Adam Forever and Adam's Caverns by Lawrence Lapin

Genre: Adult, Science Fiction
Source: I purchased them

Adam Forever 

This was a strange book, intriguing, but strange.  Adam Boatwright is a geneticist.  His wife is afraid she will inherit breast cancer and have to go through what her sister is going through.  Adam decides to try to find a way to prevent his wife and others in the world from developing this cancer.  As a geneticist he works on what he believes is a cure.  The cure will keep the virus active in the body while preventing cancer. As always, there is a side effect, immortality.  Adam can’t just test this on anyone so he does the unthinkable and tests it on himself.  It is here we run into the normal issues that would arise.  Is it ethical? Who should be allowed this treatment if the known outcome would be immortality?  As I read this it played in my head like a movie.  I could see future events that could become very difficult and in some cases catastrophic.  If you have a race of people who all have immortality, how do you weed out the bad ones?  Who has the right to play God and choose who gets to live and who doesn’t?

Adam’s Caverns

In the second book in the series we have gone beyond the treatment and immortality issue.  As a scientist, Adam and a group of his friends prepare for the end of the world.  A meteor is going to crash into the earth and only a few will survive.  Adam and his friends stockpile embryos, animals, plants and other things they will need to repopulate the earth once life is destroyed by this meteor.  But, like all societies, even the post-apocalyptic ones, life isn’t perfect and never goes as planned.  There is fighting among them and among a group who survived in Antarctica.  Once again we are face with all types of ethical and social issues.  This book was actually better than the first one.  If you are into this type of read then I would definitely recommend it.

She is Mine: A War Orphan's Incredible Journey of Survival - Stefanie Fast

Genre: Adult, Autobiography
Source: I received a copy to facilitate my review. The opinions expressed here are my own.

This is such a heartwrenching story, and yet it is so full of hope.  No one knows the path many in this world walk or have walked. Very few could walk and survive the path Stefanie Fast walked. I am not real familiar with the Korean War since it was many, many years before my time. However, I remember hearing similar stories after the Vietnam War. An American soldier fathers a child with a Korean mother. It is bad enough the mother is left pregnant and unwed, but the baby is mixed which is an absolute taboo.  When she is four years old the family has had enough.  Her mother takes her to the train station and abandons her.  She spends years looking for her mother.  The abuse and atrocities she goes through make it a miracle she survived.  God looked down on her and had great plans for her.  She did survive.  This is one of those books you will start and continue to read until you have finished it.  You will need your tissues as this will break your heart and the warm it.  It made me hurt for every child today who goes through hardships.  It makes me appreciate my years growing up and the love I had.  I highly recommend this book.

Student Saturday: Tuesdays at the Castle by Jessica Day George

Student Reviewer: Shalyn W.
Genre: Middle Grade, Traditional, Fantasy

The book Tuesdays at the Castle starts out with the Castle Glower growing a new room because it is bored. The parents of a girl named Celie and her other siblings. She is advised to watch them, but when her parents disappear will she be able to keep them away from this room? I can relate to this book because my mom keeps many secrets away from me. I really liked this book because usually  I'm not a fan of traditional fiction. I would recommend this book to new tradional readers.