I read an article recently about nurses leaving the workforce in record numbers due to burnout and stress. The pandemic has been hard on everyone, but I can’t imagine what nurses, doctors, and other health workers have had to deal with in recent times. When I think of heroes, medical professionals are at the top of my list. My aunt was a nurse, so I have a very personal connection to this noble profession.
Did you know that May celebrates National Nurses Week? It starts on May 6 and ends on May 12, which is Florence Nightingale’s birthday (May 12th, 1820). My recommended reads this week are all nurse-related, and one of my favorite titles is Mary J. MacLeod’s Call the Nurse: True Stories of a Country Nurse on a Scottish Isle. In a previous Check It Out column, I wrote about her book with great enthusiasm. The library also has her second book, Nurse, Come You Here! which continues her stories about the challenges of nursing in the wild remoteness of the Hebrides. Really fun books to read.
If you have an interest in local history, consider reading Providence White Caps: The Diary of Bernice Lorang, RN by Judith Jacobs Litchfield. Bernice Lorang, a nurse and longtime resident of Ridgefield, Washington, kept a diary about her days as a nursing student at St. Joseph Hospital in Vancouver, WA. Her niece, Judith Jacobs Litchfield, decided to write a book about her aunt’s life, and it is available at the library.
To learn more about Florence Nightingale, I found a couple of biographies in the library’s collection: Florence Nightingale: Avenging Angel by Hugh Small and Florence Nightingale: The Making of an Icon by Mark Bostridge. While preparing to write this column, I looked at the Wikipedia article about Florence Nightingale and found a recording of her voice. It was made in 1890 and is less than a minute long—so amazing.
To nurses everywhere, thank you.
- The Anzac Girls: The Extraordinary Story of Our World War I Nurses by Peter Rees.
- Call the Nurse: True Stories of a Country Nurse on a Scottish Isle by Mary J. MacLeod.
- ER Nurses: True Stories from America’s Greatest Unsung Heroes by James Patterson and Matt Eversmann.
- Heroines of Mercy Street: The Real Nurses of the Civil War by Pamela D. Toler.
- How to Treat People: A Nurse’s Notes by Molly Case.
- Nursing Fundamentals Demystified by Bennita W. Vaughans and James Edward Keogh.
- Providence White Caps: The Diary of Bernice Lorang, RN by Judith Jacobs Litchfield.
New at the Library
Fiction
- The High Country (Star Trek: Strange New Worlds) by John Jackson Miller.
- Locust Lane by Stephen Amidon.
- The Love Scribe by Amy Meyerson.
Nonfiction
- Complete Horse Riding Manual by William Micklem.
- Please, Sorry, Thanks: The Three Words That Change Everything by Mark Batterson.
- Under the Henfluence: Inside the World of Backyard Chickens and the People Who Love Them by Tove Danovich.
Children
- Being a Cat: A Tail of Curiosity written by Maria Gianferrari, illustrated by Pete Oswald.
- The Illustrated Edgar Allan Poe: 25 Essential Poems written by Edgar Allan Poe, illustrated by David Miles.
- Super King Viking Land! (Press Start series, volume 13) written and illustrated by Thomas Flintham.
This is just a small sampling of the many new titles added each week to the Fort Vancouver Regional Libraries collection. Find more in our catalog, or call 360-906-5000 to reserve titles or find additional listings.
Jan Johnston, Collection Manager
Fort Vancouver Regional Libraries
You can email Jan at readingforfun@fvrl.org.
