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The Sunday Post is a chance to recap the past week, talk about next week, tell you what I’m reading, and share news. It’s hosted by The Caffeinated Book Reviewer, Readerbuzz, and Book Date.

The Sunday Post #326

On The Blog Recently

• Best New Book Releases 2023
• Best New Young Adult Book Releases 2023
• Best New Middle Grade Book Releases 2023
• I Read 200+ "Best Books Of 2022" Lists
• Did I Love These Popular Books?

In My Reading Life

Last week, I finished Wakenhyrst by Michelle Paver. It's a historical horror novel about an awful dude and his slightly less awful daughter. One day, the awful dude is walking in a churchyard when he stumbles across a painting of a froglike demon. The painting is called a doom, and it was made during the Middle Ages. After seeing the painting, disturbing things start happening in the dude's mansion. Is he being stalked by the frog demon, or is his tween daughter trying to punish him for killing her pet magpie? His paranoia eventually leads to murder.

The atmosphere is where this story shines. It's set in a remote mansion in the English fens. The house is surrounded by odd creatures and even odder humans. The heat and humidity are inescapable. It's easy to believe that the characters would descend into anger and paranoia in this environment.

The characters are pretty awesome too. They're all kind of awful. They're arrogant and scheming. They also spend a lot of time stuck in the house, so they're sick of each other. The author sets up a situation where a lot can go wrong. The reader is just waiting to find out who cracks first.

The waiting is my complaint about the book. It's gothic horror, so the pacing is really slow. I was occasionally tempted to skim ahead to the action. There's not much action until the end.

I got a bit bored with this book, but I like the characters and writing style enough to see what else the author has written.

Then I read The Immortal Life Of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot. Everybody should read this book. It's fascinating, and it brings up topics that society really needs to discuss.

This is a nonfiction book about a Black woman named Henrietta Lacks who lived in Baltimore in the early 1900s. She died from cancer in 1951, but that's not where her story ends because Henrietta is somewhat still alive. She had a rare combination of genes and diseases that made her cells hard to kill. Scientists were able to grow them in labs and ship them all over the world. The cells were nicknamed HeLa, and they're still being grown for research purposes today.

Experiments on Henrietta's cells taught scientists about cancer and viruses, helped create vaccines, and showed the effects of atom bombs. They were vital in creating cloning, in vitro fertilization, and gene mapping. The cells have even been to space. Research labs buy and sell HeLa every day.

The cells are interesting, but who was Henrietta Lacks? That's what the book is about. Henrietta's cells were taken after her death and used without her permission. Her children and grandchildren are living in poverty and have not gotten any money from the use of her body. Henrietta's grave doesn't even have a headstone. This all feels very wrong.

For me, the most interesting part of the book is the ethical questions it brings up. Who should profit from biological specimens? If you give a doctor permission to cut out your tumor, do you forfeit your rights to that tumor?

I couldn't put this book down. I loved learning about Henrietta and the people whose biological samples have made life better for all of us.

In The Rest Of My Life

Five things that made me happy last week:

1. I hope everybody had a good Valentine's Day. I had a boxing lesson in the morning and then spent the rest of the day watching YOU on Netflix and eating buffalo wings. I highly recommend YOU and buffalo wings.
2. It was Baby Brooklyn's birthday and my mom's birthday. Brooklyn turned 4. My mom would murder me if I told you how old she turned. I can't believe Brooklyn is 4. Wasn't she just born?
3. I rewrote the About Me page on the blog. The old one was Game Of Thrones themed, and we don't speak of that show in 2023. The final season traumatized us so badly that we've blocked the show from our minds. Speaking of trauma, I couldn't delete the photo of my dogs from the About Me page, even though they're both dead. So . . . enjoy the random photo of dogs.
4. I went to my first book club meeting! Everyone was nice. We're reading Can't Hurt Me: Master Your Mind And Defy The Odds by David Goggins. It's not a book I'd pick up on my own because the serious man on the cover frightens me, but maybe I'll learn something from it.
5. I found out that I get to keep my job. The park wants me back for another season. I have mixed feelings. Being a park ranger is cool, but it's also the most exhausting job I've ever done. I felt wrecked at the end of last season. I wanted to sleep for a month.

Sometimes I Have Stuff To Tell You

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Take care of yourselves and be kind to each other. See you around the blogosphere!