Sunday in The Baltimore Sun, Towson University English professor Diane Scharper reviews "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks." As we noted earlier on Read Street, the book examines the ethical issues surrounding a poor black woman from Baltimore County whose cells triggered a breakthrough in medical research -- and spawned a lucrative enterprise that her family was left out of. Jeremy Singer-Vine offered a succinct look at the issue in Slate.

Here's an excerpt from the review of Rebecca Skloot's book: [She weaves] an unwieldy mix of memoir, biography, social and scientific history into an engaging whole. Using concrete details and quoting the African-American dialect of her subjects, she brings the Lacks’ family alive, especially Deborah, the youngest daughter. All of which gives Henrietta Lacks another kind of immortality — this one through the discipline of good writing.

Scharper also takes a look at "Becoming a Doctor" by Lee Gutkind. From her review: A doctor’s job is as big as life. That point informs [this] collection of memoirs edited by Lee Gutkind, who directed the creative nonfiction conference at Goucher College and is editor of the “Best Creative Nonfiction” series. Only a few of these essays can be considered “best.” Some are written poetically and seem like prose poems; others have a strong narrative drive; still others feel like rambling recollections whose theme has become clouded.