As usual, plenty more books added to my wishlist this past week. Here's some of them:
The Dry Grass of August by Anna Jean Mayhew
On a scorching day in August 1954, thirteen-year-old Jubie Watts leaves Charlotte, North Carolina, with her family for a Florida vacation. Crammed into the Packard along with Jubie are her three siblings, her mother, and the family's black maid, Mary Luther. For as long as Jubie can remember, Mary has been there - cooking, cleaning, compensating for her father's rages and her mother's benign neglect, and loving Jubie unconditionally. Bright and curious, Jubie takes note of the anti-integration signs they pass, and of the racial tension that builds as they journey further south. But she could never have predicted the shocking turn their trip will take. Now, in the wake of tragedy, Jubie must confront her parents' failings and limitations, decide where her own convictions lie, and make the tumultuous leap to independence...Infused with the intensity of a changing time, here is a story of hope, heartbreak, and the love and courage that can transform us - from child to adult, from wounded to indomitable.
The Knife Of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness
This is an unflinching novel about the impossible choices of growing up, by an award-winning writer.Imagine you're the only boy in a town of men. And you can hear everything they think. And they can hear everything you think. Imagine you don't fit in with their plans...Todd Hewitt is just one month away from the birthday that will make him a man. But his town has been keeping secrets from him. Secrets that are going to force him to run...
The Immorta Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot
Her name was Henrietta Lacks, but scientists know her as HeLa. Born a poor black tobacco farmer, her cancer cells - taken without her knowledge - became a multimillion-dollar industry and one of the most important tools in medicine. Yet Henrietta's family did not learn of her 'immortality' until more than twenty years after her death, with devastating consequences ...Balancing the beauty and drama of scientific discovery with dark questions about who owns the stuff our bodies are made of, "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks" is an extraordinary journey in search of the soul and story of a real woman, whose cells live on today in all four corners of the world. "A fascinating, harrowing, necessary book". (Hilary Mantel, "Guardian"). "A heartbreaking account of racism and injustice". ("Metro"). "A fine book...a gripping read...The book has deservedly been a huge bestseller in the US. It should be here, too". ("Sunday Times").
Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver
Author Barbara Kingsolver and her family vowed that, for one year, they'd only buy food raised in their own neighborhood, grow it themselves, or learn to live without it. Part memoir, part journalistic investigation, "Animal, Vegetable, Miracle" is an enthralling narrative that will open your eyes in a hundred new ways to an old truth: You are what you eat. Barbara Kingsolver's twelve books of fiction, poetry, and creative nonfiction include the novels The Bean Trees and The Poisonwood Bible. Translated into nineteen languages, her work has won a devoted worldwide readership and many awards, including the National Humanities Medal. Steven L. Hopp teaches environmental studies at Emory and Henry College and conducts research in bioacoustics and the natural history of vireos. Camille Kingsolver attends Duke University, where she studies biology, anatomy, and dance, and teaches yoga.
Solid by Shelley Workinger
Teens who discover they were secretly genetically altered before birth are brought together at a classified site where they develop "super-abilities", while at the same time forging new friendships, finding love and unearthing a conspiracy.
