2021 nonfiction Challenge Roundup

It's still early in the year to complete this reading challenge but I probably won't get to the other categories.  Not this year :-) 

I had signed up for the book challenge at Shelleyrae's site Book'd Out and went for the Nibbler category of six books. While I did read more than six books I didn't use all the categories.

Here's my round up.

1. Biography
2. Travel The Olive Farm by Carol Drinkwater and Clanlands
3. Self-help
4. Essay Collection Wine Reads - Wine Reads: A Literary Anthology of Wine Writing
5. Disease Twelve Patients: Life and Death at Bellevue Hospital by Eric Manheimer, M.D.
6. Oceanography
7. Hobbies Practical Houseplant Book
8. Indigenous Cultures
9. Food The Search for God and Guinness
10. Wartime Experiences Dispatches
11. Inventions
12. Published in 2021

Nonfiction Reader Challenge hosted by Shelleyrae at Book'd Out.  Check out the sign up post and info HERE.

The challenge runs from January 1 through December 31, 2021. 

Twelve Patients: Life and Death at Bellevue Hospital by Dr. Eric Manheimer

 

Life and Death at Bellevue Hospital by Dr Eric Manheimer was a very interesting book and I'm glad I checked it out of the library. We had started watching a series called New Amsterdam which I picked up at the library.  Every epsiode I would see it was based on this book so - I asked for the book after we'd watched two seasons.

In the beginning our author states that Bellevue is the oldest hospital in the country, 275 years old. It's probably the most famous public hospital in United States with many firsts.  It has the distinction of having the first maternity ward, the first pediatric ward, the first C-section - Bellevue's public sanitation program state back to the Civil War.

There are twelve stories about patients and some of them are real heartbreakers, in particular Four Generations and Trauma Detroit. Some of the chapters do go on a bit too long, in my opinion, and many of the stories focus on central American patients and their countries. The disparity of their treatment verses those who are well insured is brought to our attention.

Overall I enjoyed reading this book and loved reading about the dedication of the professionals and their various cases.

Sharing with Shelleyrae at Book'd Out.

Category: Disease/ Medicine

The Nonfiction Reader Challenge hosted by Shelleyrae at Book'd Out.  Check out the sign up post and info HERE. The challenge runs from January 1 through December 31, 2021. You can join in anytime!

Outlander revisited

 Anyone who has been a fan of the Outlander book series by Diana Gabaldon knows her next book is about to be published!  Go Tell the Bees That I am Gone is book nine in the series.  I am not certain if that is the last book to wrap up this saga but I am anxious to read it and continue the journey.

That made me want to revisit the first book - Outlander - which started it all. 

Outlander has many of the features I love to read about – time travel, a bit of romance, it’s a historical fiction, genealogy, Scotland and lots of dialogue! I read this the first time after picking up a copy from the used book section at my local library. I was hooked! In the beginning you are getting to know Claire and Frank Randall. Frank is obsessive about his genealogy and they are in Scotland checking out the area where his ancestor, Black Jack Randall, went to battle in 1745 at Culloden.

Claire was a combat nurse, separated from Frank by war and her duties. She is reunited with her husband and they went on a second honeymoon in Scotland, getting reacquainted with each other again after a long separation. During one of their outings they visit a dolman. Something special in one of the rocks at a dolman they visited attracts Claire and, upon touching the stone, she is transported back in time – same place, but 200 years earlier. Naturally she thinks she’s landed herself in a BBC production of some costume drama when she sees the Red-coated British uniforms and Scots in full kilt and sporran get up running from them.

Meeting Frank’s ancestor, Jonathan Wolverton Randall, is shocking (for obvious reasons) but to see him as the spitting image of her husband (Frank) is quite unnerving – especially since he isn’t kind and compassionate like Frank. She is saved from certain rape and interrogation by Capt. Randall by a Scot named Murtagh. He takes Claire to a cottage where she meets Jamie Fraser for the first time. The seven or so Scottish rebels are as puzzled by Claire as she is by them. They think she’s a spy for the English. Randall thinks she’s a spy for the Scots or France. Viewed by all with suspicion makes it difficult for her to escape. Claire ends up marrying Jamie so she may become a Scottish citizen and thus, untouchable by the English and protected. Still – even with her attraction to Jamie, she plans to try and get back to her own time.

There are so many interwoven story lines within this book with all the characters; I hung on to each chapter and was left hooked on these Outlander books. Happily for me, there were 4 more in print when I first started reading it so I quickly moved on to the other stories. I am awaiting the last book of this series to come out for what is promised to be a tear jerker finale.

I've only seen a few episodes of the television series and it didn't rock my world so I can only speak about the books.

Happy Reading!

Sharing with Joy's Book Blog for British Isles Friday and Marg at The Intrepid Reader for the 2021 Historical Fiction Reading Challenge.

Practical Houseplant Book

I will be the first to admit I'm not very good with houseplants.  I love books which feature characters who are experts at gardening or those with botanical gardens featured as a main setting. It would be lovely to have my mother's green thumb but it must have skipped my generation, however, I am determined to keep our gifted peace lily alive!

This book seemed to have some answers as it explains how to care for houseplants, over 200 profiles and project tips as well.  You find your plant profile and there is an explanation for care, how much light it needs to receive, the potting soil needed for transplant and more. 

The chapters feature succulents, ferns, carnivorous plants, bulbs, trailing plants and explain which ones can be caustic to handle and how much humidity each needs.  It's a well of info and perfect for those trying to learn about plants as well as a guide for those who are knowledgeable. 

Sharing with Shellyrae at Book'd Out for her Nonfiction  Challenge.

Genre/category: Hobbies

 

The Nonfiction Reader Challenge hosted by Shelleyrae at Book'd Out.  Check out the sign up post and info HERE. The challenge runs from January 1 through December 31, 2021. You can join in anytime!