Oh my!!!  It's been awhile since I have posted about books I've read. I think life and forgetfulness and  the holidays of 2017 kept me busy. Plus I was getting my father's memoir self-published by moi. That was a learning curve! But I promise I have been reading and reading and reading. Here's a few of the most recent books I have read:


Tarzan the Untamed by Edgar Rice Burroughs
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot
The End of Your Life Book Club by Will Schwalbe


So I'll start with Tarzan the Untamed. Who wouldn't? I found this book a long time ago in a bookstore somewhere. I like the old cover and the embossed letters. Don't you love how the 'Z' just swoops down and around and traps the Untamed? I think I may have written about this book earlier but I haven't really finished it yet because I keep picking up two more books to read also and I get caught up in those. Yada yada yada. But I have to include Tarzan here in case, again ... forgetfulness. So all you Tarzan fans go out and find a 1920 edition (like I have) and swing into the life of the ape man as he tries to save his jungle. Ahhhhh ah ah ah ah ah ah ah ahhhhhhhh. (Tarzan yell).


The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks came from my Little Library in my neighborhood. I learned a lot about how Henrietta's life impacted the world. The creating of drugs to help cure Aids, cancer, etc. Of course this was all without her consent. Back in the day doctors and scientists would take samples of your blood, cells, cancer cells, umbilical cords, take out your uterus, etc. and do any number of things with them in order to study how cells grew or reacted to other cells, chemicals, etc. Henrietta died a painful death from a cancer that spread throughout her body. Henrietta's cells were kept alive and they multiplied and multiplied and were therefore shared all over the world. They are still around today. It's amazing. So this book took years of research on the author's part and I encourage all to read this story. You'll come away with more knowledge than you may want to know. Kudos to Rebecca Skloot who was compelled to bring Henrietta's story to light.


The End of Your Life Book Club is a true account about a son helping his mother through pancreatic cancer, chemo, and reading books all along the way. I have personally known two people who had pancreatic cancer. One lasted longer than the other. Will's mother, Mary Anne Schwalbe, was a woman who didn't give up. She lived long after it was deemed possible. Reading of her courage is uplifting and you get a sense that, in life, she was always uplifting anyone who crossed her path. So I encourage you to grab a copy somewhere. I grabbed mine out of our neighborhood Little Library. To read about all what Mrs. Schwalbe accomplished in her life made me feel like asking myself, "What have you done, Nancy?" Will shares in this book all the books that he and his mother read together during her last years. Some of the books I have never heard of but one in particular made me smile because they both agreed it was one of their favorites. It made me smile because it is my mother's all time number one favorite; A Prayer for Owen Meany.


So that's all for now. And remember what my mother said ... you're never bored if you have a book to read. Or something like that. I carry a book around with me wherever I go. You never know if you'll be stopped for hours in traffic or in an emergency room with your 99 year old father.


Ta ta.