pickI‘m stymied by my reaction to this book. As I was reading it, I thought this was a memoir. Once I discovered it was fiction something shifted & I felt duped. If you‘ve ever had a medical event and ended up in the hospital all of this book will be very familiar to you. I feel as if he had to have experienced all of this himself and I wonder why he didn‘t just call it a memoir. Anyway, it‘s very convincing if it truly is fiction. 🤷🏻♀️
Wait just a second. I‘m halfway through this book - a book that received the Pen/Faulkner Award for Fiction - and I just realized this is not an autobiography. It‘s fiction. Just like they said. Now I don‘t know how I feel about the book or about myself. 🤷🏻♀️
pickWhen I saw this on Libby, I was expecting a thriller. It‘s not—it‘s a much lighter offering by McFadden set in a hospital. Doctor Jane is a new doctor and seems a bit over her head. But, she finds ways to cope, including hanging with a handsome surgeon. This was hilarious in parts. I really enjoyed it and have already checked out the follow up to this.
I started on November 17, 2025 & I just finished it last night on December 1, 2024
pickLet's say I've selected Madeline as 1939 for the #192025 Challenge in the spirit of diversifying genres with a children's book. It was absolutely not chosen because I'm running behind with the challenge.
This was one of my childhood favorites so it was fun to revisit Madeline - a true influencer, way before social media! 🤣 I couldn't just borrow one from the library, so i picked out two others. A cute, spunky girl and beautiful illustrations.
pickA beautiful story about friendships that span generations, varying backgrounds, and differences in faith. It's one of those stories that will stick with me because it is poignant, both sweet and sad.
pickIf you have read the Olive Kettering books, you will enjoy this one as well.
pickI read this as a result of my trip to Nola. This book breaks down everything that went down at Memorial Hospital during Katrina and the flooding afterwards. This book covers what occurred but also many different points of view as the patients, staff, and families are left stranded with things growing more desperate by the hour. The book‘s second half follows the investigation into what occurred there and the resulting legal ramifications.
“While Small Rain is fiction, the story is inspired by his own serious medical crisis in 2020, using invention and made-up elements to explore themes of illness, art, love while sharing parallels with Greenwell's life. All this is a starting point for a work of fiction, not a direct nonfiction. Greenwell has explicitly stated he needed the freedom of fiction to process such a bewilderment.“ 7h