All That Moves Us | Book Review

It’s been a minute since a book impressed an expansive feeling of gratitude in me. (I love books, and I am of course grateful for their general existence – but this is a more acute, unmissable kind of feeling towards a book that I read at the perfect time.) Jay Wellons, a paediatric neurosurgeon, shares

“Sh*t Bag” – a YA novel about ‘ostomies and IBD, for everyone

A few months ago, I was thinking about how there is so little fiction about people living with (things like) stomas. In my line of work, we often perform life-saving procedures – ileostomies, tracheostomies, splenectomies, amputations – and afterwards people go back into the world with their lives forever changed. Saved, but changed.  In an

Small by small [A book review]

Popular though they may be, there has often been something missing from the overseas medical memoirs and dramas I so hungrily consume. Rosamund Kendal’s Karma Suture and Angina Monologues are two of very few novels that hit the nail on the gritty metaphorical head; but then she went and became a popular author who branched

Book Review: Girls of Little Hope

The premise seems familiar enough: three girls go into the woods, and only two return. But therewith ends the similarities between Girls of Little Hope (Sam Beckbessinger, Dale Halvorsen), and a dozen other horrors/thrillers.  Initially reading like a missing person/murder mystery-type thriller, a sense of foreboding slowly sets in, until the full horror – and

A study break update

Hello to the handful of loyal readers, who continue to support me despite my paltry and irregular posting. Right now, I’m in the throes of studying for FCA Part 1 (which is more or less the same as FRCA Part 1, except South African). Obviously, my absolute need for focus means that my mind is

Stitched Up: Stories of Life and Death from a Prison Doctor [Book Review]

Immediately after ComServe, when I was unemployed for – gasp! – a whole week, I considered applying to a job as a prison GP. (I did not, because a locum opportunity came along that morphed into something semi-permanent, and other opportunities fell by the wayside for a while.) “Offender healthcare occupies the grey zone between

Beyond Pride Month: Five Proud Books

This post is inspired by The Secret Life of Albert Entwistle by Matt Cain, a delightful book I had the opportunity to read and review recently.  Pride month is over, the stores have taken down their rainbow banners, and companies have reverted from their ROYGBIV-inspired logos. But that doesn’t mean PRIDE is over, or that

A lot of queer stuff, basically

Hullo long-time readers, and new faces. I can hardly keep up with the wildness of our world’s current affairs (and my feelings about them). So, I’m taking a leaf out of Sam’s book** and sharing snippets that, well, I feel like sharing. We got married!  We are now officially “Wifeys for Lifey”. My wife (surreal!)

Mini-Reviews: Medical Non-Fiction

I like to read medical non-fiction. Not textbooks, but the kind of book a layperson with an interest can read, and someone in a medical profession may also enjoy, and learn from. There are three important things I look for in these books: Contributes to the non-medical reader’s understanding/interest of their health and/or bodies in

The Future of This Blog

Someone once commented on this blog’s heading*. “Reader, traveler, politics, medical student…” they mused, “Are you sure you’re in the right field of study?” For a second, I thought they were joking. But they weren’t. I had spent enough time wrestling with my career choice. Suggesting that it was a poor one did not dissuade