The Book Thief by Markus Zusack

The Book Thief 

I found this book difficult at first, but the more I read through it, the more I liked it. By the time I finished, it became one of those books that will remain in my heart forever. The story is that of an ordinary girl, Liesel, who grew up on an ordinary street in Germany during the Second World War. The book is narrated by the character Death, which in particular makes it memorable. He keeps telling us when he is needed and when he will come back soon, and how busy he was on certain days. But he follows Liesel in particular and so narrates the story of her life.

I found the book in the teen section of the library, but I'm not sure why someone decided it should go there. I'm still not sure if the themes of the Holocaust should even be told to teens. The book contains a man who is hidden in the basement, a father who is forced into labor for the Nazis, a teen who refuses to join the Nazi Youth, lots of bombing and of course a large amount of death. For me, by the time I finished the book I felt I knew the people in the book really well, and that is full credit to the author's writing.

Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks

Henrietta Lacks was an African American born in 1920, who had a very severe form of cervical cancer. Without her knowledge some cancer cells, now known as HeLa cells, were taken for medical research. These cells were kept alive and grown in the lab enabling research that had never been done before. The cells were then mass grown and helped in the research or cure of polio, AIDS and cancer.

The book parallels the life of Henrietta Lacks with the story of the cells. How the family lived in poverty yet the cells made money for those who developed patents from working with them.

Henrietta died at the age of 31, but her cells live for ever and save the lives of other people, and that is the story of the book.

My Name is Memory by Ann Brashares

My Name is Memory

When you read a lot of books, you find there are many similarities between the books you read. This book was just different - and I loved it.

It is the love story of Daniel and Sophia who die and are reborn as different people in different times. Just that idea alone made it different from anything else I've ever read. It's a gripping read and one of those books I just couldn't put down.

It's the way that it's written that gripped me, I couldn't wait to find out what happened next. And now I've finished reading the book, I'm looking forward to the sequel to find out what happens next.

Definitely a good book to discuss in a book club.