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emilysk

emilysk

I live in Seattle. I recently graduated from nursing school and am starting work as a new RN. I have a BA in English literature. I will read anything, up to and including the back of a cereal box.

The books on my shelf are books that I've read, not necessarily books that I own. My reading list is of books that I want to read but... more »
  • Seattle, WA, USA
  • member since November 22 2006

Reviews

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Displaying 1-10 of 334 reviews
  • Stuart: A Life Backwards
    • Rated 4 stars

    “Fascinating, cleverly written, and heartbreaking. The author writes about his acquaintance (and later friend) Stuart - a chronically homeless, alcoholic, mentally ill man. Masters tries to figure out how Stuart came to be in the gutter of society, and looks at his past and from where he came. As Stuart's history comes to light, it becomes horrifyingly clear that he was subjected to terrible abuse and neglect and no one came to his rescue despite his pleas for help. Stuart's is a story about how the system can utterly fail someone - anyone - and how the consequences can be dire.

    Stuart's story particularly affected me because many of the patients I care for at the county hospital are homeless, addicted, mentally ill, in jail, etc. This book was a good reminder that people in those circumstances often were dealt an impossible hand early in life and have had no way to rise above it. ”

    emilysk wrote this review 9 days ago. ( reply | permalink )
  • Boy Detective Fails
    • Rated 3 stars

    “In this book, Billy is a boy detective who solves crimes with his sister Caroline and his best friend Fenton. But after a few years, Caroline commits suicide, and Billy has a nervous breakdown and is institutionalized until age 30. When he reemerges into the world, he attempts to continue to fight the forces of evil, but is often perplexed. He befriends two children who live near his halfway-house residence, and joins them in investigating a mystery filled with headless pets. Along the way, Billy tries to find the truth about Caroline's fate, unable to believe that she would take her own life.

    The book is sprinkled with puzzles and codes that can help engage the reader - or may seem like a pretentious device. You choose.”

    emilysk wrote this review 9 days ago. ( reply | permalink )
  • A Monstrous Regiment of Women
    • Rated 4 stars

    “Second book in the series - I liked it even more than the first. The mystery is better, and the relationship between Mary and Holmes becomes more complicated. ”

    emilysk wrote this review 10 days ago. ( reply | permalink )
  • The Steel Remains: A Land Fit for Heroes Novel
    • Rated 2 stars

    “I like Morgan's more sci-fi type books, and am able to deal with the violence and crude base urges of the characters in that style of book... but for some reason I found it sort of distasteful in a fantasy novel. The one thing I kind of liked was the fact that the hero of the story was gay. ”

    emilysk wrote this review 10 days ago. ( reply | permalink )
  • The Beekeeper's Apprentice
    • Rated 5 stars

    “This may be sacreligious for real fans of Sherlock Holmes, but I love the Mary Russell character and her funny, complicated relationship with the aging detective. Mary first meets Holmes at the age of 14, and soon becomes his apprentice. It was a fun, smart read, and I'm happily continuing on with the series. ”

    emilysk wrote this review 10 days ago. ( reply | permalink )
  • The House of Hope and Fear: Life in a Big City Hospital
    • Rated 5 stars

    “If I could give this book 27 stars, I would. I work at the hospital that Dr. Young describes with honesty and affection. In her stories about patients, doctors, families, and aspects of society, the reader gets a view inside a public hospital and the people who work and are treated there.

    There are two reasons why I would recommended you read this book: First, it would help you understand why I choose to work at the county hospital and why I am so proud of the work I do. The other reason is more political: reading about the patients who end up at the county hospital seeking primary care - the homeless, the addicted, the mentally ill, the underinsured, the unemployed, the desparate - is the best argument I can think of for universal health care.

    Just one fact pulled from the book: the United States spends more than twice as much on health care than any other country, and yet our health outcome and life expectancy statistics are nowhere near the best in the world. ”

    emilysk wrote this review 10 days ago. ( reply | permalink )
  • Witches of Eastwick
    • Rated 2 stars

    “This really didn't do that much for me. Honestly, I liked the movie a lot more, and that's saying something. Perhaps it would have done more for me if I'd read it when it was first written - but then again, a really good book should hold up over time.

    Just in case you haven't seen the movie or read the book - a mysterious stranger moves to the small coastal town of Eastwick and buys a decripit mansion that he fixes up in strange and bizarre ways. Each of the witches in town has some sort of fling with him and eventually finds him unsatisfying.

    Now I hear there's a TV series based on the book as well, but I haven't seen it. I expect it is a lot like Desparate Housewives but with witches. Oh well. ”

    emilysk wrote this review 2 weeks ago. ( reply | permalink )
  • The 19th Wife: A Novel
    • Rated 4 stars

    “Well done. The book switches between 2 points of view - a modern-day FLDS family who is struggling with an apparent murder, and the diary of a 19th-century Mormon wife who experiences the founding and travel of the early Mormon church. It's a fascinating look at both LDS history and the problems with the modern-day Fundamentalist LDS organization, known from the news as the polygamists. If you're interested in the subject, "Under the Banner of Heaven" is a great nonfiction look at the same subject. ”

    emilysk wrote this review 2 weeks ago. ( reply | permalink )
  • This Common Secret: My Journey as an Abortion Doctor
    • Rated 4 stars

    “A powerful message about the reality of being a doctor who provides abortions in the United States. Dr. Wicklund writes about her own abortion as a young woman, her difficult journy through college and medical school as the mother of a young child, and her mission to provide the option of abortion to women in several different states. She flies from state to state to work at the widely scattered clinics that provide abortion as a choice, which can be hundreds of miles away from their client base, as in rural Montana. She has private security, a bulletproof vest, and a handgun she carries at all times.

    I appreciate Dr. Wicklund's honesty and willingness to portray the various reasons why her patients sought abortions, as well as the constant pressure from anti-abortion protesters and activists. Her experience goes back more than 20 years, and yet things haven't changed that much, as seen by the recent murder of Dr. Tiller in Wichita. ”

    emilysk wrote this review 2 weeks ago. ( reply | permalink )
  • Heart and Soul
    • Rated 3 stars

    “I liked this book but didn't love it. It's about a doctor named Clare who is going through a divorce from her ex That Bastard Alan, and has allowed both of her adult daughters to live with her. She is challenged by her new job as the director of a heart clinic that is a 1-year trial project by the hospital where she works. As the director, she has to make all the decisions from staffing to decorating to treatment plans for patients.

    The book follows the lives of a large host of characters - Clara, her daughters, the nurses at the clinic, a handsome young doctor, the Polish immigrant Ania who Clara hires as an assistant, some of the patients, the administrator Frank who makes Clara's life difficult... It's well-written but not amazing. ”

    emilysk wrote this review 2 weeks ago. ( reply | permalink )
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