The Penn Stater Magazine

What We’re Reading: Tina Hay

January 12, 2010 at 9:17 am Tina Hay 1 comment

Second in a series: Inspired by the faculty reading list in our Jan/Feb issue, we’ve come up with our own lists of the books that are getting us through the long Happy Valley winter. Check back all week long for book recommendations from The Penn Stater staff—and use the comment box below to tell us yours.

What I’m Reading Now: Singing Lessons, a 1998 book by Judy Collins. After I saw her Christmas concert at the State Theatre downtown last month, I went to Schlow Library and requested this book. It’s a memoir that focuses primarily on the 1992 suicide of her only child—her 33-year-old son, Clark—and how she has struggled to make sense of that tragedy.

Book I Can’t Wait to Read: The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot. Due out Feb. 2, it’s the tale of a little-known woman who was diagnosed with cervical cancer in 1951. Without her knowledge, doctors harvested some of her cells, and the resulting HeLa cell line has been used for countless medical studies in the nearly 50 years since. Skloot is a science writer (she and I have talked about the possibility of having her write for The Penn Stater sometime) and first wrote about Henrietta Lacks for the Johns Hopkins magazine.

Guilty Pleasure: Anything by Sue Grafton. I just bought her latest, U is for Undertow, and hope to get to it soon.

Book I Should Get Around to but Haven’t: The End of Overeating: Taking Control of the Insatiable American Appetite, by David Kessler. The former head of the Food and Drug Administration argues that the food industry systematically exploits our brain chemistry in ways that make food irresistible—and weight loss next to impossible. I actually started the book a few months ago, then got distracted, and now the book is buried in a pile on my nightstand. (This happens to me with books way too often.)

Also in the Queue: Falling Angels, by Tracy Chevalier. This was sent to me by my friend Joady Gorelick ’72, whom I met on an Alumni Association trip; she knows I’m fond of photographing Victorian-era cemeteries and thought I might like this tale set in a London cemetery in 1901. Also: A Year in France by Julia Child, since I loved the movie Julie & Julia. And, for something completely different, The Hot Shoe Diaries: Big Light from Small Flashes, a technical how-to book by well-known photographer Joe McNally.

Tina Hay, editor

On Wednesday: Editorial assistant Barb Marshall’s picks.

Entry filed under: The Penn Stater magazine. Tags: A Year in France, Clark Collins, David Kessler, Falling Angels, Joady Gorelick, Joe McNally, Judy Collins, Julia Child, Rebecca Skloot, Sanity and Grace, Singing Lessons, Sue Grafton, suicide, The End of Overeating: Taking Control of the Insatiable American Appetite, The Hot Shoe Diaries, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, Tracy Chevalier, U is for Undertow, WInter Reading List.