight the communist bureaucracy and
finally managed a literally narrow escape with the assistance
of a Canadian nurse.
The friends never saw each other again. Yet the author returned
to China and travelled with the Canadian nurse and went on to become
an international journalist.
Kudos to Diane for choosing such a great book.
The moral of the story is that one should choose one's
travel companions well. We should always remember
that we are guests in other countries and try to at
least prepare ourselves by doing some research and
gain some understanding of other cultures before
plunging ahead. We should also not impose our
standards on others.

The next book was chosen by Madeleine. It is called
"Still Alice" by Lisa Genova and it is not too lengthy.
August 18th was chosen for the next date.

"The Help" by Katryn Stockett

On June 10, we met to discuss

Kathryn Stockett's first novel "The Help". There were 8 present. Those who managed to make it were Susie, Nancy, Madeleine, Diana, Julie, Sarah, Donna and Nettie. Since we had not seen each other practically all summer it was fun to meet and catch up and hear all the new things happening to us. Some good some bad.

We had all read the book and some had read it

twice. We agreed it was one that was compelling

to read and impossible to put down once started.

What a fabulous 1st novel, how can this author

even hope to come close on her next try.

Some of the things discussed were of course

the nasty prejudice of the south and the fact that

these things were occurring in the 1960's. Some

reminisced on segregation at the Riviera club and

the swimming pools in Columbus, Ohio. We laughed

at the fact that these black maids were clean enough to

feed a white family but not clean enough to use their

bathrooms. Nancy said the southern folk regarded

blacks as property rather than humans. The black

deacon of the church said "Mississippi and the real world are

2 different places". How true.

We enjoyed the storytelling from all the maids' points of

view and wished we could have listened, instead

of read the book it as it would have been an enhancement.

It was sad, it was amusing and the characters were

unforgettable. Some topics of brief discussion included

the dubious contents of Minny's chocolate pies,

skeeter's first date and her mentoring from the

very tough New York editor.

Next book chosen by Diana is "Undress Me In The Temple of Heaven" by

Susan Jane Gilman. It is a story of two young backpackers who go to

China just as it was opening up to the West and they run into a lot

of unforseen adventures. It sounds like fun and I immediately

by accident bought it on my Kindle. The next meeting was scheduled for July 15th.

Cutting For Stone by Abraham Verghese

On April 21, 2010 our book club met at the Abyssinia restaurant

on the west side to discuss our book "Cutting For Stone"

by Abraham Verghese because it was set in

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia and had many

references to the culture and the food.

The author featured below is a physician who teaches medicine
at Stanford University. One is so envious that a person can
achieve such success as a physician and also write such
well crafted , passionate novels.

Enjoy photos of dinner which is served on "injera" a spongy

pancake like bread with which you scoop the food

as no cutlery is given. There were many uniquely spiced meat and

vegetarian dishes and some people had the special tea to finish.

Some said it was too hot while others liked it hot.

I have tried to get everyone in the photos but sometimes it is challenging.
If I did not get your best side maybe next time.

Our waitress wore a beautiful traditional costume


The owner came to greet us and explained how they
only use fresh ingredients.

Our discussion of the book started before dinner and was well

covered. It is over 600 pages about a set of cojoined twins born

of an Indian nun who dies in childbirth and a british surgeon

who abandons them. They were then raised by 2 Indian Doctors

from Madras who took loving care of them and taught

them how to be good surgeons. One twin goes to America and

works in an underfunded hospital while the other stays in

Ethiopia and becomes a surgeon famous for fistula repairs.

It was a tale of medicine, love, betrayal, and redemption with

a bit of African history along the way. We all agreed that it was

a captivating read. Though big in scope everything was wrapped

up neatly in the end. The title was part of the to the old

hippocratic oath when Doctors would vow not to take a surgical

case on unless they were qualified and of course a play on words

as the surgeon was named Dr. Stone. One of the author's ideas

was that doctors should have a bedside manner and that

generally comes from caring for a patient and developing

a relationship with the patient. Everyone got a chance to say

something about parts that impressed them.

All 10 people present had read the book and unanimously

agreed that it was one of the best we have read.

I was particularly pleased since I had stumbled upon

the book and recommended it to our club.

We think a movie adaptation is imminent.

Nancy chose "The Help" by Kathryn Stockett for our next read

which is to be discussed on June 10, a Thursday since summer

tennis starts and Wednesdays are no longer an option.

I will send out reminders closer to the date.

Happy reading to all!

FEB. 10, 2010 MEETING- STRAIGHT MAN

On a very snowy evening we had almost perfect attendance

at our meeting to discuss "The Straight Man" by Richard Russo.

If you don't see your photo below then you were not there. Maybe you

were in Florida enjoying the sunshine.

Most of us had read the book, some had not completed it but everyone liked it.
Every one thought it was humorously written and some people said they had
laugh out loud experiences. Hank Deveroux is the chairperson of the English
department of a poorly funded University. Everyone in the department is
fearing the outcome of next year's cuts. Russo paints his characters well.
Madeleine read a quote which she thought summed the book up. Julie explained
the reference to Occam's Razor.

We went around the table and each person got to say something that struck

them. I thought the hot tub scene and the time Hank spent in the ceiling after

urinating while the English Department conducted a meeting was hilarious.

Kathy liked the racquetball scene. Donna commented on professors and their

uniqueness. Sarah who now works in Academia could attest to all their quirks.

The used Mr. Purdy was brought up. He would be the polar opposite to

these proffesorial types who are sometimes posturing and pompous.

He drove a pick up truck and was actually handy. He also ate scrapple.

The relationship of Hank and his father was discussed also. He never got over

his father. The opening scenes when he was a child trying to convince his

father that he should get a dog set the tone. Nancy felt like their were many

little stories within the big story. I wonder if the big story was the passing

of the "alleged" kidney stone.

Diane did not want to choose a book in her absence and Nancy did not
want to be rushed.

So I chose the next book called "Cutting for Stone" by Abraham Verghese.

It was well recommended.
April 7th was chosen for the next meeting. Venue will be announced with

reminder email. Next chooser should be Nancy as Diana will

probably not return till May .