The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot | Book Review
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot Genres: Biography, Illness, Medicine, Science Original Publication Date: 2010 Source: I purchased this book Goodreads Find the Author: Website, Twitter, Facebook, Goodreads, Amazon, Instagram Her name was Henrietta Lacks, but scientists know her as HeLa. She was a poor Southern tobacco farmer who worked the same land as her slave ancestors, yet her cells—taken without her knowledge—became one of the most important tools in medicine: The first “immortal” human cells grown in culture, which are still alive today, though she has been dead for more than sixty years. HeLa cells were vital for developing the polio vaccine; uncovered secrets of cancer,…
Off Balance: A Memoir by Dominique Moceanu | Book Review
Off Balance: A Memoir by Dominique Moceanu Genres: Memoir, Non-Fiction Original Publication Date: 2012 Source: I purchased this book Goodreads Find the Author: Website, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram Off Balance is the memoir of a great Olympic champion. At fourteen years old, Dominique Moceanu was the youngest member of the 1996 US Women’s Olympic Gymnastics team, the first and only American women’s team to take gold at the Olympics. Her pixyish appearance and ferocious competitive drive quickly earned her the status of a media darling. But behind the fame, the flawless floor routines, and the million-dollar smile, her life was a series of challenges and hardships. Off Balance vividly delineates each…
Autobiography of a Face by Lucy Grealy | Book Review
Autobiography of a Face by Lucy Grealy Genres: Memoir, Non-Fiction Original Publication Date: 1994 Source: I purchased this book Goodreads Find the Author: Goodreads, Amazon At age nine, Lucy Grealy was diagnosed with potentially terminal cancer. When she returned to school with a third of her jaw removed, she faced the cruel taunts of classmates. It took her twenty years of living with a distorted self-image and more than thirty years of reconstructive procedures before she could come to terms with her appearance. In this lyrical and strikingly candid memoir, Grealy tells her story of great suffering and remarkable strength without sentimentality and with considerable wit. Autobiography of a Face…
Journal of a Solitude by May Sarton | Book Review
Journal of a Solitude by May Sarton Genres: Memoir, Non-Fiction Original Publication Date: 1973 Source: I purchased this book Goodreads Find the Author: Website, Goodreads, Amazon In this, her bestselling journal, May Sarton writes with keen observation and emotional courage of both inner and outer worlds: a garden, the seasons, daily life in New Hampshire, books, people, ideas―and throughout everything, her spiritual and artistic journey. Journal of a Solitude is an account of a year in the life of May Sarton in the early 1970s. It is an interesting journey into the mind and soul of a writer and poet. Sarton’s Journal Reflects Her Thoughts Sarton was a difficult person…
Life Itself: A Memoir by Roger Ebert | Book Review
Life Itself: A Memoir by Roger Ebert Genres: Illness, Memoir, Non-Fiction Original Publication Date: 2011 Source: I purchased this book Goodreads Find the Author: Website, Goodreads, Amazon Life Itself: Roger Ebert began reviewing films for the Chicago Sun-Times in 1967 and was the first film critic ever to win a Pulitzer Prize. He has appeared on television for four decades. In 2006, complications from thyroid cancer treatment resulted in the loss of his ability to eat, drink, or speak. But with the loss of his voice, Ebert has only become a more prolific and influential writer. And now, for the first time, he tells the full, dramatic story of his…
