Between Friends and Lovers

Between Friends and Lovers by Shirlene Obuobi, 357 pages

Dr. Josephine Boateng has thousands of social media followers who tune in for her humor and candid attitude toward health and self-love. While she's super-confident in front of the camera, her off-screen life is much more complicated, with a long unrequited crush on her rich playboy best friend, Ezra, keeping her from dating seriously. But when Ezra takes his new girlfriend's side when Jo calls her out as her high school bully, Jo has had it and decides to plunge into a new relationship with shy novelist, Mal. Mal's dealing with his own issues (among them: impostor syndrome when his debut novel gets picked up for screen adaptation and baggage from a long-term toxic relationship), but as a longtime Instagram follower of Jo, he's willing to give this a try, especially when he finds her as charming in real life as she is online. But will Jo be able to let go of Ezra's hold on her so that her relationship with Mal can flourish?

This is a winning romance with plenty of clear communication (what?? that never happens in romance novels!) and a distinct lack of guys fighting over the girl. Honestly, my one complaint about this book is that Mal is just too perfect a guy, though that's probably not a bad thing for a romance novel. Well worth a read.

The Fake Mate

The Fake Mate by Lana Ferguson (2023) 367 pages

Medical doctors ‒ Mackenzie, a sparkly Emergency Room doctor, and Noah, who's a highly touted, but taciturn cardiac surgeon ‒ start a fake relationship for different reasons. Mackenzie wants to have her grandmother stop worrying that she's single. Noah needs to assuage the hospital's concern that he is an "alpha," a type of "shifter" that is in some cases a concern for safety. An "alpha" who is mated, though, is considered to be less volatile. 

Yes, shifting is going on in this story, which is somewhat fascinating, especially if you're curious as to what shifting means with regard to sexual activity.

These two very different characters work to keep their charade believable. The reader eventually learns more about what it means to be a shifter (alpha or omega), and what it means to be mated, which is different from merely having a sexual relationship. A fast and weird read.

Strange Practice

 Strange Practice by Vivian Shaw, 320 pages.

Dr. Greta Helsing runs a very specialized medical practice, caring for London's undead like her family before her. Although not lucrative, Greta takes great satisfaction in her work. An order on monstrous monks hunting London's undead and human communities both is not what she signed up for, but that's not going to stop her from doing her best to get to the bottom of it.

This was a fun little mystery. I really enjoyed the characters and the world that Shaw set up. I will however say that it is a very good thing that solving mysteries isn't actually Greta's job, because she and her friends are frustratingly bad at it. Still, I enjoyed this book enough that I expect I will pick up it's sequel.

(Also, this cover is SUPER cool)

Iza's Ballad

 Iza's Ballad / Magda Szabo, trans. by George Szirtes, 327 pp.

I am a huge fan of Szabo's and I can't exactly explain why.  She published many novels in her native Hungarian in the middle of the last century, and I gather she was quite famous in her home country after a period in which her work was repressed for political reasons.  

Iza is the talented, ambitious, ultra-competent daughter of good, loving parents who spent their lives in a modest village.  When Iza's father dies, she decides to bring her beloved mother Ettie to live with her in Pest, where she has a sleek, modern apartment thanks to her successful medical career.  But Ettie is bewildered by the modernity of Iza's life, fearing to touch electrical appliances and easily bossed around by the paid housekeeper.  The tension between mother and daughter is beautifully rendered.  Iza herself remains a bit of a mystery, perhaps most of all to herself.  

The Pursuit of Alice Thrift

The Pursuit of Alice Thrift by Elinor Lipman (2003) 269 pages

Alice Thrift has always been an excellent student, but she is finding that good academics (graduating second in her class at Harvard, for example) isn't enough to make her a good doctor. In fact, she's waiting for the other shoe to drop, doubtful that she'll be asked to stay for a second year in the residency program at the Boston hospital where she has been training. If only she weren't so socially awkward, that could help.

Alice finds herself being wooed by Ray Russo, a 45 year-old candy salesman who says he was widowed in the past year. Ray's kind of a slimy dude, always making a sales pitch, telling lies, or worse, telling everyone he sees that Alice is a doctor. This novel shows the progression of Ray's courtship of Alice, as well as her budding friendships with Leo, a nurse she's sharing an apartment with, as well as a couple of doctors she meets along the way.

Strange Practice

Strange Practice: A Dr. Greta Helsing novel by Vivian Shaw  385 pp.

Dr. Greta Helsing has the unusual medical practice of treating the undead seeing a variety of supernatural creatures like vampires, ghouls, banshees, mummies, etc. When a mysterious cult targets both the living and the undead she sets about to stop them before they destroy her practice and her undead friends. When they come for her, it becomes personal. The premise of this book is great, the execution not quite. There's nothing wrong with the story or the writing but I finished reading with the feeling that it could have been so much more. The ending is an obvious lead to a second book.

Dr. Knox

Dr. Knox by Peter Spiegelman, 351 pages.

I remember enjoying Thick as Thieves quite a bit, so I was happy to see Spiegelman's latest on the library shelves earlier this year.
Dr. Knox operates a clinic in a poor neighborhood in LA. His operation is barely above water, financially, and he doesn't really need any more trouble, but when a frightened woman abandons her young son (is he her son?) at the clinic one day, and all sorts of scary looking goons, both of the organized crime, and former special-forces varieties start showing up, looking for both the woman and the boy, Knox's protective nature forces him to do the right thing. The right thing starts out to be dangerous and difficult and gets more and more complicated as he attempts to protect the child and reunite him with the woman Knox assumes is the boy's mother. Luckily, Knox knows a few former military types from his days as a borderless Dr in the Central African Republic. Not the most believable tale, but fast-moving and fun to read.

Intern

Intern: a doctor's initiation / Sandeep Jauhar, 315 pgs.

I read Dr. Jauhar's books out of order...See my comments on Doctored here. This book tells of the medical internship and residency that put him on the path.  It is mostly a painful memoir...the internship year is a brutal and mostly horrible experience.  Managing tons of patients that you don't really know while learning the basics of medicine is a LOT of pressure. Working 36 hours straight and over 100 hours a week doesn't lend itself to a healthy lifestyle.  Some of the stories here will worry you. I think we all want to believe the system is good and our care is excellent but sometimes that may not be true.  Jauhar tells of a back injury and depression brought on by the crushing responsibility.  The doubts about going into medicine and his future are sometimes difficult to read.  I assume everyone who puts the amount of work it takes into becoming a doctor is SURE of their decision.  But really, doctors are just people like the rest of us.  Plagued with doubt and hoping for the best.  By the second year, when he is a resident, things are much better.  By the time he is ready for a fellowship, he has decided that he made the right choice and medicine is where he belongs.

Of course I read his second book that focuses on doubt again but I'm not going to focus on that here.  This book ends on a high note and Jauhar's writing is strong. Also, it was fun to hear that he is a graduate of Washington University Medical School.

The Real Doctor Will See You Shortly

The Real Doctor Will See You Shortly: A Physician's First Year by Matt McCarthy, 323 pages.

McCarthy is an interesting writer, willing to be the butt of hs own jokes, to show the comic foibles in his character. His writing seems honest. And he is not quite as depressed about the state of medicine as many other physicians. A good read. Christa recommended this book. Her review is here.

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Black man in a white coat

Black man in a white coat: a doctor's reflections on race and  medicine / Damon Tweedy 294 pg.

Damon Tweedy accepted a scholarship to Duke medical school and from day one has the feeling of being an outsider.  His classmates are almost all out of more exclusive schools, they are almost all from economically better off backgrounds and most are white.  Tweedy begins to dread the part of his education that deals with how much more prevalent and deadly diseases and medical conditions are to the African American population. Every time this comes up, he feels like the class turns to look at him.  But then, when he starts his clinical experience, he sees this disparity first hand...and it is much more uncomfortable in real life than just hearing the statistics.  Tweedy's perspective is interesting. He is diagnosed with a chronic disease that is more common among African Americans and can relate all the more with his black patients that are struggling to be healthier.  Some of the stories in this book are universal...the struggle to fit in, the struggle to do well, the situations where the inexperienced doctor is giving advice to the older, more experienced patient.  I like the way Tweedy admits he doesn't know it all.

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Working Stiff

Working stiff: two years, 262 bodies and the making of a medical examiner / Judy Melinek & T. J. Mitchell 258 pgs.

Judy Melinek started her training as a forensic pathologist at the New York City Office of Chief Medical Examiner in July 2001.  She was steeped in training and dead bodies in September of that year when the events on the 11th took the work out into a tented parking lot filled with refrigerated trucks.  But this book is about so much more than the mass tragedies because tragic things happen every day.  Lots to learn in a big city like New York where people die all kinds of ways.  Dr. Melinek gives PLENTY of examples and a bit of her story along the way.

This book is kind of like a car wreck...you might not like what you see but you can't seem to look away.  I listened to the audio book and my best recommendation is don't listen or read if it is near meal time.

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Black Man in a White Coat: A Doctor's Reflections on Race and Medicine

Black Man in a White Coat: A Doctor's Reflections on Race and Medicine by Damon Tweedy, 294 pages.
Unlike several other books by physicians that I have read recently Tweedy's seems mostly positive. He doesn't spend much time talking about how the changes in health care have ruined medicine. He focuses more on the disparity of care that has existed for Black Americans, and the disparities that can still be found, despite improvements.
Interesting and readable,even if it is not the best of the recent crop of medical memoirs the author does tread new ground and seems to keep his sense of curiosity intact. He also refrains from displaying the omniscience that some long-time practitioners let creep into their narratives.
Tweedy seems to have a positive outlook on health care overall.

The Real Doctor Will See You Shortly

The Real Doctor Will See You Shortly: A Physician's First Year by Matt McCarthy, 323 pages

In The Real Doctor Will See You Shortly, McCarthy documents his intern year as a medical resident, starting with his first shaky, uncertain days and carrying through to the competency he feels at the end of a rough, sleepless year. And he recalls it in such an easygoing, sometimes-humorous, sometimes-horrified style that the story just sucks you in. As weird as it may sound, I loved reading about his mistakes and the very human ways in which he responded to them (second-guessing himself, freaking out). Doctors can seem robotic in their interactions, particularly when they have so many people to see in such a short period of time, so it's good to see the experiences of the first year, where they're scared and worried (but still under strict supervision). A great book, well worth checking out.

The real doctor will see you shortly

The real doctor will see you shortly / Matt McCarthy 323 pages.

Ever wonder what happens following graduation from medical school?  The graduates are now called "Doctor" but they haven't ever really seen any patients.  Now they start a residency and on day 1, they start actually DOING things.  This is the story of one guys first year and it is amazing.  Dr. McCarthy's candor is refreshing, his fear of pretty much everything is overwhelming. The holes in his education are a bit frightening.  But he dives right in and starts to figure things out.  But not before bursting into tears in front of a patient. Not before stitching up a banana peel. Not before he suffers from impostor syndrome, misses a potentially fatal item during a write up and then sticks himself with a needle full of an HIV patients blood.

This book is wonderful, terrifying and highly recommended.

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The Coroner's Lunch

The Coroner's Lunch by Colin Cotterill  272 pp.

This is the first book in the mystery series starring Dr. Siri Paiboun, the chief medical examiner in Laos following the communist takeover in 1975. Dr. Siri is conscripted into the position at the age of 72 because the "only doctor with a background in performing autopsies had crossed the river" to Thailand. Business is booming with a poisoned official's wife, the bodies of three torture victims, a looming international incident with Vietnam, and the mysterious deaths of officials in charge of  forest clearing project in a northern Hmong region. Things get really serious when there is an attempt on the doctor's life. In spite of it all, Siri handles his job and combats the bumbling bureaucrats with intelligence, sarcasm, wry observations and the assistance of his two helpers, Geung and nurse Dtui. At an age when he thought he would be living quietly on a pension, the doctor is investigating political coverups, dealing with tribal spirits, and finding a bit a romance with the woman who makes his lunch. This was my introduction to the Dr. Siri series but I have enjoyed Cotterill's work through the Jimm Juree mystery series.

Doctored

Doctored: The disillusionment of an American Physician / Sandeep Jauhar 268 pgs.

Sandeep Jauhar is a cardiologist practicing in New York.  This book is a bit of a memoir of his early days as a doctor but also a treatise on the American health system.  We spend more money on medical care than any other country but our results are often not in the top tier.  Why is this?  If you read this book you will have a better idea of why.  Somehow we have provided the wrong incentives.  We have squeezed the system so tight that doctors can barely make a living so to survive they have to work within the system of reimbursements and payments.  Wonder why the numbers on certain tests increase?  Turns out that is often the test that "pays" the best.  The system often sucks for patients but it also sucks for doctors.  In the "memoir" portion of the book, we learn about Dr. Jauhar moonlighting during his son's youngest  years so his wife can stay home with the baby.  Sure, they live in NYC, one of the most expensive places but also in a 2 BR apartment.  With student loans and high rent, the hospital salary just won't cover it.  Moonlighting in private practice is somewhat more depressing as system requires you to check your idealistic dreams at the door.

There is no doubt that there are a LOT of people struggling in this economy but for some reason, knowing that some medical doctors are in the same boat is quite unsettling.  I recommend this book to anyone interested in why health care costs are high and continue rising.  Also recommended for those who enjoy well written memoirs. I look forward to the next one by this author.

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A constellation of vital phenomena

A constellation of vital phenomena/Anthony Marra 384 pgs.

Told in a back and forth chronology of Chechen wars, Havaa is a young girl hunted by Russian soldiers to complete their task of ridding any criminal's family from the countryside.  Her father is taken away for a crime he did not commit and her neighbor attempts to hide her and save her life by taking her to a nearby city to be cared for by a doctor who continues to practice despite the war.  Sonja is also damaged by the disappearance of her sister with whom she had a competitive relationship.  Everyone in this book is suffering in some way or another but most are trying their best.  An impressive novel by a new writer.  There really aren't too many happy possibilities when war rages but this book does leave you hopeful.

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Christine Falls

Christine Falls by Benjamin Black, 340 pages. After Christine dies, and a drunken pathologist, Garret Quirke, finds a surgeon in his offices, altering the notes of the case. The surgeon, Malachy Griffin, is the natural son of Quirke's adoptive father. Quirke and Griffin are also brothers-in-law, and long-time rivals. This case stirs up old wounds, and threatens to expose many in Ireland's corridors of power. Quirke cannot leave the case alone, even when his secrets, and his life are on the line. An excellent book, but maybe not the best choice for reading while travelling to adopt a daughter. Check our catalog.

Island Practice

Island Practice: Cobblestone Rash, Underground Tom, and Other Adventures of a Nantucket Doctor by Pam Belluck 274 pp.

Dr. Timothy J. Lepore (rhymes with peppery) is the type of doctor you don't find anymore. He is similar to the old time country doctor, on call pretty much 24/7 (except for during the Boston Marathon), he treats just about every ailment, and performs surgeries (sometimes with a handmade obsidian scalpel) that he and the small hospital on the island of Nantucket can handle. He's the high school football team doctor, medical examiner, and an expert on tick-borne diseases. Occasionally his practice isn't always confined to people. Now in his late sixties, it won't be long until Nantucket loses the services this gem of a man. He's treated the famous and the unknown and been paid in cookies, antique guns, or nothing at all. He has unusual hobbies like collecting roadkill for his falcon and knitting dog hair sweaters. He is a self proclaimed gun nut with a large collection of firearms. He is a walking contradiction in that he is rabidly conservative but gives cancer patients marijuana cookies and performs abortions. In this biography, Belluck gives an honest portrayal of this unusual man with all his expertise, eccentricities, faults, successes, and failures.

State of Wonder

State of Wonder by Ann Patchett 353 pgs.

Always willing to read Ann Patchett but I think Kathleen really captured the problem in her post about Patron Saint of Liars.  None of her other books can really compare with Bel Canto.  This book is interesting and features strong women characters and then becomes so steeped in fertility and maternity when we make it to the Amazon and sneak a peak at the secretive research being done by scientists funded by a major drug company.  There are secrets and interesting histories and the story is compelling.

I really enjoyed this book but it felt like a little bit of work to me.

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