What I've Read

One of my goals this year was to read 100 books by my next birthday (Nov. 25). So far, I've read 5, and I've really enjoyed them. I love, love, love nonfiction, so my two favorites of the five were The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, by Rebecca Skloot and Packing for Mars: The Curious Science of Life in the Void by Mary Roach.

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Immortal Life is the story behind HeLa cells, which are used around the world in pretty much any way imaginable. More than just learning about the cells, and perhaps more importantly, the book also tells the story of the woman whose cells they are, her life, and her family. An interesting coincidence is that they lived in Baltimore, which is where I grew up (not in the exact city, but right outside of it).

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Packing for Mars is about astronauts and space travel, and is a really fun read. The author, Mary Roach, has such a great style of writing and brings a lot of humor to her subjects. She focuses on the aspects of space travel that we don't often think about, like whether or not astronauts get motion sickness and how, exactly, does the whole bathroom in space issue work? It is a great, funny, and also very informative book.

The other three books I have read are Sarah's Key by Tatiana de Rosnay (enjoyable, a quick read), Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk: A Modest Bestiary by David Sedaris (much darker than Sedaris' other books and very different than I expected), and The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls (uncomfortable and incredible to read).

I'm now working on my sixth book, The 19th Wife, by David Ebershoff, for my book club. I'll let you know what I think soon!