House of Prayer No. 2

Mark Richard gives us a thoughtful and provoking gaze into his spiritual awakening in his memoir, House of Prayer No. 2.

Born with a physical ailment in his hips, Richard is operated on and bedridden frequently during childhood, only to be told that he will be wheelchair-bound by the age of 30. Written in second person, you immediately feel as withdrawn and disconnected with the people around him as Richard does growing as a "special" child in the South.

In the book, Richard takes us along on his life journey while he experiences the horrors of the Children's Hospital he is operated in and dabbles in a multitude of occupations on his way to becoming a writer and, lastly, finding God. We are with him as he searches for meaning in his life as a deckhand, photographer and journalist (along with a slew of other jobs). We travel with him as he stands up to his abusive father in protection of his mother and sister. And we celebrate with him as he achieves his dream of becoming a writer, builds a life with his wife and sons, and achieves some spiritual clarity, realizing his call in life.

Oddly enough, the second person writing that makes us feel so disconnected in the beginning of the book ends up making us feel the complete opposite by the end of the book. As Richard finds more clarity and meaning in his life, it seems we, as the readers, develop a closeness with the meaningful people and events in his life. Richard's writing is warm in some places and witty in others, making the overall experience of reading his life an enjoyable one.

The Immmortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot

Recently recognized as one of the best books of the year by Amazon.com, Oprah, NPR, and the New York Times, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, will take you on a journey that fascinate, infuriate and educate.

Henrietta Lacks tragically lost her life at the hands of an aggressive cervical cancer back in 1951, made even more tragic by the fact that she was the mother to five young children at the time. What no one in her family knew then, or for the next 20 years, is that doctors harvested some of her cancer cells while she was still alive (without her knowledge or consent,) and these cells have been crucial to breakthroughs in medical science ever since - in curing polio, studying how cancer grows, learning how viruses spread, just to name a few applications - Henrietta's cells even went into space.

While Henrietta's cells continued to multiply, her family floundered. Struggling to get by, often ironically lacking basic medical coverage, her family continues to have trust issues with medical facilities and personnel. While Henrietta's cells have generated billions of dollars for some, none of this has gone to her family. Not only is this book an amazing story of human life and incredible science, it also addresses the ethical and moral issues surrounding our bodies and ownership of such.

Author Rebecca Skloot, who spent ten years writing this book and gaining the Lacks' family's trust, does an amazing job of combining the scientific with the personal. This is narrative non-fiction at its best.