The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks

April's Book Club selection. What a great book. This is a great melding of a human interest story with a science story with morality and ethics and economics mixed in. Science is not my thing, but I loved this story of Henrietta, her cells and her family. Well researched and well-written. Definitely a book I'll recommend and look forward to discussing.

The Art of Racing in the Rain

I hated this book. Treacly, predictable. Is it supposed to be simplistic because the dog tells the story? If so, there's a reason dogs aren't authors. The "hero" Denny is an unsympathetic ninny who can't run his own life much less the life of a daughter and dog. Yuck!

The Murder Room

This is our second book club pick. I hope it doesn't kill the club.

This is the true story of a group of professionals from the ranks of profilers, forensic experts, and basic police work dedicated to looking into cold cases in the hopes of achieving justice for forgotten victims and their families. In a way it's CSI in written form bebopping from case to case and mostly focused on the three men who are the "founders" of the group. It was hard to get through the first part of this book which introduced us to our three protagonists pre-group. The writing was inconsistent, often gruesome, repetitive and about 200 pages too long.

I guess if I needed help solving a murder I would consider seeking out these people, but other than that I don't want to spend any more time with them.

The Imperfectionists

I'm finally going to be in another book club, and this is our first book. I finished it two weeks before our meeting. I hope I remember it.

Rachman tells the tale of an international newspaper in a very unique way. Each chapter focuses on one person who works at the paper in the present day and tangentially their area of expertise. Then each chapter finishes with a flashback that tells how the paper was started and how it changed over the years. The paper is essentially the main character, but it's the paper as it is revealed by those who touch and are touched by it. None of the human characters, nor the paper either for that matter, is particularly sympathetic, yet the story was a delightful read, in large part because of its European setting which always adds glamor. This is definitely a book I'd recommend, and I can't wait to talk about it.