Better: A Surgeon’s Notes on Performance by Atul Gawande

Rating: 8 out of 10
Summary: The struggle to perform well is universal: each of us faces fatigue, limited resources, and imperfect abilities in whatever we do. But nowhere is this drive to do better more important than in medicine, where lives may be on the line with any decision.

Atul Gawande, the New York Times bestselling author of Complications, examines, in riveting accounts of medical failure and triumph, how success is achieved in this complex and risk-filled profession. From bn.com

My Thoughts: I began this book at 12am last night, read until 3am, fell asleep, woke up at 10am, and finished it about an hour later. I don’t think I’ve ever done that with a non-fiction book before. This was really, really good.

Gawande is an accomplished General Surgeon with many degrees and all sorts of distinguishments from institutions such as Harvard, Stanford, and Oxford. I quote, from his official website, “He is also Associate Professor of Surgery at Harvard Medical School, Associate Professor in the Department of Health Policy and Management at the Harvard School of Public Health, and Associate Director for the BWH Center for Surgery and Public Health. He has published research studies in areas ranging from surgical technique, to US military care for the wounded, to error and performance in medicine. He is the director of the World Health Organization’s Global Challenge for Safer Surgical Care.”

But all of these fancy qualification aren’t the only reason you should read this book. It’s not only well-researched and informative (I feel like I learned so much!) but human and real too. It doesn’t make doctors out to be superhuman heroes, idols we should place on pedestals because of their revered profession, or even horrible, disgusting villains when they make mistakes (such as leaving behind surgical instruments in a patient’s body).

Doctors are human, and as a result, are driven by human ambitions and human emotions. The title of the book, “Better”, is the main focus–better performance, better results, yes, even better payment–but I feel like I was drawn in because of all the fascinating stories Gawande had about his personal experiences with the field of medicine and surgery. It wasn’t just, “I found a lump in her breast. I recommended a biopsy. I excised a 1.2cm cut in Operating Room 3 at 12:42pm.” Every story he had, he provided a history for. The patients were real people, and the doctors were real people.

Worthwhile and entertaining at the same time. Now I must read his first book, Complications.

Prince of Ice by Emma Holly

Rating: 5 out of 10
Summary: Humans like to call them demons, but the Yama are an old and civilized race, far too civilized to fraternize with lesser beings. It is only through subterfuge that a quarterhuman infant, one Xishi Huon, is raised side by side with the Midarri heir, whose own peculiarities make her his soulmate—at least until the whispers of their unnatural fondness get her banished to an orphanage.

Coming of age as a courtesan, Xishi excels in the erotic arts. But when Corum Midarri becomes her new owner, the relationship will test the limits of her gifts. Corum is the Prince of Ice now and not the sensitive boy she knew. If he succumbs to the temptations of her human touch, their love will defy every convention his kind holds dear. If he doesn’t, his uncontrollable sexual needs might drive both insane. Summary from emmaholly.com

Commentary: I was almost not going to review this because it was such a non-event in my reading line-up… just look at that cover! The cover basically tells you everything you need to know about this book.

I’m not going to say the sex scenes were badly written, but nothing really happened for me. I didn’t feel the chemistry. Some parts just seemed so outrageous that I couldn’t focus on the actual story because all I could think of was “he has an extra appendage on his penis?! What the hell?!?!?!“

I have to give the author kudos for an interesting idea. Her “demon” world seems to be built on a lot of Ancient Chinese culture. Places had names like “Thousand Plum Blossom Street” and “Tea House of Lovely Chrysanthemums” and things like that. Corum’s teacher’s name was Master Ping.

Not a horrible way to waste a half-hour. Don’t buy it though.

Lover Enshrined by J.R. Ward

Rating: 6 out of 10
Summary: Fiercely loyal to the Black Dagger Brotherhood, Phury has sacrificed himself for the good of the race, becoming the male responsible for keeping the Brotherhood’s bloodlines alive. As Primale of the Chosen, he is to father the sons and daughters who will ensure that the traditions of the race survive and that there are warriors to fight those who want all vampires extinguished.

As his first mate, the Chosen Cormia wants to win not only his body but his heart for herself- she sees the emotionally scarred male behind all his noble responsibility. But while the war with the Lessening Society grows more grim, and tragedy looms over the Brotherhood’s mansion, Phury must decide between duty and love. Summary from jrward.com

Commentary: This is the 6th book in the series by J.R. Ward, and not one of the better ones. I have to admit that Ward’s books are an exception from the usual dark fantasy, vampire romance, erotica junk that’s usually out there and that I have reviewed before–majority of what Ward’s written has been entertaining, with a real plot and real characters.

I think part of what makes it better is its quirky premise. There are the usual super-good-looking, super-powered, super-sexy, cliche “male vampire”; but in Ward’s books, they talk and act like gangsters? And not gangsters like the Italian Mob gangsters–perhaps a more accurate word would be gangstas. Yes. They talk like bad-asses. I don’t have the book by my side right now, otherwise I’d probably be able to pull out some quote like, “True dat, brotha” or “He was straight-up wicked!”

Once you get over the urge to laugh and shake your head at the idea, the series flows along generally well. As the sixth one in the series, Lover Enshrined is probably hitting some developmental chinks–yeah, yeah, we get you’re trying to fight the vampire slayres, we get that there’s deep emotional conflict between leading lady and leading man, we’ve been through this in all 5 books that came before you. But Ward does a passable job of building up a longer, overreaching arc dealing with a final war, a final climax even that all the books seem to be leading up to, and hasn’t yet happened.

The romance was lukewarm. There were several plotlines happening at the same time, which made the book interesting. I think many of the supporting characters actually grew a lot more than the protagonist and his lady-friend, and I was significantly more interested in what was happening on the sidelines with John Matthew & his friends than Phury and Cormia.

Decent. Start with the first novel to really get it.