Grayling’s Song by Karen Cushman

Publisher/Year: Clarion Books, 2016

Format: Hardback

Pages: 213

Source: my own collection

Thoughts: It was ok. I got it from Amazon on sale and couldn’t pass up a YA book about hedge witches. That’s totally in my wheelhouse and I was excited to read it. But the writing wasn’t very tight, I got tired of all the whining and complaining the travelers did real quick, and I felt the ending left too many unanswered questions. Overall, it was fine for younger readers but for teens, adults, or advanced young readers, it would likely fall pretty short of the mark. 

Black Man in a White Coat by Damon Tweedy, M.D.

Publisher/Year: Picador, 2016

Format: audiobook

Time: 8 hours 44 min

Source: Audible.com

Thoughts: I read this for a book club I joined at work. I am glad they picked this one because I have always been interested in medical memoirs anyway, even though I tend not to care about memoirs in general. I also appreciated learning more about how race affects the medical treatment and practice of American society. Intellectually, I knew race affects medical care and how healthy people are in general, but I liked learning about it in more detail. I could have done without the multiple references to Ben Carson, though. Surely there are at least a few other black doctors he could have referred to who aren’t politically insane.