Emperor of All Maladies - A Biography of Cancer

This was an amazing book.  I learned so much while reading it, finding it very accessible, but at the same time it doesn't talk down to you.  Mukherjee roughly divides his book into sections describing cancer treatments, prevention, and origins.  I enjoyed the section on prevention a great deal and found his explanation of how tobacco became a known carcinogen to be fascinating.  However, learning about some of the early cancer treatments was also disturbingly compelling as well.  I just could not fathom some of the treatments that were in place.  The genetics/origin section was a bit tougher going as the technical terms became more ubiquitous.  Nonetheless, it was still done in a manner that was not difficult to follow (you simply had to concentrate on the terminology a bit more).  Overall, this book was amazing and should be a must read for most.  Even if you are fanatical fiction reader like myself, I believe that this book will appeal.

5/5 stars

Cool Water - Diane Warren

This book won the Canadian Governor General's award last year.  Not surprisingly then, it is a very well written book.  As I've attested to before, I tend to prefer plot-driven, rather than character-driven books and for me this is where Cool Water fell down.  The book did not have the forward momentum that keeps me riveted to the page.  This was possibly compounded by the fact that I was taking a break from the amazing, but dense Emperor of All Maladies; I think I was looking for something to just pull me along.

Despite my critiques, the characters are very interesting--from a despondent bank manager to a lonely farmer to a scattered farm wife (etc.).  For those who love character-driven literature, this is worth picking up.