The Shift

 Theresa Brown wrote a book about her work on an oncology ward in a Boston hospital. The Shift: One Nurse, Twelve Hours, Four Patient's Lives is based on her experience with real patients but the names are changed and the details altered to protect their privacy. The author starts out by describing her commute to work via bicycle and ends, 12 hours later, with her ride home. She describes the relationships between doctors and nurses, phlebotomists and nurses,  and patient transporters and nurses. She talks about the diplomacy she uses to stay on good terms with other hospital employees in order to provide the best care for her patients. She talks about patients who are easy to get along with and patients who are PITA (pain in the a$$). Her description of the PITA patient has to be based on real experience because some of the situations she described are too bizarre to have been made up. According to the book, the author is really good at handling PITA patients because her calm, affirming politeness calms the patient down immediately. The author also writes about the incredible amount of time it takes to complete the computer requirements for each patient. Some of the things they are obliged to chart on make sense and some don't. What reason could there possibly be to complete a fall risk assessment every hour on every patient? This is a ridiculous requirement. For some reason the hospital requires three blood draws when checking the patient's blood type. Two blood draws are done and sent to the lab and the third one has to be drawn a half hour later. Why? The phlebotomist does not have time to come back to every patient a second time so they just take all three blood draws at once and have the nurse send the third one down a half hour later. As a nurse, the author wants to advocate for her profession so naturally she emphasizes the importance of keeping the work load low so that she can be thorough. She did sound very busy.  The author was a professor of English before she became a nurse. Sometimes she would veer off into philosophic literature and I would just skim those paragraphs. Overall it was an educational and entertaining book.

We Are The Brennans

 I finished reading We Are The Brennans by Tracey Lange yesterday. The Brennans are an Irish family living in Yonkers, N.Y. Mickey is the father and he is retired and starting to suffer from memory loss. Denny is the eldest son and he runs a successful night club with his best childhood friend, Kale. Sunday is the only daughter. Jake and Shane are the little brothers. Each chapter is narrated by a member of the family. This family suffers from communication problems. Except for Shane every one of them is hiding a shameful secret that blows up on them unnecessarily. Only when they are forced to face their mistakes and share their secrets can they find a way out of the mess they have created. Sometimes people who love each other choose to distance themselves physically or emotionally when they should pull together. This was an engaging story of a dysfunctional family.

Fates And Furies

 Lauren Groff wrote Fates and Furies, a novel about the 20 year marriage of Lancelot and Mathilde. Lancelot (also known as Lotto) met Mathilde at Vassar a few weeks before they were both to graduate. They decide to marry. The book is divided into two parts. The Fates is the first part and it presents Lotto's version of the marriage. Furies presents Mathilde's version of the marriage. I found this book difficult to read. The author used at least 20 obscure words that I had to look up. Lucky for me I read it on my Libby app on my phone so I only had to press my finger on the word to get a definition. Some of the words were from ancient Greek plays. I also found references to ancient Greek plays. I found the writing style to be odd and pretentious. 

Writers And Lovers

 Lily King wrote Writers And Lovers, a novel about a young women named Casey Peabody. Casey has been working on her novel for 6 years while working as a waitress and drowning in student loan debt. Despite saving costs by renting a moldy small room attached to a garage in Boston and biking to and from work, she is just not getting ahead. I was just in Boston last November so I know the bridge she biked across to get to work. On top of that she is grieving the death of her mother and her estrangement from her father. Then she meets two men who are interested in her romantically. Her job as a waitress at a fancy Boston restaurant is not going well. Then, gradually, things start going better for Casey. I liked Casey from the start. The best part of this book is the ending. The ending was very dramatic and satisfying.

Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine

 Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine is a novel set in Glasgow, Scotland and has won several awards in the United Kingdom. The book is even going to be made into a movie. The author is first time novelist Gail Honeyman. Eleanor is the main character and the narrator in this story about a young woman working in an office as an accountant. Eleanor is a loner and a social misfit. She is blunt and brutally honest. Her life consists of following a rigid schedule of work and food and sleep. She shops on Friday evenings for the week. She buys a pizza every Friday and a bottle of wine plus two jugs of vodka which she drinks over the weekend. Obviously Eleanor is not completely fine. Her life is not going well at all. One day she is leaving the office with a coworker named Raymond and they see a man collapse on the street. Raymond insists they help the man by calling an ambulance and going to the hospital with him. This is the moment when Eleanor's life changes for the better. With time and Raymond's help, Eleanor gradually moves closer to being fine. I loved this book because it had just the right balance of sad and funny.

The Hypnotist's Love Story

 I like Liane Moriarity's books. I really enjoyed Nine Perfect Strangers, Apples Never Fall, and Big Little Lies.  Her books are set in Australia and I like reading about life down under. I semi-enjoyed The Hypnotist's Love Story. I guess I liked this one less because this book is more chick lit than literature. In this story Ellen is a hypnotherapist who treats her client's in the house she lives on the sea shore. Her grandmother gave her this house and she keeps the décor the same because she loved her grandmother. She meets a man on line and his name is Patrick. Patrick is a handsome surveyor who is a widower and he has an 8 year old son. And Patrick has a stalker. His former girlfriend, Saskia, follows him around town, sends him messages, sends him emails, lurks outside his house, and attends his son's soccer matches. I have never been to a hypnotherapist and I have never been stalked nor stalked anyone so I had lots to learn in this story. This silly, whimsical story kept me entertained but her other books were better.

Palace Of The Drowned

 Christine Mangan wrote Palace Of The Drowned. The story takes place in a palazzo in Venice in 1966. The palazzo is named Palace of the Drowned. Frankie (Francis) goes to stay there when her friend Jack (Jacqueline) offers it to her because no one in her family is using it right now. Frankie is a writer. Her third novel got some good reviews and one bad review. Frankie obsessed over the bad review and this lead to a mental health crisis. She decided to get away from it all and work on her next book in Venice. In Venice she meets a woman, Gilly, in her 20's who claims she met her before. Gilly is vivacious and persuasive and interested in Frankie. Somehow Frankie can't say no to Gilly's plans to get together. A terrible storm with three solid days of heavy rain leads to the worst case of flooding Venice has ever seen. The lives of the two women are tragically altered. The author wrote so vividly about the sights and smells of Venice I could almost smell the canals. This book was transporting and suspenseful.

Sucker

Today I joined 9 other people on a snow shoe hike up the Sucker River. I started out in snow shoes but the path was well packed so I left my snow shoes in the show and just walked in my boots which is easier for me. I was very surprised and pleased to see pussy willows already forming. Pussy willows are a sign of spring. The sun was shining and the temperature was 30 degrees. Here on the river the wind didn't blow as hard as it did up the hill. Today was a lovely day for a walk up the Sucker River.

The trail went from one side of the river to the other avoiding the open spots of water.  In one spot next to open water I could see that the ice was discolored and I could feel the sponginess of it. I kept making plans as I walked in case the ice gave way. My plan was to leap left or leap right depending on which side the river bank was. A walk like this up on the ice wouldn't be safe a month from now. We met other hikers, other snow shoers and cross county skiers and even one guy on a fat tire bike. This Sucker River corridor is so beautiful it could be a state park. Right now the sucker fish are heading up this river to spawn. I looked in the water as I hiked past but did not see any fish. We hiked for a couple of hours. I was glad to see my snow shoes were still there when I got back. 

 

The Most Fun We Ever Had

Claire Lombardo wrote a novel about the passionate marriage of Marilyn and David Sorenson which takes place mostly in Chicago. In The Most Fun We Ever Had we learn that Marilyn and David met in college and moved to Iowa so David could attend medical school and Marilyn could finish her degree. When Marilyn got pregnant with their first daughter she dropped out of college. Within a year of Wendy's birth, another daughter named Violet is born. The Sorensons move back to Chicago where David opens his medical practice. Years later Liza is born and then comes Grace, the baby of the family. Marilyn and David do their best to raise their four daughters and steer them toward successful adulthood. Through 40 years we witness births, deaths, illness, sibling rivalry, illness, holidays and the steadfast love of Marilyn and David. I was sad to come to the end of this book because I liked this family saga.

 

Mary Jane

Picture being a 14 year old girl living in Baltimore in the 1970's. Gerald Ford is our President. Refrigerators come in avocado green. Mary Jane lives with her strict parents. She helps her mother cook and she enjoys singing in the church choir. She gets a job babysitting a 5 year old girl named Izzy Cone whose father is a doctor. When Mary Jane gets to the Cone house she learns that not every house hold has clean floors, scheduled meals, and ironed clothes. The Cone house hold is a mess. The refrigerator has rotting food. Soiled clothes are piled everywhere. Mary Jane takes care of Izzy while also doing the laundry, cleaning the fridge, and organizing the house. Soon she learns that a famous rock star and his movie star wife are moving into the Cone household for the summer so that rock star can "dry out." Their presence must be kept a secret. Mary Jane is having the summer of her life. She knows her parents would be shocked if they knew what was going on so she keeps the facts to herself. Being respectable is a quality held very dear to her parents. By the end of the summer, Mary Jane has a very different outlook on what she hopes to accomplish in her life. This book, written by Anya Blau, left me feeling cozy and content. 

The Helpline

The Helpline was written by Katherine Collette. This novel is set in Australia and features a 30 year old senior mathematician named Germaine Johnson. Germaine worked for an insurance company and her job ended after an incident. Germaine is looking for another job but finds it hard as she is blunt to a fault. She is quirky and different and lacks the basic social skills necessary to get and keep a job. She is great with numbers and formulas though. When she gets a job at a senior citizen helpline with the help of her cousin she starts putting the calls into categories with the idea that the answers to the questions could be put into an automated phone system. She doesn't realize that the conversation with an actual person is what some seniors are seeking. Germaine's goal at work is to please the mayor of the city and to get promoted to a leadership position. The senior citizens are really not on her radar. As time progresses Germaine's opinion about who is really important in her work changes dramatically. Some of the situations Germaine gets herself into are comical and others made me cringe. I did enjoy this heart warming story.

 

 

The Wondrous And Tragic Life Of Ivan And Ivanna

The Wondrous And Tragic Life Of Ivan And Ivanna by Maryse Conde was originally written in French and was translated into English by the author's husband. Ivan and Ivanna are a pair of twins born to a single mother on the Caribbean island of Guadeloupe. Their mother, Simone, works hard to provide for them and the twins are very close. Their father is a musician. When the twins reach adulthood their father sends them plane tickets so they can join him in Mali. Ivan and Ivanna adjust to living in Mali and they are still very close but their paths are starting to separate. Ivan becomes radicalized. Ivanna works hard and wins a scholarship to attend a police academy in Paris. Ivan and Ivanna cannot stand to live together and they cannot stand to live apart. The story is told like a Greek tragedy that involves racism, terrorism, colonialism, migration and economic inequality.

Happy Valentine's Day!

 

Little Failure

 Gary Shteygart is the author of Little Failure. The book is actually his memoir of his life as an immigrant from Russia. Born in Leningrad, Gary was named Igor. His parents changed his name to Gary when they immigrated when he was 8 years old in the 1970's. According to Gary, his father called him little failure and also snotty. Gary was born with asthma and was a sickly child.  Steroid inhalers for asthma were not available in Russia. While Gary's father called him names and sometimes disciplined him with physical force, his mother gave him the silent treatment when he acted out. His parents wanted him to be a lawyer and since Gary didn't have the aptitude nor interest in law school, he thinks of himself as a failure. Each chapter starts out with an actual photograph of himself at that age and the author is very self deprecating and humorous throughout his memoir. 

Friends For Life

Friends for Life by Meg Wolitzer was written in 1994. The story takes place in the 1990's in New York City. Three friends, Meredith, Lisa, and Ann worked together on a school project in second grade and they have been friends ever since. Now, at age 30, the meet in a Chinese restaurant on the first Monday evening to catch up and lean on each other. The book offers a lot of character development and some comedy but not very much excitement.

 

The Girl In His Shadow

 I read another historical fiction novel called The Girl In His Shadow by Audrey Blake. Audrey Blake isn't really the author. Audrey Blake is the name chosen by the pair of actual authors whose names are Regina Sirois and Jaima Fixsen. These two women met in an on line writing contest. One of them lives in Canada and the other lives in Kansas. The story is based on real people who lived in London during the 1830's and 1840's. Nora Beady is 8 years old. Her parents and sister died of cholera and Doctor Horace Croft takes her to his house to recover. His housekeeper, Mrs. Phipps, takes Nora under her wing. Dr. Croft runs a free clinic from his house in the morning and teaches medicine at St. Bart's Hospital in the afternoons. In his free time he studies anatomy and science and dissection. Nora wants to be useful so she helps Dr. Croft with his work by transcribing his notes, drawing illustrations of body parts, cleaning the clinic and helping patients. Nora is a quick study and Dr. Croft encourages her to think scientifically. At this time it is illegal for women to practice medicine. Dr. Croft brings in a new surgical assistant which brings conflict into the household. The story was engrossing and I enjoyed reading about Nora Beady.

Forest Birds

 Today my local Audubon group hosted a zoom meeting about birds in the Superior and Chippewa National forests. Since 1995 researchers have studied birds in the forest by visiting 1000 locations and listening for ten minutes in each location. The study is done between June 1st and July 10th when the birds are nesting. That is a boat load of data. These two national forests are home to a diverse number of birds, 162 species to be exact. Over the years they have seen trends. Coming to the forest more frequently are the Veery and the Canada warbler. Black billed cuckoo and  Carolina warbler are on the decline. The researchers have to take training to identify all the birds by sound. While out in their spots they keep track of species by writing down in a large circle what species they hear and approximately how far away the bird is. One factor involved with the birds is the infestation of the Eastern spruce budworm. Birds that love to eat spruce budworms are becoming more common. Birds who rely on spruce trees for nesting are becoming less common. I am glad that the forest service supports the research on birds.

Being Mortal

 Atul Gawande is the author of Being Mortal: Medicine And What Matters In The End. The author is a physician, a surgeon, and he writes about modern medicine sometimes causing more suffering by offering and suggesting treatment that offers little hope of extending life. He writes about how in the 1940's most people died in their homes. Now, most people die in the hospital. End of life discussions are hard but he offers four questions that should be asked of our loved ones who are facing death. What are you most afraid of? What is important to you now? How much are you willing to loose to gain more time to live? What makes a good day for you?  If those four questions can be answered, end of life decisions can be easier for family members. Most doctors are not trained to help people make these decisions. But when these conversations take place and the patients have some control over the end of their lives and their families feel more at peace. Unfortunately, insurance companies do not pay doctors for these conversations. Insurance will pay for a 3rd round of chemotherapy though and ordering the treatment takes a lot less time than end of life discussions. Some doctors are committed to extending life even if that means more suffering for the patient. Recognizing the best course of action when the end is near is difficult and this book explains why it is difficult and what you can do to make it easier.

Carnegie's Maid

 Marie Benedict wrote wrote The Other Einstein and I enjoyed the story about Albert Einstein's first wife very much. She also wrote Carnegie's Maid and I liked that too. This story is more fictional than the Einstein book because the maid in this story is fictional whereas Einstein's first wife was a world famous physicist. No one knows if Carnegie's maid was from Ireland or how much, if any, influence she had on Andrew Carnegie. Somebody had an influence on Andrew Carnegie to turn him into a philanthropist in his later years. The author has a theory that an Irish immigrant maid named Clara Kelly influenced Andrew as she worked as a lady's maid for his mother. Working at the Carnegie house gave Clara the funds she needed to support her parents and sisters in Galway, Ireland.  Did she give him the idea to put telegraph poles next to the rail lines so damaged lines could be noticed and repaired more quickly? Did she give him the idea that free public libraries were so important that he decided to build them all over the United States, Scotland, and Great Britain? Did she convince him that money isn't what made a person valuable?  All we know is Andrew Carnegie, once the richest man in the nation, gave away nearly all his money to improve education, music, and the prospect of world peace. 

The Spanish Daughter

 Lorena Hughes is the author of The Spanish Daughter. She was born and raised in Ecuador until she came to the United States at the age of 18. Ecuador is where most of the story takes place. Vinces is the city in Ecuador where the Spanish daughter came to visit after her father died. Puri is the name of the Spanish daughter which is short for Maria Purificacion deLafont. Puri grew up in Spain. Her father left for Ecuador when she was two years old. After he died, he left part of his cacao growing plantation to her. After getting a notification of his death and her inheritance, she travels to Vinces, Ecuador to learn more. The year is 1920. Puri has always been interested in cacao. She opened a cacao shop in Spain where she sold hot chocolate and chocolate truffles. This was an interesting family drama where I learned much about cacao plantations too.

The Day The World Came To Town

 There is a town in Newfoundland, Canada called Gander. The streets are not laid out in the typical grid pattern nor the wagon wheel pattern of Washington, D.C. The streets are laid out in the shape of the head of a male goose or a gander. This town, on an island in the Atlantic Sea, has a huge airport and was used during WWII to refuel planes. So when Sept. 11, 2001 happened and the United States shut down all airports, many flights from Europe were rerouted to Gander. The Day The World Came To Town by Jim DeFede is a history of that time. 42 planes landed in Gander. The number of stranded passengers and airline crew totaled 6,800. The people in the town banded together to help. The airline crews were sent to the hotels. The passengers were sent to schools, churches, and community centers. Community members cooked food and opened their homes so people could take showers. Telephone companies set up phones for passengers to use. Passengers and crew were frustrated with the changes in travel plans but no one acted our their anger. In fact, some connections were made during those four days the strangers came to Gander that still are alive today. The generosity of the people who live in Gander was astounding and a pleasure to read about.

The Ever After

 I read The Ever After which is a family drama novel written by Sarah Pekkanen. Josie and Frank have been married for 16 years. They have two young girls and naturally life is busy in the suburbs of Chicago. One morning Josie asks to borrow Frank's phone while he stops to get coffee. As she uses his phone to call a pharmacy, she sees an email pop up that indicates frank is having an affair. Josie is furious. Frank is remorseful. The book explores the marital crisis and the fall out when her trust in him is broken. I thought Josie's character was authentic and real. This novel almost read like a self-help book on how to deal with infidelity.

Stay Close

 Harlan Coben wrote Stay Close which is set in Atlantic City. In the book the author talks about a Korean war memorial and a giant elephant that has stores inside on the board walk. So if I ever get to Atlantic City, I do want to see those two things. The story is about a crime. A guy went missing. A detective never stops trying to solve the case. The woman in the story, Megan, also known as Cassie, makes one stupid decision after another stupid decision. Honestly, she was very frustrating. But without her stupid decisions we would never have found out what happened to the missing guy. This was not my favorite book.

Desert Solitaire

 Desert Solitaire was published in 1968 by Edward Abbey. This environmental journal was based on the notes he kept when he worked as a park ranger in the late 1950's from April through September at what is now Arches National Park. When he worked there the park was called Arches National Monument. Very critical of the National Park system, Edward Abbey called it Arches National Money Mint. He lived in a mobile home alone out in the park far away from the roads and the campground. At that time Arches had no paved roads and was quite a rugged park. The author wanted it to stay that way. He didn't want paved roads and hordes of tourists coming to Arches. I have been to Arches National Park and the roads are now paved and there are hordes of tourists climbing around the hard rocks and looking at the arches. Most of the time the author was alone in the wilderness. He writes about being alone but he also writes about the nature. He writes about the constellations in the night sky. He is very knowledgeable about the wild flowers and the various ecosystems. When he wasn't working as a park ranger, he worked with a local rancher to round up cattle. He also went hiking with friends. He took a friend on a ten day raft trip through Glen canyon. He writes about the pictographs and petroglyphs he finds. He gives a detailed description about quicksand which can be found in the desert. Reading this book reminded me of my trip to Arches years ago. At one point all the mice in his mobile home draw the attention of rattle snakes. After finding rattle snakes under his home twice he decides to take care of the problem. He goes elsewhere in the park and finds a gopher snake. He takes the gopher snake  home and puts it in the house where it promptly takes care of the mice problem before crawling away to find a new spot to live. This author doesn't think in conventional ways and I think that is why I enjoyed this book as much as I did.

America's First Daughter

 Stephanie Dray and Laura Kamoie wrote a long book about Martha (Patsy) Jefferson Randolph, Thomas Jefferson's eldest daughter. The audio version of America's First Daughter was over 23 hours long. The book may have been long but it was never boring. Patsy was ten years old, red haired and freckled like her father, when her mother passed. On her death bed her mother asked Patsy to watch over her poppa. Patsy took that vow seriously. She gave up her own choices to be with her father all throughout his life including 8 years of living in Paris when he was ambassador there. In Paris Patsy got a great education. She could speak four languages, sew, dance, and read. Sally Hemmings, his slave, was Patsy's age and also in Paris. When they left Paris, Sally was pregnant with her first child and Patsy knew all about it. At his side, Patsy lived through the American revolution and the French revolution. Patsy married Thomas Randolph and had a dozen children with him. When her father was elected to be the third President of our nation, she served as his hostess in the White House. Some of the book includes excerpts of actual letters between Patsy and her father or her father and other people. Some parts of the book were based on conjecture. We know that Patsy's husband beat his children but we don't know for sure if he beat Patsy too as is indicated in this book. Reading this book gave me a sense of what it was like for women living in Virginia on a farm trying to make a living while raising a family. I have admired Jefferson as a President but now I admire his daughter for helping him. He would not have been as successful without Patsy.