A Non-Book Post

I came across the following post through the lawyer-mom network... it was written by a blogger who has breast cancer. I thought it was really important to share:

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We hear a lot about breast cancer these days. One in eight women will be diagnosed with breast cancer in their lifetimes, and there are millions living with it in the U.S. today alone. But did you know that there is more than one type of breast cancer?

I didn’t. I thought that breast cancer was all the same. I figured that if I did my monthly breast self-exams, and found no lump, I’d be fine.

Oops. It turns out that you don’t have to have a lump to have breast cancer. Six weeks ago, I went to my OB/GYN because my breast felt funny. It was red, hot, inflamed, and the skin looked…funny. But there was no lump, so I wasn’t worried. I should have been. After a round of antibiotics didn’t clear up the inflammation, my doctor sent me to a breast specialist and did a skin punch biopsy. That test showed that I have inflammatory breast cancer, a very aggressive cancer that can be deadly.

Inflammatory breast cancer is often misdiagnosed as mastitis because many doctors have never seen it before and consider it rare. “Rare” or not, there are over 100,000 women in the U.S. with this cancer right now; only half will survive five years. Please call your OB/GYN if you experience several of the following symptoms in your breast, or any unusual changes: redness, rapid increase in size of one breast, persistent itching of breast or nipple, thickening of breast tissue, stabbing pain, soreness, swelling under the arm, dimpling or ridging (for example, when you take your bra off, the bra marks stay – for a while), flattening or retracting of the nipple, or a texture that looks or feels like an orange (called peau d’orange). Ask if your GYN is familiar with inflammatory breast cancer, and tell her that you’re concerned and want to come in to rule it out.

There is more than one kind of breast cancer. Inflammatory breast cancer is the most aggressive form of breast cancer out there, and early detection is critical. It’s not usually detected by mammogram. It does not usually present with a lump. It may be overlooked with all of the changes that our breasts undergo during the years when we’re pregnant and/or nursing our little ones. It’s important not to miss this one.

Inflammatory breast cancer is detected by women and their doctors who notice a change in one of their breasts. If you notice a change, call your doctor today. Tell her about it. Tell her that you have a friend with this disease, and it’s trying to kill her. Now you know what I wish I had known before six weeks ago.

You don’t have to have a lump to have breast cancer.

Don't worry, no spoilers

I stayed up late last night to finish the last Harry Potter book. (That made it fun to get up for mass, since I was cantoring.) I won't give anything away, but I wanted to express some thoughts on the series of books in general. (I guess if you haven't read up to Book 6, maybe you shouldn't read this afterall, but I won't give away anything that happens in Book 7.)

1) The black, the white and all the grey in between. The thing I like most about the books is that, along with the main characters, the books mature and develop into something more than one dimensional stories of good versus evil. By the last book, it is finally very clear to Harry that, with a few notable exceptions, people are not just "good" and "bad." These are lessons we (hopefully) learn as we become adults. While there might clearly be a side of right and a side of wrong, the players are not always such. Good people are capable of terrible things, and bad people are capable of kindness and compassion. The ability for abstract reasoning comes with age, maturity and development. I once heard a high school teacher discuss such differences between sophomores and seniors. By the time we reach adulthood, we have the ability to understand such things previously lost on us only a couple years prior. Doesn't mean we necessarily ever do understand, of course, there are still plenty of people who don't, but we at least have the capacity.

In Book 5, Harry finds out that his father wasn't this awesome role model he believed him to be (and neither were his buddies). He was a rather arrogant bully instead, and was pretty cruel to Snape, which paved the way for Snape's own torment of Harry throughout school. Harry had wanted to paint Snape as the bully, a grown-up version of Draco Malfoy, but he soon realizes that his father may have had more in common with Draco instead. Harry is disturbed by this, because he doesn't realize that, first of all, people are flawed, including his sainted parents. But mostly he can't yet comprehend how his father could have been this great wizard, a freedom fighter, a hero, but have acted like a prat during adolescence. His belief that his father wasn't "good" is quite devastating to him.

Those themes continue throughout the next two books as loyalties are tested and people are faced with their own limitations, regardless of what side they had already chosen. Fear also plays a role in this.

2.) Fear as a catalyst for choice. In Book 3, Pettigrew is revealed as the traitor to the Order, and to the Potters. A long-time trusted friend of the Potters, Pettigrew betrays his friends. He wants to be on the winning side, but I think maybe not completely for his own glory or what he believes Voldemort and the Death Eaters can provide. I think fear had something to do with it as well. There is a lot about fear throughout Book 6 and especially in Book 7. When faced with the fear, some man-up, some run away, and some crumble. Others simply ignore the problem altogether and try to stay neutral. I noticed a lot of WWII type themes, which is really the historical prototype for the rise of the evil empire and subsequent resistence. In Book 5, the Ministry of Magic provides us with the political element and acts as a stereotypical government would: deny there's a problem; but even if there's a problem, we've got it under control; and blame someone else. All the while acting as inefficiently as only a bureaucracy can.

But again, back to the whole good-bad dichotomy, fear is in many cases what leads to several characters' chosen paths, good and bad.

3.) The theme of love. Here's the heartwarming, squishy one. Although it is clear J.K. wants to use "love" as the ruling element, I would almost say loyalty and compassion before actual love. The whole reason Harry survived Voldemort's original attack is because of his mother's sacrifice. But for a "good" person, and maybe not even a particularly good person, that person might usually kick puppies and cheat on his taxes, but in a crisis, in a life-and-death situation, many people, without even thinking, risk their lives, or sacrifice their lives for another, even a stranger. Isn't a mother sacrificing herself for her child more of an instinct rather than a conscious act of love? Soldiers sacrifice themselves for their countries, and isn't that more consciously about duty and loyalty than about love? I don't doubt that love is a factor, but I think in those moments of choice, that love isn't the main factor.

So, that's pretty much it for now. I liked the last book, I thought it was well-done. Not my favorite, I think Book 4 is still my favorite. I have a soft-spot for the awkward, coming-of-age Harry, who likes a girl he can barely speak to, competes in the wizarding tournament and acts like a "normal" teenage boy, but who at the end, loses the last of his innocence. Oh, and I love Cedric plus David Tennant is in the movie as Barty Crouch, Jr., which just makes it that much more awesome.

But it's over and done. Sad, but I'm excited for the final two movies, and I think the last movie will really require some impressive acting by the kids (who aren't actually kids anymore). Anyone have any thoughts? Just mark any spoilers if you include them.

Local events

The International Book Project hosts its annual Spring Book Sale on Fri July 20 and Sat July 21 from 9 am to 6 pm. The sale will be held at the IBP warehouse, 1440 Delaware Ave., Lexington. The sale will feature thousands of books, covering a variety of fiction and nonfiction genres. All books will be half off already low prices. For over forty years, the International Book Project has distributed books across the developing world and in underserved communities at home. In 2006, the not-for-profit organization shipped over 200,000 volumes to 63 countries. Proceeds from the book sale support IBP’s advocacy of global literacy, educational opportunity, and intercultural understanding. For more information about the sale, call the International Book Project at 859-254-6771.

Next book -- Birdsong by Sebastian Faulks

In 1910, England's Stephen Wraysford, a junior executive in a textile firm, is sent by his company to northern France. There he falls for Isabelle Azaire, a young and beautiful matron who abandons her abusive husband and sticks by Stephen long enough to conceive a child. Six years later, Stephen is back in France, as a British officer fighting in the trenches. Facing death, embittered by isolation, he steels himself against thoughts of love. But despite rampant disease, harrowing tunnel explosions and desperate attacks on highly fortified German positions, he manages to survive, and to meet with Isabelle again. The emotions roiled up by this meeting, however, threaten to ruin him as a soldier. Everything about this novel, which was a bestseller in England, is outsized, from its epic, if occasionally ramshackle, narrative to its gruesome and utterly convincing descriptions of battlefield horrors. Faulks (A Fool's Alphabet) proves himself a grand storyteller here. Enlivened with considerable historical detail related through accomplished prose, his narrative flows with a pleasingly appropriate recklessness that brings his characters to dynamic life.

Meeting will be held at my house on Sunday, July 29, 2007 at 2:00 pm.

Book Review: The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon

Christopher Boone, the autistic 15-year-old narrator of this revelatory novel, relaxes by groaning and doing math problems in his head, eats red-but not yellow or brown-foods and screams when he is touched. Strange as he may seem, other people are far more of a conundrum to him, for he lacks the intuitive "theory of mind" by which most of us sense what's going on in other people's heads. When his neighbor's poodle is killed and Christopher is falsely accused of the crime, he decides that he will take a page from Sherlock Holmes (one of his favorite characters) and track down the killer. As the mystery leads him to the secrets of his parents' broken marriage and then into an odyssey to find his place in the world, he must fall back on deductive logic to navigate the emotional complexities of a social world that remains a closed book to him. In the hands of first-time novelist Haddon, Christopher is a fascinating case study and, above all, a sympathetic boy: not closed off, as the stereotype would have it, but too open-overwhelmed by sensations, bereft of the filters through which normal people screen their surroundings. Christopher can only make sense of the chaos of stimuli by imposing arbitrary patterns ("4 yellow cars in a row made it a Black Day, which is a day when I don't speak to anyone and sit on my own reading books and don't eat my lunch and Take No Risks"). His literal-minded observations make for a kind of poetic sensibility and a poignant evocation of character. Though Christopher insists, "This will not be a funny book. I cannot tell jokes because I do not understand them," the novel brims with touching, ironic humor. The result is an eye-opening work in a unique and compelling literary voice.

I just finished this book the other night, and have to say that I was pretty impressed that I enjoyed it. (It has been compared to Faulkner's The Sound and the Fury, and I bloody hate Faulkner.) This book is really interesting and insightful, although there are entire sections of the book that go into detail on math problems, and I skipped those, because I wouldn't understand it anyway. It's an interesting trip inside the mind of an autistic teenage boy, and to observe the world around him through his perspective. If anyone wants to borrow it, they're welcome to do so. (It won't be my pick for book club though, I have another one in mind.)

New date

Please take note of the newly rescheduled date for book club, June 21.

If anyone would like to host next month, and you have a book in mind, please let me know! I have a couple books in mind if I don't hear from anyone.

Hope to see you next Thursday! If not, feel free to leave your thoughts on the book here.

Half of a Yellow Sun

I saw this article this morning and thought I would pass it along as a possible book club selection. I have not read the book, but winning Britain's Orange Prize seems like a pretty good endorsement.