The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks - Rebecca Skloot

Scientists and biologists all over the world will have heard of HeLa cells and may even have used them. What they might not know is that they were originally the cancerous cells of a woman named Henrietta Lacks. Henrietta Lacks died in 1951 from cervical cancer but her cells still live on today. They have been celebrated for breakthroughs in medical research such as the polio vaccination. However, when Henrietta died she didn't just leave some cells that were taken without permission. She left behind a young family whose lives were turned upside down after her death. They knew nothing about Henrietta's cells until years later and they struggled to get information as to why these cells were taken, what it meant to them and why so many were benefiting whilst they struggled to cover simple medical costs. Rebecca Skloot became intrigued with the person behind the cells and as a result brought recognition to Henrietta's family and a little bit of peace.

One of those rare books where the author was able to bring together both the science and the family story. The book flashes between the past where Henrietta's story is told from the very beginning to the present day, where Skloot tries to convince the Lacks family that she is only after the real story. As a result you end up with the best of both worlds. It was cleverly done.

Clever in other ways too. The author shows just how much those cells have helped with medical breakthroughs. The big one is the one I already mentions, the Polio vaccination. They also continue to be used and it is hoped still that they will give an insight into cancer. So on that side I found myself intrigued and amazed that this small group of cells could do so much. On the other hand you are made to see what the family went through and you have to wonder was it worth it to them. They certainly didn't benefit. Instead their life has been make more difficult and it's almost as if their mother and wife was taken away from them. At no point did anyone sit down and explain exactly what it meant.

The author pushed it further by talking about the ethics of it. The cells were taken against the wishes of Henrietta and her family. It brought about the fear of being taken away and experimented on which wasn't as far fetched as you would think. It certainly opened my eyes.

A fantastic read, full of information with a human side. It was easier to read than most non-fiction as it was almost told as though it was a story. I would definitely recommend it.

The Doctor Will See You Now - Max Pemberton

Max Pemberton has finished a year working in the community. He is now about to commence a year back on the wards. The community has made him forget the fast pace of the hospitals and he feels a little out of place having been thrown in the deep end. Thankfully his flatmates, the nurses and secretaries all help to see him through. Now working on a general medical ward and dealing with dementia patients he feels anger when he sees how easily they are mistreated.

This is the third book by Max Pemberton in his career as a doctor. It's from this one that you can definitely see that he has grown. He still gets nervous about unknown procedures and his first day back was rather funny to read (probably not so funny for him). You can see that he is now more confident in his own abilities.

I liked this one more than the middle book. I think part of that is that I recognised a lot of what he talked about from my own studies. A lot of the problems he mentioned in the book such as interpreting illness in dementia patients, being their spokesperson and the health and safety aspects of the wards have all been discussed in class (obviously from a nursing perspective).

It still has that sense of humour though. He is still able to laugh at himself and I love the interaction between himself and the secretaries. I also love the part his flatmates have to play. I hope there will be more of these books to come as I don't think I would get bored of them. A great first choice for the readathon.

Shakespeare - Bill Bryson

Bryson doesn't pretend to be writing a complete biography of the Bard here. Instead he goes through all the myths and conspiracy theories surrounding the author and clears them up. In between he does reveal some facts that we do know about Shakespeare.

I have to be honest that I am pretty much a clean slate when it comes to Shakespeare. Until now I had no interest to learn more about the man behind those wonderful plays. I had of course heard of all the conspiracies surrounding him. Is he a man or a woman? Is he really Sir Francis Bacon? Did he steal the plays from others? I had no interest in reading into all those theories and simply washed them from my mind with a shake of the head. Shakespeare was simply Shakespeare. The man who has tortured school kids for decades. Having said that I obviously had some interest in his plays otherwise I wouldn't have taken part in the challenge. I think though that my ignorance was a good thing as it meant I could read this book with out having believed all those rumours surrounding Shakespeare.

The only image I did find it difficult to get out of my head was the Doctor Who version of Shakespeare. When Bryson mentions the bards exotic dark ladies in his plays and the dedicated sonnets to a dark lady I just kept thinking, bet that was Martha. Then when he mentioned the theory behind the play "Love's Labour's Won" I was again thinking of Doctor Who and that episodes story behind it (don't worry I am well aware that Dr Who is a fiction, it just amused me).

The entire book was very interesting. Lots of little fact about the man and it surprised me just how little we know about him. Something that Bryson says really isn't that unusual. He says that there were lots of play-writes back then and we are lucky to have the plays by Shakespeare that we do have. Imagine if his two friends had not created that first folio of his work? The part that entertained me was the small section on language. I knew Shakespeare had contributed a lot of words and sayings to our language but didn't realise how much. Astounding considering that English was relatively new back then and Latin was still the preferred choice. Words like "horrid" and "excellent". Also, sayings such as "vanish into thin air" and "with bated breath". These are just a few examples but it makes you realise just how grateful our authors of today should be to the Bard.

I don't feel the need to know every detail of Shakespeare's life. I know for some it is an obsession (one that Bryson claims has led to a lot of conjecture). I am happy with the little information the author was able to provide. However, I am not saying I won't read other biographies. I am more interested in reading other authors views on him and on his language. I think this is a fantastic book for any fan of Shakespeare. I also think though it's perfect for people like myself who managed to walk through life picking up very little.

I read this as part of Shakespeare Month 2012 hosted by Allie of A Literary Odyssey. The deadline has been extended to 10th of February but I am going to stick to the first one which is today. I don't want to sicken myself on him and not want to read more later. I will be open to joining another challenge later on if someone were to start it up. If you are interested in reading what others have to say you can see links to their posts here. I also read it for the Mixing It Up Challenge 2012 hosted by Ellie of Musings of a Bookshop Girl. This was for the biography category. Oh, and if you are interest (and why wouldn't you be) the Doctor Who episode I was talking about is called "The Shakespeare Code" and you can read more about it on the BBC website here.