April Reads

 A good month in many ways! I enjoyed  ~

• The Doctors Blackwell - Janice Nimura.  Hmmmm....  Well written.  Didn't realize that Elizabeth Blackwell (the first woman doctor) had a sister who became the THIRD woman doctor.  Also, I liked the sister much better!!  She seemed to care about being a physician in order to heal and care for people.  Elizabeth seemed to be on some strange personal/save women from themselves mission that she somehow equated being a doctor - which admittedly was no small thing, certainly at that time!!! - with achieving.  Her personality was rather selfish and without any significant depth of feeling toward any humans as best as I could tell.  There was no hint at her having removed her own breast to save herself from breast cancer.  A part of the storyline laid out in great detail in the biography I read of her as a child.  (At least it was there in my head - and I don't see how I could have dreamed that one up!!!)  She did however lose an eye (and almost her vision) due to a gonorrheal infection acquired post delivery of an afflicted new born.  Unfortunately, her zealot tendencies and unpleasant personality reminded me of Florence Nightingale - with whom she shared quite the love fest initially.  But, as one might predict between two so similar creatures, devolved into pettiness and jealousy.  Still, we women in nursing and medicine owe them both a great deal for paving the way.  Humanity owes them as well, given that they, without benefit of established germ theory, were the first to recognize the benefit of adequate nutrition, fresh air, and cleanliness in preventing disease and fostering good health.

• The Talented Mr. Varg - Alexander McCall Smith.  Loved it!!!  So looking forward to The Man with the Silver Saab to be out this July.  Smith is able to tell imaginative though common tales through relatively ordinary characters utilizing a particular turn of phrase, providing deeper meaning, without being pedantic or boring.  

• A Column of Fire - Ken Follet.  The final of the Kingsbridge series, vividly depicting the horrors inflicted one against the other between Catholics and Protestants; the intrigue between Church and State as well as France, Spain, England, Mary Queen of Scots and Queen Elizabeth; the slave trade; and right up to Guy Fawkes and the Gunpowder Plot.  It was oddly comforting to see that the world survived such horrors; that this too, shall pass. I really enjoyed reading of events in places I've wandered - Ile de la Cite, Rye, Seville, Paris and London.  

Yes.  Of late I've enjoyed various serial works.  Though honestly, it is something I've always done.  If interested in an author, I tend to read ALL their works - whether written as a series of not.  May words you enjoy cross your path.

More to come Across 'X' Aprils! - les