June Meeting

It's been a while and I do apologize for the lack of upkeep in the book club blog. However, I've been working on a website improvement for everyone--you can now check out what's happening in the Hatchet Coffee Book Club and the new Young Adult Book Club at their digital homes on this site! You can see them in the drop down Programs menu. 

The June meeting will take place on Saturday, June 24th at the bookstore at 7:30pm. Drinks and snacks will be provided. This month, we will be discussing The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot. If you plan on attending, please RSVP on our Facebook event so we can prepare properly for our guests. 

Book Summary: Henrietta Lacks, as HeLa, is known to present-day scientists for her cells from cervical cancer. She was a poor Southern tobacco farmer who worked the same land as her slave ancestors, yet her cells were taken without her knowledge and still live decades after her death. Cells descended from her may weigh more than 50M metric tons. 

HeLa cells were vital for developing the polio vaccine; uncovered secrets of cancer, viruses, and the atom bomb’s effects; helped lead to important advances like in vitro fertilization, cloning, and gene mapping; and have been bought and sold by the billions. Yet Henrietta Lacks was buried in an unmarked grave.

The journey starts in the “colored” ward of Johns Hopkins Hospital in the 1950s, her small, dying hometown of Clover, Virginia — wooden slave quarters, faith healings, and voodoo. Today are stark white laboratories with freezers full of HeLa cells, East Baltimore children and grandchildren live in obscurity, see no profits, and feel violated. The dark history of experimentation on African Americans helped lead to the birth of bioethics, and legal battles over whether we control the stuff we are made of. 

You can pick up a copy at the bookstore for $16.00 & receive a 15% off discount. 
​You can get the ebook here for $10.60.
​You can get the audiobook here for $20.00--if you sign up for a membership, you'll get your first audiobook for just $0.99!