Tag: Cancer

Books

Book 419: Imaginary Friends (Word & Void #0.5) – Terry Brooks

Geoff W

Brooks, Terry - Imaginary Friends (Word & Void #0.5)I feel like reading this after having read the entire Word & Void trilogy is what people who read  Go Set A Watchmen after having loved and read To Kill A Mockingbird. (On a smaller scale, obviously.)

Brooks wrote this novel back in the early ’90s as part of a short story collection. It was re-released as a single e-book in honor of a friend who had cancer with all proceeds for the first 90 days of sale going to that friend for his medical bills.

I’m glad I read this novella/short story as it was a great little encapsulated tale which shows one of the magical characters, Pick, of Word & Void fame, at an earlier time than the actual trilogy. The story revolves around 12-year-old Jack McCall who is given a cancer diagnosis. And in essence it serves as an exterior battle/response to that diagnosis.

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Books

Book 122: The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks – Rebecca Skloot

Geoff W

I need to stop saying I don’t like nonfiction and start saying I enjoy immersive nonfiction. It seems the majority of nonfiction works that I do like are those that delve deeper into societal issues from a different perspective, like The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks.

This was a fascinating read and it constantly reminded me of an updated (more micro-focused) version of Stephen Jay Gould’s The Mismeasure of Man in which he discusses and shows the errors of many scientists whose procedures created ultimately racist data. If you enjoyed Skloot’s work you should definitely check out Gould’s, although it’s not as much about the personal stories behind the family and behind Skloot’s interest in this subject which makes Skloot’s work more approachable to the general public.

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