Welcome to March and this month's Bookish Nostalgia! I hope you guys enjoy this as much as I do. Such fun going back through my notebooks and pondering over the books listed in each month - should I choose this one or, no, choose that one. I'm also really glad when there is an assortment of types of books that 'spoke' to me each time. That seems to be the case for these March entries. Let's begin:
March 1996 - Contagion by Robin Cook - Did you ever read books by Robin Cook? A doctor who wrote medical thrillers - like Michael Crichton. I haven't read one of his books in a long time, but for a while, I think I picked up every one. I started with Coma and went on from there. Contagion was about managed care and how big business (HMOs) was making people sick so that they didn't have to lessen their profits or that's what the pathologist character surmised. Rare diseases were killing people at a New York hospital and time was running out.
March 2001 - The Spirit Catches You And You Fall Down by Anne Fadiman - This is a non-fiction book about the clash between two Hmong parents with traditional beliefs in spirits and sickness of the soul and their daughter's pediatricians representing Western medicine. It won a National Book Critics Award, and I thought it was very, very good. Such a dilemma between parents who want to heal their daughter with the traditional medicine of their people and doctors who want to give her anti-epileptic drugs. Highly recommended.
March 2006 - Witch Way To Murder by Shirley Damsgaard - This is the first in a cozy series that is touted to be Bewitched meets Murder She Wrote. I just remember it was a fun book. Ophelia is a small town librarian and also a psychic (which she hates). She has a grandmother named Abby, a kindly witch. Ophelia doesn't want to have anything to do with her gift. She has guilt over not saving her best friend. However, both Ophelia and Abby have to get involved when a drug ring comes to town and someone dies and there's a nice looking man hanging around the library. You get the picture. I think there are 6 or 7 books in this series.
March 2011 - Virgin River by Robyn Carr - I love this book and the ones that come after it. Virgin River is the first book in a wonderful romance series that contains over 20 books. It's set in the beautiful Northern California mountains and is a very well done series and lots of fun. I read a lot of these books at times when I was struggling with tough emotional things. They were perfect. In this book, Melinda is hired to assist the local doctor as a midwife/nurse practitioner. She's been widowed and needs a change of scenery from the big city. However, the cabin she's been promised is awful and the old doctor doesn't want her help. She decides that she'll stay the night and go home. Next morning, she finds a baby abandoned on the front porch and she also comes across Jack, a former marine and owner of the local bar and grill. And life is never the same again.
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So, there you go. March books for the last 20 years. A medical thriller, a non-fiction award winner, a cozy mystery, and a romance. I do step out of my mystery world on occasion. See you next month!
Just seeing a Robin Cook novel brings so much nostalgia! Great post.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Jillian. Yes, I think a lot of people read Robin Cook back in the day.
DeleteI read Coma, gosh, that had to be back in the early '80s! I remember it scared the crap out of me! I don't think I ever went on to read any more by him.
ReplyDeleteI also read The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down. Maybe we read it at the same time for a book club? I know it's been many years, maybe back in the late '90s. It was really very good and enlightening about the Hmong culture.
I don't think I've read anything by Robyn Carr, but I have a few of her romances on my shelves for future reading. I should probably read them in order, huh?
I suspect that a lot of people read COMA. It was kind of cutting edge at the time - a medical thriller. Did you ever see the movie? I think it was not as good, but I do remember it had a very young Tom Selleck in it as one of the coma victims. And yes, we might have read the Hmong book around the same time. I suspect we at least talked about it at some point. As to Robyn Carr's books - no, you don't have to read them in order. Each book is about one couple. However, you might have a few spoilers I guess.
DeleteYes, I saw the movie, but I don't remember Tom Selleck! :)
DeleteI won't worry about trying to read the Carr books in order. I'm saving them, as well as some Debbie Macomber books, for when I need some brain candy (you know, when we're trying to sell our house and I'm fretting about everything that needs to be done!).
That would be a perfect time, Les.
DeleteI've read books by Robin Cook, though I don't think I've read that one. I may have it sitting on my shelf somewhere, though. I can't seem to keep straight when he writes a book and when it was written by Michael Crichton.
ReplyDeleteCrichton and Cook were a lot alike - though Robin Cook did more medical thriller and Crichton, of course, went into the whole dinosaur angle. LOL
DeleteOh, I remember Coma! What a book!!! The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down was such an excellent book. I still find myself recommending it.
ReplyDeleteThis is such a great feature, Kay. I've missed doing my Pages From the Past series this year (which you inspired)... forgot to pack my old reading journal! Will pick up where I left off when we get back home ;-)
JoAnn, I appreciate the kind words. I'm glad to help people remember old favorites and encourage others to pick up older books they might have missed. Yes, The Spirit...book was really good. A non-fiction that I loved - which is unusual for me. :-)
DeleteYES! I read Coma too. I love going thru your Reading notebooks with you. So much fun!
ReplyDeleteI like doing it, Debbie, so I'm glad you enjoy it too. COMA seemed very new and different way back then - kind of one of the first medical thrillers.
DeleteHa! Looks like everybody read Coma! I think that was the only one of his I read, though I may be mistaken. We had a major politician, also called Robin Cook, at that time, and I could never get him out of my head whenever I saw these books. Discombobulating! ;)
ReplyDeleteHow funny. Yes, I can see how that would be a little disconcerting. I surmised that a bunch would have read COMA. It was very popular way back in the day. Right?
DeleteI certainly was - and the film was the cause of a major disagreement between me and my then boss. We worked in a geriatric hospital at the time and were responsible for hiring a movie each week for the residents to watch on a Saturday night. I was very young and felt they would all want to see old Fred Astaire films and the like. My boss who was older felt Coma would be an excellent choice. I soooo didn't! Haha! Now that I'm older myself, I suspect he was right...
DeleteThat is so funny. I bet they did enjoy it. A little more action than Fred, but not as much dancing. LOL
DeleteI used to read all the Robin Cook's. I may revisted them....
ReplyDeleteI read a lot of them and then they kind of got a 'same as...same as' quality and I quit. Plus there were more books that distracted me. LOL
DeleteAs always an interesting section of books although at least this time I've read one - Virgin River! Thanks for sharing your nostalgia even though I'm always a teeny bit jealous I didn't keep track for all of these years.
ReplyDeleteI know. I'm grateful that I did, but I knew a woman who had kept track since she was 8 years old! I was jealous of her! LOL
DeleteI can't recall if I have ever read anything by Robin Cook before . . . Hmm. Maybe? Shirley Damsgaard is one I keep meaning to get to. I have a few of her books on my TBR shelf.
ReplyDeleteI always enjoy your look into the past, Kay. Now that my From the Archives series is complete, I may have to borrow your idea and do something similar my blog, but with past blog posts.
You should do that Wendy! I would enjoy it. I'm loving the way different ones have tweaked this concept. I think it keeps some of the authors that we love alive for new readers.
DeleteI keep meaning to look into those Robin Carr books, as I recall you reccing them before. They sound lovely.
ReplyDeleteThey are very good romance books. I always hate to say it like this but they are really 'more than' romances. They take on other issues as well and the setting is lovely.
DeleteThe Spirit Catches You sounds super interesting and still so relevant - would be such a good book to pair with something like On Immunity!
ReplyDeleteNow that's a good idea. I'll have to think about that one.
DeleteI read some of Robin Cook's books years ago, but can't remember a thing about them. I think I read them because they seemed to similar to Crichton's books, but guess they didn't make the same impression. Witch Way to Murder sounds like fun!
ReplyDeleteI remember Witch Way as being fun. Think I might have read the first 2 or 3 in the series and then got distracted to other books.
DeleteI love Robyn Carr and have read lots of her books. I've never read Robin Cook -- maybe I should give him a try. THE SPIRIT CATCHES YOU ... sounds excellent. I'm always fascinated by books about traditional vs. modern beliefs.
ReplyDeleteI remember that you really like Robyn Carr. I loved this whole series. Have not read the new series that's set in Oregon yet. One day probably. And that non-fiction book is very good.
DeleteI haven't read a Robin Cook novel in a few years. I started with Coma too and do enjoy his books.
ReplyDeleteSeems like all of us began with COMA a long time ago. I suspected as much. LOL
DeleteRobin Cook! Can't remember when I started reading his books but Coma is definitely on the list. Looks like this book is high on everyone's reading list! :-)
ReplyDeleteYes, I agree. COMA seems to be a commonality with everyone.
DeleteLove how you are doing this nostalgia meme!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Deb. I really enjoy looking back and pointing out good books that are worth taking a look, even if they are not the most recent. :-)
DeleteFirst thing I checked was whether Contagion was related to the movie Contagion, but nah, they were different. You are right - this list is very diverse. The Anne Fadiman book sounds so interesting and heartbreaking as well.
ReplyDeleteIt was a diverse list, wasn't it? You'd probably like the Fadiman book. Lots to think about.
DeleteFun! I keep track of everything I read. This feature is a fun way to actually read them.
ReplyDeleteI only wish I had kept track for longer - like since I was a kid. I would love to go through lists of what I read when I was 13 or something.
DeleteI remember reading The Spirit Catches You as one of the selections of a teacher-student book club in high school. This would have been late 90's.
ReplyDeleteI can see that working very well. It was a book that made you think and would offer a lot for discussion.
DeleteI remember reading a couple of Robyn Carr books years ago. Really sweet romances. So fun to see what you were reading years before the blog!
ReplyDeleteYes, they are nice romance novels. I have fun with this feature.
DeleteI keep forgetting about The Spirit Catches You but really want to read it someday.
ReplyDeleteIt was a good one, wasn't it?
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