October RandomCAT: Healthcare Heroes

I can't think of anything more important this year than our healthcare workers, who are truly heroes. For our October RandomCAT, please choose a book that has a healthcare practitioner as a prominent figure.

I'm considering picking from these:
The Coroner's Lunch, the first book in the Dr. Siri Paiboun series, by Colin Cotterill
Charles Bovary, Country Doctor: Portrait of a Simple Man by Jean Amery
The Rector and the Doctor's Family by Mrs. Oliphant
Regeneration by Pat Barker
Passage by Connie Willis

I'm looking forward to seeing what all of you pick.

And don't forget to update the wiki!

I think my choices for this one are Seeing Voices by Oliver Sacks, a neurologist, and Shadows of the Workhouse by Jennifer Worth, the second in the Call the Midwife series.

I've already read Midwives by Chris Bohjalian for a Bingo block earlier this year. I'm thinking I'll read The Woman Who Wouldn't Die by Colin Cotterill, next up for me in the series.

I had already planned The Coroner's Lunch by Colin Cotterill for next month and the protagonist is a doctor.

I have found The Desert Nurse, a novel about Gallipoli.

I'll try to get to The Speed of Dark.

I've got several memoirs that will fit this one. I'm going to go with Close to Where the Heart Gives Out: A Year in the Life of an Orkney Doctor by Malcolm Alexander. If I have time I may well join >2 Robertgreaves: in reading Shadows of the Workhouse by Jennifer Worth.

I will read An Outback Nurse by Thea Hayes.

>1 LisaMorr: Oooh! I have those Margaret Oliphant stories out from the library! FYI, there's also a story, "The Executor", which is the first story in the Carlingford series, followed by "The Rector" and then "The Doctor's Family."

There's also Patrick Taylor's Irish Country series, featuring Dr. Barry Laverty and Dr. O'Reilly:

https://www.librarything.com/nseries/6752/Irish-Country

Emma Goldberg, NYT journalist has written a book about the NYU students who graduated from medical school early to become part of the Covid team. Too bad it won't be out until 2021. This would be my pick! I will have no trouble finding others. I'm considering Bellevue: Three Centuries of Medicine and Mayhem at America's Most Storied Hospital.

Have to say - what an amazing, thoughtful theme! Thank you >1 LisaMorr:!

I'll have to come back once I've had a chance to see what's on my tbr.

I hadn't realized but it looks like The Fireman by Joe Hill has a nurse as a central character. That might be the one!

I LOVE this because I so wholly agree that health care providers are our heroes (along with firefighters, said the woman living in the western U.S.).

Not sure what I'll read but I'll find something and report back.

>13 LibraryCin: The book revolves around the nurse character, so perfect for this. I highly recommend this book.

I think I'm going to go with Patrick Quentin's A Puzzle for Fools, which is a mystery set in a mental hospital. I assume there will be some healthcare professionals in prominent roles -- and hopefully none of them are the murderer!

I will probably read The Amish Midwife by Patricia Davids, which is part of a series set in Lancaster County.

>16 christina_reads: I quite liked that one!

I will probably read my choice early: Soap and Water and Common Sense, by Dr. Bonnie Henry.

>15 lowelibrary: Thank you! Good to know!

>18 rabbitprincess: I will probably read my choice early: Soap and Water and Common Sense, by Dr. Bonnie Henry.

She's written a book!? Nice.

>20 LibraryCin: First published 2009, updated this year!

>21 rabbitprincess: I will be very interested in what you think!

Lots of interesting choices so far!

>9 kac522: I didn't know about that first story in the Carlingford series, I'll have to look for it.

>12 LibraryCin: Thank you! I was thinking of some other ideas when I signed up for October last year, but this really hits home with me this year, and I'm glad it resonates with you too.

>14 EBT1002: Hope you are staying safe out there!

>23 LisaMorr: I didn't either until I picked up my copy from the library, and read the introduction:

http://www.librarything.com/work/2103431

This edition has all 3: "The Executor", "The Rector" and "The Doctor's Family."

I finished The Doctor's Family and other Stories, Margaret Oliphant (1861)

This edition contains the first 3 stories of Oliphant’s Carlingford series: "The Executor", "The Rector", "The Doctor's Family" (novella). These were interesting stories of life from a woman's perspective; much of Oliphant's life appears in these stories. “The Executor” centers around a will; not particularly effective, but does give an introduction to the doctor. “The Rector” is a study of a man doing the wrong kind of work and feeling out of his element.

“The Doctor's Family” returns to the doctor as he encounters the strong and almost martyr-like Nettie. Not sure I loved any of the characters, but they were all interesting. Oliphant is clearly writing much about herself in Nettie. I will continue with this series, but probably won't read other of her books unless they are stand-outs.

Even though I enjoyed these stories, there wasn't much about the doctor's practice or medicine, unfortunately.

So I will try to read a non-fiction book that I saw mentioned on a PBS NewsHour piece about health care professionals who use music to de-stress. One of the participants, Dr. Lisa Wong, has written a book Scales to Scalpels, which is about the Longwood Symphony Orchestra, founded by a group of Boston-area health care professionals. Although written pre-COVID in 2012, I think it should be an interesting insight into how music and medicine can be used in healing, for both the participants and listeners.

I read Blood Lies by Daniel Kalla

Author Daniel Kalla is an Emergency Room physician in Vancouver and in this story the protagonist, Ben Dafoe, is an ER doctor in Seattle. The story takes place in both cities. At the beginning of the book I thought, for an ER doctor, this guy is making a lot of bad choices but this is of less significance as the story becomes more complex and the twists piled up. And although there is an identical twin factor, it's not the old worn out motif but fits well into the plot. It was a first rate medical thriller with excellent characters. I can't wait to read more of Kalla's books. Highly recommended to anyone who enjoys mysteries.

Well, I didn't know it when I was reading this book for book club that it had a nurse and doctor in it but it does. I read The Southern Book Club Guide to Slaying Vampires by Grandy Hendrix.

I had a funky old paperback on the shelf of Prison Nurse by William Neubauer. While you might think from the title it's cheesy romance or erotica, in fact it's a YA novel in which a social-activist nurse at a facility for female juvenile delinquents is held up as a role model.

November RandomCAT is now posted:
http://www.librarything.com/topic/325352

I finished The Amish Midwife by Patricia Davids. I learned a lot more about goat farming than I did about midwifing, but it was a lovely fun read.

I read Dreadful Company by Vivian Shaw. The main character is a doctor who treats various undead creatures. Lots of fun!

I read The Desert Nurse which is historical fiction about a nurse in Egypt during World War I.

I have finished Arztroman which features a doctor working in emergency medicine who has to adjust to the end of her marriage. I really enjoyed this.

I just finished reading a book which features medical care in very poor light. It is The Miracle & Tragedy of the Dionne Quintuplets by Sarah Miller. Shortly after birth the quints were taken from their parents and older siblings and put under the care of the doctor who delivered them plus a number of nurses, one for each child, most of whom did not stay long. The medical team was very intent on having all the quints survive; the environment was kept as germ free as possible. From the age of two until nine, the quints were under the guardianship of the government, still separated from their family. When they were finally reunited with their family, they did not fit in; their parents expected them to adjust to family life immediately after being cared for in an institutional setting for their early childhood. During their early years the quints were treated as a special show; visitors were allowed to walk around their playground, etc., and look at them through one-way glass. The trust found set up for the quints was used for every expense in any way connected with them including the building of their special home, etc., which left the surviving quints in poverty in their old age. The quints had major problems in adjusting to life in their adult years.
However, the quints looked back on their early years as the happiest time of their lives. Two of the quints became nurses as adults.

The Fireman / Joe Hill
3.5 stars

There is a new plague – a spore – that is spreading throughout the population. It causes people to suddenly burst into flames. When a nurse, Harper, comes down with it, her husband leaves her and she is driven from her home as there are people out there who are hunting down and killing those with “Dragonscale”. They are marked with an elaborate tattoo when infected, so it can be hard to hide. Harper ends up in the woods with a group of other people hiding out with Dragonscale, including a man they call “The Fireman”. Things take a turn for the worse at this camp when their leader is seriously injured.

This was good. It was long, but it was good. I liked that Allie, the teenager, was portrayed realistically – at least I thought so. Good and bad, temperamental, like a teenager. We also had some crazy characters and some power-hungry ones. I do wonder if there will be a sequel.

I just finished Dr Malcolm Alexander's Close to Where the Heart Gives Out, a memoir of his time as GP on the outlying Orkney island of Eday 30-odd years ago. It was lovely - full of affection for the people and place, and awareness of his own place within the community and the impact of the place on him and his family. An inspiring read.

I'm going to claim The Well of Loneliness for this challenge (seeing I'm making myself finish it, I ought to be able to claim it for something!). The lead character serves as an ambulance driver in France at the end of WW1.

>37 Helenliz: LOL! And since I also read Well of Loneliness, I will also count it here.

I also just completed An Outback Nurse by Thea Hayes. I was disappointed with the lack of nursing information or stories in this book, but found her life in the remote Outback interesting.

I have finally found a book with a nurse as the main character. I will be reading Whispers and Lies by Joy Fielding.

I finished Scales to Scalpels: Doctors Who Practice the Healing Arts of Music and Medicine by Lisa Wong, M.D. (2012).

I learned about this book in a short piece on the PBS NewsHour featuring the author and her group: https://www.pbs.org/newshour/search-results?q=Longwood%20Symphony

Dr. Wong gives us the history and mission of the Longwood Symphony Orchestra, located in Boston's medical district. Founded in 1982, it began when a group of medical professionals realized that many of their colleagues were also musicians. It is a volunteer group where medical professionals can release their emotions at the end of the day. Additionally, the group's mission is to serve the community by putting on fundraising concerts for medically-related non-profit groups in the community (like local health centers, food banks, and other organizations that meet the critical medical and humanitarian needs of the community).

The book itself is not quite as focused as I would have liked, going over all different ways that medicine and music interact. She does this mostly through stories of orchestra members.

The orchestra is an interesting idea, but the book seemed like it has not been edited--duplicate paragraphs, often repetitive, uneven writing and typing errors. But the mission of the group is very admirable. There's also a list at the back of the members' favorite pieces to deal with stress, grief, etc.

Phantoms / Dean Koontz
4 stars

When Jenny, a doctor, arrives in her small town of about 500 people with her much younger sister Lisa, to whom Jenny is now guardian, the place is still like nothing she’s ever experienced. When they arrive at home, they find her housekeeper on the kitchen floor, dead. The phone is not working, so they head next door to use the neighbour’s phone to call the police, but the neighbours are no where to be found. And no working phone. Jenny and Lisa investigate a bit further to find people either missing or dead.

I really liked this one. A bit creepy to be reading by myself after dark, but isn’t that what horror is for!? The author has a note at the end about the writing of the book, which was also interesting.

COMPLETED Shadows of the Workhouse by Jennifer Worth

A second volume of memoirs of a maternity and home visit nurse in London's East End in the 1950s.

I've completed The Coroner's Lunch by Colin Cotterill. It's the first in the Dr. Siri Panboun mystery series set in Laos.

I've just read a short book which fits here, Lytton Strachey's Florence Nightingale (Penguin 60s).