New York Times bestseller, Rough Sleepers is a biography and memoir about Dr. Jim O’Connell, who after graduating from Harvard Medical School, created an organization to bring healthcare to houseless citizens in Boston. Tracy Kidder, the author of “Rough Sleepers,” followed Dr. Jim O’Connell for five years to document the challenging story of Boston’s most endangered citizens. In addition to healthcare, O’Connell and his colleagues also provided support in the form of clean socks, warm soup, humor, and friendship.
Read more on New York Times.
The Laws of Medicine by Siddhartha Muknerjee has been described as “essential reading for both doctors and patients alike” by Simon and Schuster Publishing. In this short novel, Muknerjee draws upon his experiences as a physician to explain his three rules of practicing medicine; get to know patients better, understand that there will be outliers, and always consider biases. Muknerjee won the Pulitzer Prize for his previous work, The Emperor of All Maladies.
A fiction novel in a health sciences library? You betcha! In Disorientation by Elaine Hsieh Chou, Ingrid, a PhD in her late twenties is attempting and failing to finish her dissertation on the titular poet, Xiao-Wen Chou. While researching in Chou archives, Ingrid discovers a strange note. Ingrid knows that she should ignore the note and continue plugging away with her work, but instead, she upends her life and descends into chaos. The truth behind the “clue” ends up being more disturbing than she ever could have imagined.
Tricia Hersey is a performance artist, writer, and activist, who founded the organization “The Nap Ministry.” The Nap Ministry organizes performance art and workshops that explore the importance of prioritizing naps (or resting) in our society. Subsequently, Hersey wrote the Manifesto Rest Is Resistance, which is a further rumination on the power of rest as a call-to-action for those who suffer from burnout. Rest is described as an ‘act of resistance,’ as it disrupts the flow of systemic issues and capitalism. The Manifesto includes contextual stories and advice to promote long-term health.
Out in the Rural: A Mississippi Health Center and Its War on Poverty by historian Thomas J. Ward Jr.
The Tufts-Delta Health Center opened in 1966 in Mound Bayou, Mississippi. It was the first rural healthcare center in America. Dr. H. Jack Geiger, who founded the health center, ran away from home in adolescence. He was befriended by Harlem Renaissance icon Canada Lee, who took the teen in, and would later loan Geiger money so he could go to school. Geiger spent time as a journalist and as a marine then attended medical school to become a physician.
The Forgotten Girls is a 2023-release memoir, written by journalist Monica Potts. Monica grew up into a working class, poor family in the Ozarks of Arkansas. She became friends with a girl named Darci. The two girls bonded over their love of reading and learning, and they dreamed of leaving their declining town. Monica moved away for college, but Darci did not. Years later, Monica returned to her hometown to report on a story about the shortened life-expectancy of Arkansas women. She is devastated when she discovers that Darci has become a statistic: a single mother of two children, unemployed, who is struggling with addiction.
After the Last Border by Jessica Goudeau offers a poignant exploration of the pursuit of the American Dream through the parallel narratives of Mu Naw and Hasna, two resilient women who secured refuge in Austin, Texas. Mu Naw, a Christian from Myanmar, faces the challenges of establishing roots after a decades-long wait in a refugee camp. Meanwhile, Hasna, a Muslim from Syria, relocates for her family’s safety, only to be tragically separated from her children due to an abrupt ban on refugees from Muslim countries. Goudeau’s intimate storytelling provides a compelling glimpse into the complex and often heart-wrenching experiences of those seeking a new life in America.
In this dark and comedic memoir, Sarah Ramey describes how a seemingly minor illness during her senior year of college turned into a persistent, invisible illness that doctors couldn’t diagnose or treat. Doctors were stumped and blamed her deteriorating health on psychosomatic origins. After experiencing malpractice and even botched surgeries, Ramey began researching her own condition, leading her to discover that this treatment is a collective experience of women who often struggle with “invisible illnesses” such as autoimmune disease, Lyme disease, fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue, chronic pain, and more. Ramey outlines the need to test, treat, and stabilize the gut, liver, immune system, and endocrine system to combat modern chronic illnesses.
Nevada, by Imogen Binnie is a fiction novel about a 29-year-old trans woman named Maria Griffiths who lives in New York City. Maria works at a bookstore and has a girlfriend named Steph. Steph makes up a strange, fake story that she cheated on Maria with one of Maria’s co-workers. This causes Maria to reconsider the relationship, and she plans to break up with Steph. Steph beats Maria to the punch, and within the same few days, Maria is fired from her job. These events send Maria into an existential crisis. Maria borrows Steph’s car and she drives away somewhat aimlessly, headed west.
From the creator of Your Fat Friend, Aubrey Gordon unearths cultural prejudice and social systems that have led to fat people getting denied basic needs. Unlike the recent wave of memoirs and self-help books that encourage body positivity, Gordon pushes the discussion one step further toward authentic fat activism. It is a plight to end legal weight discrimination and anti-fat violence. It is support for equal access to healthcare and increased access to public spaces.
You Just Need to Lose Weight & 19 Other Myths About Fat People is a follow-up to Aubrey Gordon’s What We Don’t Talk About When We Talk About Fat.
With her background of community organizing and training, Gordon debunks sweeping statements made about fat people and equips readers with tools to take action for fat justice.
Aubrey Gordon is co-host of the podcast Maintenance Phase.
The debut fictional novel, A Burning, by Megha Majumdar, is about Jivan, a young Muslim woman. Jivan reads about a terrorist attack that occurred at a railway station near her home in Kolkata. After she makes a social media post that references the attack, she faces backlash online, and eventually is wrongfully accused of committing the crime.
