Welcome to Litsy!

Well-written and accessible narrative of the history of tuberculosis and the social inequities that make it either treatable or the deadliest disease on earth — depending on where you live.

Completed for #DiseaseoftheMonthBookClub
Prompt: Read a book about the politics of race and health

Finally home from work to relax on the patio, temperature at a perfect 70 degrees with no humidity, a glass of sparkling Töst and and a book about tuberculosis. What could be better than this right now. ?

#DiseaseoftheMonthBookClub

I can‘t be the only weirdo who gets excited when I see a sale on a book about a disease or medical condition. Right? Bueller? Bueller?

#DiseaseoftheMonthBookClub

Completed book 6 for #DiseaseoftheMonthBookClub (Prompt: Read a book about cancer) This is about the employees at the Goodyear Tire Co. in Niagara Falls, NY, and the outbreaks of work-related cancers caused by exposure to toxic chemicals. I love a good narrative nonfiction. This one was a little more “nonfiction” and a little less “narrative” than I prefer. But still a good read.

My stack for the various challenges I am attempting to tackle:

1. Tolstoy: #kareninawinter, #chunksterchallenge2025 (848 pgs) and #fictionaltraveler (somewhere cold)
2. Dissolution: ##BookedInTime (Tudor England) and #fictionaltraveler (somewhere English)
3. Bourdain: #AuldLangSpine2025
4. The Cancer Factory: #DiseaseoftheMonthBookClub
5. King: #Nonfiction2025

Help a Litten out! I'm wanting to get back into reading challenges this year but I'm having a hard time figuring out what Litsy is hosting these days. It looks like a few I used to do aren't active anymore. Are there any I should know about? (I'm planning to do #bookspin with @TheAromaofBooks and #agathachristieclubR3 with @Librarybelle, of course!)

Picture of my dog's dumb teeth for tax!

There‘s a trend at medical schools to seek applicants who have a strong foundation in the arts and humanities. Research shows this creates doctors with greater teamwork and communication skills as well as empathy and tolerance for ambiguity. I think another benefit is that we get memoirs like this one from doctors who write wonderful and sensitive patient stories.

Book 4 ✔️ for #DiseaseofTheMonthBookClub
Prompt: A book by a doctor or a nurse

Book 3 ✔️ for #DiseaseoftheMonthBookClub (prompt: Read a book about the brain)

This is a memoir of Rosen‘s friendship with Michael Laudor, who, despite being diagnosed with schizophrenia, breezed through Yale as an undergrad and law student and was heralded as an example of how people can triumph over the stigma of mental illness—until he killed his girlfriend. It‘s also an examination of how society has failed those with mental illnesses.

Book 2 ✔️ for #DiseaseoftheMonthBookClub
(Prompt: Read a book about a virus)

Fascinating look at the scientific research that was being conducted on coronaviruses after the SARS and MERS outbreaks, which enabled scientists to quickly pivot to create a vaccine when COVID-19 spilled over into the human population. A bit technical so I‘m glad I had at least a semester of college-level biology.

First book ✔️ for #DiseaseofTheMonthBookClub
(prompt: Surgical procedures)

This is the story of Harold Gillies, a pioneering physician who worked to rebuild the faces of soldiers who were injured during World War I —and in the process created the foundation for modern-day plastic surgery.