Browsing articles tagged with " medical problems"
October 27, 2009
Rebecca Reid
14 Comments

A Few Science Book Reviews (The Great Equations by Crease and Two by Gawande)

For those that read this blog regularly, it is probably no surprise that I prefer art, literature, history, and social sciences to mathematics and science.

Before this month began, I hadn’t read any books in the Dewey Decimal 500s category or the 600s category (for the Dewey Decimal Reading Challenge) in all of 2009. I also hadn’t read a single book that could possibly count for the 2009 Science Book Challenge. While I don’t want challenges to always dictate what I read next, I did feel the urge to read something science related: I want to be a balanced reader.

I ended up reading a few books in the past few weeks (and I’m in the middle of another), and to my surprise, I enjoyed most of the books I picked up. Some I loved, others were a struggle to read, but I remain glad I did so. Science books, like the architecture and history and politics books I’ve read in the past months, can be fascinating.

Continue reading »

July 10, 2009
Rebecca Reid
12 Comments

The Madonnas of Leningrad by Debra Dean

Remember how just the other day I said I give books more of the benefit of the doubt lately?

The Madonnas of Leningrad by Debra Dean is a fine example of that. A year ago, I may have dismissed it entirely because it seems so superficial to me. (Actually, I probably would have dismissed it as “modern trash” when I got to what I thought was a rather awkwardly written sex scene on page 25.)

This year, on the other hand, I thought it an okay novel. I’m feel like I’m just barely finding my way in the world of modern fiction, but this one met my expectations.

In the present day, Marina and her husband Dimitri attend her grandchild’s wedding, and her Alzheimer’s reaches new stages of confusion for her and for her family as she relives her months living through the Siege of Leningrad during World War II. As a part of the staff for the Hermitage, she and her aunt and uncle had lived under the museum. During the many months of starvation, she had comforted herself with the empty picture frames of the museum, reminding herself of the pictures that would someday return to their frames. Continue reading »

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