Books I read in March

Of the listed books below, only two were really substantial books. The other three were short or were filled with pictures, but I guess they still count. Which means I had another five-book reading month. I've slowed down the last half of March because I've been working on some macramé and pottery projects instead of reading in the evenings and on the weekends. Until I finish those projects, I suspect April to be a slower month as well.

And, I still haven't finished Dune. I told myself I'd get through it this month to check off a book from my Community Reading Challenge . . . oh well. Not worrying about it! I'm sure I'll be able to get some reading in and catch up in the coming months.

Anyway! Enjoy!!

How to Sit (Mindfulness Essentials #1) by Thich Nhat Hanh

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Shelves: Favorites, Health, Religious, Self-Help

Review: This book won't be for everyone, and that's fine. I was taken by how simple and to the point this book was. At around 100 pages, and with short paragraphs and simple illustrations on each page, I finished it in a few hours. I read and re-read a lot of passages because, while the language is straightforward, the meanings are deep.

I'm a Christian, and I know that Thich Nhat Hanh is a practicing Buddhist, but I appreciated his making an easily accessible book on the practice of meditation for anyone from any religious background. I think it's important that more people take time to sit in the ways this book describes, and this text does a great job at making the concept of sitting easy and doable, no matter your schedule. I also really appreciated the meditations included.

After looking at some of his other titles, I'll probably be reading more of his work in the future. This was a lovely, inspiring book that I can't wait to put into practice.

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Shelves: All-Time Favorites, Classic Literature

Review: I feel I can properly write a review for this book now that I've re-read it after 10+ years. I'm happy to report that it still stands as one of my all-time favorite books.

I understand this, and Jane Austen's writing in general, is not in everyone's taste, and that's *fine.* There are slower moments and chapters where you're reading a lot of details that aren't very interesting. It is a romance, even if there is sharp, witty writing and some comedy. I understand, at least, why my husband isn't a fan.

But the development of Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy are so good. Swooning doesn't begin to cover it. You revel in their back-and-forth in the beginning, so scathing from Elizabeth and so unapproachable from Darcy. Then, ever so slowly and affectionately, those feelings soften into something wholesome. And while you may not be able to relate to your youngest sister getting caught up in a scandalous affair with a less-than-wholesome soldier who hates your sort-of love interest, you can definitely relate to those feelings of "I just want him to look at me," or "If only he would sit next to me," or those brief stares from across the room. The pining, and the desire to be around the person you can't seem to get enough of. It's just so good!

While the book is of course very different from the movie with Keira Knightley and Matthew MacFadyen in a lot of ways, if you liked that movie, it does justice to the book. It's where I fell in love with Pride and Prejudice, and then fell in love with the book. I did watch the PBS series with Colin Firth when I was younger, but there isn't a better Darcy, in my opinion, than MacFadyen. Sorry not sorry about it.

Loved re-reading this. I was most looking forward to this book in my year of reading Austen's novels, but am also excited by . . . *looks at list* Mansfield Park.

How to Eat (Mindfulness Essentials #2) by Thich Nhat Hanh

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Shelves: Health, Religious

Review: This book, shorter than his first on sitting, uses the same base of mindfulness to address eating. This has a slightly lower rating for me because it was pretty repetitious and also contained some harmful language toward bigger bodied folks. Whenever he addresses moderation, he inserts language about light bodies being the most healthy, and that's unfortunately not always the case for a lot of people.

Otherwise, his concepts on eating - taking the time to recognize where your food is coming from and all the love and hard work that goes into each item on your plate, and sitting quietly (both in distraction and in mind) for a meal every once in a while - were useful and could benefit someone in approaching eating in a healthier manner.

I didn't enjoy it as much as his book on sitting, but there were some great nuggets of wisdom that I plan on using when I approach meals from now on.

Floret Farm's Discovering Dahlias: A Guide to Growing and Arranging Magnificent Blooms by Erin Benzakein with Julie Chai, Jill Jorgensen, and Chris Benzakein (Photographs)

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Shelves: All-Time Favorites, Gardening

Review: I have been searching for a book like this ever since I planted my first dahlias five years ago. While planting is easy enough, and remembering to dig out the tubers at the end of every season is doable, I wanted to know the best ways to stake up dahlias (at one point, I had a string going into my front living room window in order to keep them from falling over), combat bugs, and get them to produce more flowers. This is a required textbook for anyone looking to make the most out of their dahlias, whether on a large scale to sell or just for their own personal pleasure in their flower beds. This book addressed everything I had hoped it would: staking, storing and separating tubers, insect issues (earwigs!), and even propagating from cuttings.

Floret Farm outdid themselves with this book, and I am so excited to now have it in my arsenal for planting this year. Let my best years of planting and harvesting dahlias be now upon me!

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Shelves: Book Club, Favorites, Memoir-Biography, Science

Review: This extremely well-written, all-encompassing book on the life of Henrietta Lacks and her cancer cells was a shock to me for several reasons. First, it was a book about science and a topic I didn't think would ever interest me. It was chosen as our March book of the month in my book club with Hidden Figures as a contender. I had chosen Hidden Figures because of the movie and because I didn't know much about those women. On the other hand, I didn't know anything about Henrietta Lacks. So, it wasn't my first choice. What a surprise to me then to get so swept into this story. The writing was so well done that I found the subjects and the story to be gripping, to the point of thinking about it whenever I wasn't reading about it. It was even more astounding to find out all of this took place in Baltimore, in a time period and location where my step-dad and his family lived and worked. Dundalk, specifically, was the neighborhood where my family by marriage lived their lives, and encompassed Turner Station, where the story centralizes.

Second, I was moved by the discussion of consent surrounding medical research. In 1951, when Henrietta's cancer cells were taken for research, consent wasn't a thing. She had signed a permission slip for her surgical procedure, but nowhere did it give consent for research doctors to take her cells during it. Doctors did this frequently (and still take tissues from patients today), with the understanding that most people's cells weren't special and probably wouldn't contribute much to science. Lo and behold, Henrietta's cells, which went on to be known HeLa cells, turned out to be extraordinary. They were used to create the polio vaccine, the HPV vaccine, and so many other things. They have played a large role in HIV/AIDS and cancer research, and are still used widely in scientific research today. Her cells were flown all over the world freely given (or sold cheaply) to any scientist who could use them, and that led to these major developments in science and health.

On the other side of the coin, her family was never informed of this research. And after her untimely death at the age of 31, leaving behind five children and a spouse, this should have been something conveyed to them. They didn't receive a single penny of the billions medical research companies made from these cells in the years since her death.

This story is incredible, and brings up the morality of scientific research. Had the rules and statutes been in place that are today in 1951, would we have had the great discoveries we have now? When ownership of cells and tissues has led to more commercialism of scientific research, driving up the cost of that research and what is produced from it and results not being as widely shared, it makes you wonder: what is the correct way to do something like this that leads to the most benefit for (a) the person involved in giving parts of themselves and (b) the greater good of humanity?

To say this book blew me away is an understatement. The story here is so well-researched, so easily understandable, and therefore so interesting. It tells the important stories of an African-American family that can be translated across other minority stories during this time period (and beyond). It bears important questions about how these vital cells, taken from a Black woman of a lower working class, don't benefit the lower classes they were taken from. All of Henrietta's children couldn't afford healthcare, and yet their mother's cells were bringing in billions of dollars to that very industry that was and continues to disenfranchise them. It's absolutely gut-wrenching.

This is certainly a book I will think about for a long, long time, and ponder with these questions. What a stunning book on so many levels. I highly, highly recommend.