Spring 2013 10.7 - Rebekah's task - Nurse it

[Liz M]

10.7 - Rebekah's task - Nurse it:
May 6th is National Nurses’ Day. Honor our nurses by reading a book about a realistic nurse or midwife. A nurse/midwife must be the primary character and of the medical variety, not a nursemaid or a wet nurse. No romance novels will be accepted for this task. Non-fiction suggestions, Fiction ideas

[Elizabeth (Alaska)]

Maisie Dobbs is on the fiction list and a title that has interested me for some time. Maisie goes to the front as a nurse in WWI. However, I think the majority of the book is post-war and Maisie has turned detective. Would this book still qualify?

[Rebekah]

Liz and I had to iron that out as I really had wanted non-fiction only, so we compromised with the ban on romance nurses. The reason I had wanted only NF is because a lot of fiction that has a nurse in it, she is usually a supporting character, the nursing is secondary for the character or the nurse is made a caricature as in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, The World According to Garp, or Misery. Often the female nurse is a device to introduce sexual tension. All of these are not in the spirit of what Nurses' Day is all about. To honor the men and women who sacrifice and dedicate their lives that results in little material compensation or recognition is the reason this day was designated.

That being said, Liz pointed out to limit the task to non-fiction would make book selections very limited and I agreed. I did make the Real Nurses list and tried to include nurses from all time periods, situations and even the problems they face such as drug addiction and the case of the nurse who was actually killing babies in a weird Munchausen by proxy situation.

To your question. I have read most of the books in this series and there are three I know of where Maisie's past nursing experience figures prominently and I think is probably very realistic. Those three are the following and I find all three acceptable.
Maisie Dobbs
Pardonable Lies
Among the Mad

[Elizabeth (Alaska)]

Excellent! Thanks - now to see if I can fit it in!

[Rebekah]

Another plus, most of the NF selections would get combo points with "Memory Day" and "Emma" tasks. If you read Nurse by , Peggy Anderson you'd also get a combo with "spell it out"! (smile)

[Denise]

I am trying to choose a non-fiction title for this task. It seems like most of the biographies of people like Clara Barton and Florence Nightingale are shelved as Juvenile at our local library. The library does have Angel of the Battlefield: The Life of Clara Barton by Ishbel Ross, shelved as Adult Biography. It would also get some Oldies points, and combo with Spell It Out. (I just hope it's not dry as dust.) Does it look acceptable for the task?

For a fiction title, would The Minotaur by Barbara Vine pseudonym of Ruth Rendell work? I am uncertain about meeting the requirement that the nurse be the primary character. It will be hard to know without reading a good portion of the book.

BTW, are we limited to the books on the two lists?

[Karen Michele]

I really enjoy books about midwives so I am hoping these are ok:

The Birth House by Ami McKay, which combos with spell it out, and

The Midwife: A Memoir of Birth, Joy, and Hard Times by Jennifer Worth, which is unfortunately not biography at BPL, but still looks good and is the book the TV series is based on.

[Elizabeth (Alaska)]

I can volunteer that The Birth House is quite enjoyable and I learned quite a lot while reading it.

[Liz M]

D wrote: "BTW, are we limited to the books on the two lists? ..."

No, they are suggestions and ideas.

[Jane from B.C.]

Karen GHHS wrote: "I really enjoy books about midwives so I am hoping these are ok:

...

The Midwife: A Memoir of Birth, Joy, and Hard Times by Jennifer ..."

and the TV series which this book inspired - Call the Midwife - is a BBC production (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Call_the...) so it would get combo points for 20.2, would it not?

[Jayme]

I watched that series. It was good.

[Karen Michele]

Thanks everyone! Now I'm extra excited about these books. I hope I have time for both of them.:)

[Bea]

I am definitely reading Midwives and possibly Kate: The Journal of a Confederate Nurse.

[Rebekah]

D wrote: "I am trying to choose a non-fiction title for this task. It seems like most of the biographies of people like Clara Barton and Florence Nightingale are shelved as Juvenile at our local library. The..."

D, you are not limited to the lists. Both books are acceptable

[Rebekah]

Karen GHHS wrote: "I really enjoy books about midwives so I am hoping these are ok:

The Birth House by Ami McKay, which combos with spell it out, and

The Midwife: A Memoir of Birth, Joy, and Hard Times by Jennifer ..."

I'd like to read it too. Sounds like a winner!

[Rebekah]

I read when I was on bed rest, pregnant. It was also just about the time of the infamous 9/11. A weird thing to read under the circumstances but I did like the book. Midwives

[Rebekah]

If you all think of any books that others might enjoy, by all means please add those books to the lists and share them with us.

[Rebekah]

Christine, Both are acceptable. I want to read both myself!(smile)

[Denise]

Rebekah wrote: "Christine, Both are acceptable. I want to read both myself!(smile)"

But Witches, Midwives and Nurses: A History of Women Healers has only 48 pages and doesn't meet the minimum page requirement.

[Denise]

Christine wrote: "Oh wow! I didn't even look at the page count. .. Started the fiction last night and am enjoying it, so I'll just use that instead. "

I'm glad we noticed it in time before you tried to claim it. I've had a couple of close calls recently myself, usually involving BPL.

My Name is Mary Sutter looks interesting. But I can't get it at my library or on Overdrive. I hope it turns out to be an enjoyable book.

[Rebekah]

Christine wrote: "D wrote: "Rebekah wrote: "Christine, Both are acceptable. I want to read both myself!(smile)"

But Witches, Midwives and Nurses: A History of Women Healers has only 48 pages and doesn't meet the mi..."

I didn't notice the page count either! Sorry about that and thanks D for catching it.

[Don (The Book Guy)]

Will Never Change by Elizabeth Berg work for this challenge?

[Rebekah]

Don (The Book Guy) wrote: "Will Never Change by Elizabeth Berg work for this challenge?"

So sorry, Don for the delay. I was off the net for a while. At first looking at the description on Goodreads, I thought it would be another nurse/patient romance. I read more about it on the Amaon site and I think I wail accept it seems to have much more merit than I at first thought

[Don (The Book Guy)]

Rebekah wrote: "Don (The Book Guy) wrote: "Will Never Change by Elizabeth Berg work for this challenge?"

So sorry, Don for the delay. I was off the net for a while. At first looking at the description on Goodread..."

Thanks. If as I read it, I feel like it isn't fitting the spirit of the challenge, I'll put it somewhere else.

[Rebekah]

Think Johnson & Johnson commercials (smile)