The first one is called: Fifty Shades of Grey by E.L. James
This is the book description from Amazon: "When literature student Anastasia Steele goes to interview young entrepreneur Christian Grey, she encounters a man who is beautiful, brilliant, and intimidating. The unworldly, innocent Ana is startled to realize she wants this man and, despite his enigmatic reserve, finds she is desperate to get close to him. Unable to resist Ana’s quiet beauty, wit, and independent spirit, Grey admits he wants her, too—but on his own terms.
Shocked yet thrilled by Grey’s singular erotic tastes, Ana hesitates. For all the trappings of success—his multinational businesses, his vast wealth, his loving family—Grey is a man tormented by demons and consumed by the need to control. When the couple embarks on a daring, passionately physical affair, Ana discovers Christian Grey’s secrets and explores her own dark desires.
Erotic, amusing, and deeply moving, the Fifty Shades Trilogy is a tale that will obsess you, possess you, and stay with you forever."
I wanted to read this book because it was the hot talk in the "mom circles". Mom's across the US are talking about this in book clubs and on the sidelines of the soccer fields, so I had to see what it was about. I had heard it described as "mommy porn" because it was a little racy.
A "little racy" is an understatement - it is disturbing drivel! The main characters are involved in a totally warped relationship. I decided this morning that I am giving up on the book and not reading anymore. I have a friend who is reading it too and she is equally disturbed by the relationship and absurdity of the book. She did something that I think was very wise --- she skipped and read the last chapter!
The second book I am reading is: The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot.
This is the book description from Amazon: "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, they are still alive today, though she has been dead for more than sixty years. If you could pile all HeLa cells ever grown onto a scale, they’d weigh more than 50 million metric tons—as much as a hundred Empire State Buildings. HeLa cells were vital for developing the polio vaccine; uncovered secrets of cancer, viruses, and the atom bomb’s effects; helped lead to important advances like in vitro fertilization, cloning, and gene mapping; and have been bought and sold by the billions.Yet Henrietta Lacks remains virtually unknown, buried in an unmarked grave.
Now Rebecca Skloot takes us on an extraordinary journey, from the “colored” ward of Johns Hopkins Hospital in the 1950s to stark white laboratories with freezers full of HeLa cells; from Henrietta’s small, dying hometown of Clover, Virginia—a land of wooden slave quarters, faith healings, and voodoo—to East Baltimore today, where her children and grandchildren live and struggle with the legacy of her cells."
This book is totally worth the investment of time! It is fascinating to learn about this woman, the time frame in which she lived and the advancements in science that are directly credited to her cells.
Based on my book choices of late, I am starting to think of myself as quite an intellectual!
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