August 2013 Reading Challenge (Groundbreaking Reads)

[Jennie]

This month's reading challenge, to coincide with the Adult Summer Reading club theme, will be "Groundbreaking Reads". Have you read any books that you felt were groundbreaking or significant? Tell us about books that changed your life or your perspective on life. Tells about books that you loved so much you read them multiple times. Whether it is a classic you read as a child or a book that you read this summer, what is your pick for "Groundbreaking Read"? Read your "Groundbreaking Read" again this month or simply share with us what you love about it. The summer reading club will continue until August 9th; it is not too late to sign up and log books. Participants will be eligible for the Kindle Fire drawing. Join us for "I am Zelda" on August 12th at 7pm at the CCLD Central Branch.

[Pat]

I've had several bouts with Lyme Disease, and it's enough to make you wish you were dead. I finally found a good doctor and I'm in remission now, but it was a devastating decade before anyone really got a handle on it, and a frustrating and perishingly expensive trip from doctor to doctor to doctor. Imagine then, my reaction upon coming across Michael Christopher Carroll's 2005 expose about Plum Island, "Lab 257: The Disturbing Story of the Government's Secret Germ Laboratory" and discovering that, contrary to my belief that this was some sort of naturally-occurring bacillus, it - along with West Nile Virus among other scary bugs - had been carefully developed by the federal government as part of a germ warfare project. Carefully developed - and then sloppily allowed to escape into neighboring communities like Lyme, Connecticut, and from there to spread across the country infecting the citizens it was supposedly being developed to protect. And then the denials and the cover-ups began. At this point, so many people have been infected by these runaway diseases that the government would bankrupt itself if it were to admit that it was responsible for what's occurred - the resultant illnesses and disabilities and deaths. "Lab 257" was a frightening glimpse behind the facade our government presents as a benign entity governing "by the people and for the people". The cynicism, the careless disregard for anyone's wellbeing, and the very real suffering this project has caused - and this book has bared for scrutiny - truly has changed my perspective on my government and my country. It's a much darker, scarier place than I thought - and I wasn't Pollyanna when I started reading it.

[Dee]

Pat wrote: "I've had several bouts with Lyme Disease, and it's enough to make you wish you were dead. I finally found a good doctor and I'm in remission now, but it was a devastating decade before anyone real..."

What?? I've never heard this before about Lyme Disease...is this common knowledge that I've somehow missed? So glad you finally found a good doc, though....

[Pat]

There's been speculation about this for a long time, Dee, but this book is really well-researched and pretty conclusive as far as I'm concerned. Look at a map and you can see where Plum Island sits - it's right off the coast of Connecticut and very near Lyme where the first cases of Lyme Disease popped up (hence the name) - and the first cases of West Nile virus also occurred among horses on farms in the same area. Also, Nelson DeMille refers to the germ warfare projects going on there in his book, Plum Island. http://www.amazon.com/Plum-Island-Nel...