Fans pick 90 books like Bloodletting and Miraculous Cures

By Vincent Lam,

Here are 90 books that Bloodletting and Miraculous Cures fans have personally recommended if you like Bloodletting and Miraculous Cures. Shepherd is a community of 12,000+ authors and super readers sharing their favorite books with the world.

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Book cover of The Waiting Room

Jacinta Halloran Author Of Dissection

From my list on doctors that show their professional struggles.

Why am I passionate about this?

I’m a family physician and therapist, but I was a book-lover first. At age seventeen, I had to choose between studying medicine or literature, and I chose a profession with a clear-cut career path. But books and writing never lost their hold, and I began to write seriously in my late thirties. I’ve had four novels published, and I’m well into my fifth. Being a writer makes me a better doctor, more empathic and curious, and more engaged with patients’ narratives. Medicine is such a rich and fascinating field, and I feel privileged to write about it from an insider’s point of view.

Jacinta's book list on doctors that show their professional struggles

Jacinta Halloran Why did Jacinta love this book?

I loved this evocative and moving novel, winner of the Voss Literary Prize, for its accurate portrayal of the personal conflict that doctors often struggle with (particularly female doctors) as they try to balance the demands of work and family life.

It follows a day in the life of pregnant family physician Dr. Dina Ronen as she attends to the diverse needs of her patients and her young family while struggling to reconcile with the demanding ghosts of her personal and collective past. This is a beautifully constructed and visceral work from Australian family physician Leah Kaminsky.

By Leah Kaminsky,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Waiting Room as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

“The Waiting Room is both haunted, and haunting.”—Geraldine Brooks, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of March

The Waiting Room unfolds over the course of a single, life-changing day, but the story it tells spans five decades, three continents, and one family’s compelling history of love, war, and survival

As the daughter of Holocaust survivors, Dina’s present has always been haunted by her parents’ pasts. She becomes a doctor, emigrates, and builds a family of her own, yet no matter how hard she tries to move on, their ghosts keep pulling her back. A dark, wry sense of humor helps Dina maintain her…


Book cover of Internal Medicine: A Doctor's Stories

Jacinta Halloran Author Of Dissection

From my list on doctors that show their professional struggles.

Why am I passionate about this?

I’m a family physician and therapist, but I was a book-lover first. At age seventeen, I had to choose between studying medicine or literature, and I chose a profession with a clear-cut career path. But books and writing never lost their hold, and I began to write seriously in my late thirties. I’ve had four novels published, and I’m well into my fifth. Being a writer makes me a better doctor, more empathic and curious, and more engaged with patients’ narratives. Medicine is such a rich and fascinating field, and I feel privileged to write about it from an insider’s point of view.

Jacinta's book list on doctors that show their professional struggles

Jacinta Halloran Why did Jacinta love this book?

This haunting collection of stories had me on the edge of my seat as I read. I both recognized the territory and was engrossed by Holt’s approach as he turned on his head the commonly-held wisdom of power and control in the doctor-patient relationship.

This finely-crafted collection has a lot of raw honesty, and the final story is a knock-out. Terrence Holt is an American gerontologist and academic.

By Terrence Holt,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Internal Medicine as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Out of the crucible of medical training, award-winning writer Terrence Holt shapes this stunning account of residency, the years-long ordeal in which doctors are made. "Amid all the mess and squalor of the hospital, with its blind random unraveling of lives," Internal Medicine finds the compassion from which doctors discover the strength to care.

Holt's debut collection of short stories, In the Valley of the Kings, was praised by the New York Times Book Review as one of "those works of genius" that "will endure for as long as our hurt kind remains to require their truth." Now he returns…


Book cover of The Burrow

Jacinta Halloran Author Of Dissection

From my list on doctors that show their professional struggles.

Why am I passionate about this?

I’m a family physician and therapist, but I was a book-lover first. At age seventeen, I had to choose between studying medicine or literature, and I chose a profession with a clear-cut career path. But books and writing never lost their hold, and I began to write seriously in my late thirties. I’ve had four novels published, and I’m well into my fifth. Being a writer makes me a better doctor, more empathic and curious, and more engaged with patients’ narratives. Medicine is such a rich and fascinating field, and I feel privileged to write about it from an insider’s point of view.

Jacinta's book list on doctors that show their professional struggles

Jacinta Halloran Why did Jacinta love this book?

I loved this book for its empathic and nuanced description of a family that teeters on the edge.

While first and foremost a narrative about the myriad effects of grief on a small family, this gentle, tender novel also explores how personal crisis impacts the work of emergency doctor Jin as he struggles to function in the wake of unbearable loss.

Melanie Cheng is an Australian family physician.

By Melanie Cheng,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Burrow as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

A wise and moving story about a family navigating grief, hope, and healing through a bond with a new pet rabbit.

“How rare, this delicacy―this calm, sweet, desolated wisdom.”―Helen Garner

The Burrow follows members of the Lee family as they navigate grief and hope in their quiet Australian suburb: Jin, an emergency physician and father; Amy, a published author and mother; Lucie, their bookish and introverted ten-year-old; and Pauline, Amy’s mother who’s trying to make amends. Racked with grief for Ruby―Lucie’s baby sister who died in a shocking accident―the family adopts a rabbit in the hopes of bringing much-needed cheer…


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Book cover of Shahrazad's Gift

Shahrazad's Gift By Gretchen McCullough,

Shahrazad’s Gift is a collection of linked short stories set in contemporary Cairo — magical, absurd, and humorous.

The author focuses on the off-beat, little-known stories, far from CNN news: a Swedish belly dancer who taps into the Oriental fantasies of her clientele; a Japanese woman studying Arabic, driven mad…

Book cover of The Citadel

Jacinta Halloran Author Of Dissection

From my list on doctors that show their professional struggles.

Why am I passionate about this?

I’m a family physician and therapist, but I was a book-lover first. At age seventeen, I had to choose between studying medicine or literature, and I chose a profession with a clear-cut career path. But books and writing never lost their hold, and I began to write seriously in my late thirties. I’ve had four novels published, and I’m well into my fifth. Being a writer makes me a better doctor, more empathic and curious, and more engaged with patients’ narratives. Medicine is such a rich and fascinating field, and I feel privileged to write about it from an insider’s point of view.

Jacinta's book list on doctors that show their professional struggles

Jacinta Halloran Why did Jacinta love this book?

I came upon this 1937 bestseller novel recently and was instantly engrossed by the tale of Dr Andrew Manson, a young general practitioner in a Welsh mining town. Medicine might have changed since 1937, but people’s behavior has not changed so much!

Largely autobiographical, full of derring-do and righteous youthful indignation, this book remains an enjoyable, propulsive read. Due to its exposure to the inequities in access to health care in 1930s Britain, this novel is often cited as a major influence in the introduction of the National Health Scheme in 1948. Cronin was a general practitioner who retired in his mid-thirties to write full-time.

By A. J. Cronin,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Citadel as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

"Cronin's distinguished achievement....No one could have written as fine, honest, and moving a study of a young doctor as The Citadel without possessing great literary taste and skill." --The Atlantic MonthlyA groundbreaking novel of its time and a National Book Award winner.The Citadel follows the life of Andrew Manson, a young and idealistic Scottish doctor, as he navigates the challenges of practicing medicine across interwar Wales and England. Based on Cronin's own experiences as a physician, The Citadel boldly confronts traditional medical ethics, and has been noted as one of the inspirations for the formation of the National Health Service.The…


Book cover of What Doctors Feel: How Emotions Affect the Practice of Medicine

Jessica Nutik Zitter, M.D. Author Of Extreme Measures: Finding a Better Path to the End of Life

From my list on understanding the physician mind.

Why am I passionate about this?

This list opens the door to the inner life of physicians: our hopes, fears, insecurities, and all of the internal and external pressures we face in our training and practice. As a doctor, I see myself in these books—not a superhero with “all of the answers,” but a human being in a profession suffering one of the largest crises of workforce burnout and moral injury. Seeing our physicians as real people will help us feel more empowered to bring our own true selves to the relationship. And really good healthcare is more likely to happen when souls connect.

Jessica's book list on understanding the physician mind

Jessica Nutik Zitter, M.D. Why did Jessica love this book?

This book does a great job of reminding non-doctors that physicians are not robots or heroes but human beings who put their pants on like everyone else. 

Doctors are people with a full range of emotions, insecurities, and doubt. Ofri draws on stories from her own training and practice that show how feelings generate the necessary empathy needed in the practice of medicine, but if left unexamined, can also lead to terrible harm. 

By Danielle Ofri,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked What Doctors Feel as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

“A fascinating journey into the heart and mind of a physician” that explores the doctor-patient relationship, the flaws in our health care system, and how doctors’ emotions impact medical care (Boston Globe)

While much has been written about the minds and methods of the medical professionals who save our lives, precious little has been said about their emotions. Physicians are assumed to be objective, rational beings, easily able to detach as they guide patients and families through some of life’s most challenging moments. But understanding doctors’ emotional responses to the life-and-death dramas of everyday practice can make all the difference…


Book cover of This Is Going to Hurt: Secret Diaries of a Young Doctor

Rhona Morrison Author Of I Don't Talk to Dead Bodies: The Curious Encounters of a Forensic Psychiatrist

From my list on medical memoirs which take you 'behind the scenes'.

Why am I passionate about this?

I am a retired, Scottish, NHS consultant forensic psychiatrist, who worked with mentally disordered offenders in prisons, hospitals, and in the community. I am passionate about raising awareness, destigmatisation of mental illness, and introducing the human beings behind the sensationalist newspaper headlines. They are all someone's son or daughter, who didn't ask to get ill. Occasionally mental illness makes good people do bad things. It was my job to find, treat and rehabilitate them. I believe entertaining medical memoirs can engage readers and inform thinking by challenging attitudes and assumptions.

Rhona's book list on medical memoirs which take you 'behind the scenes'

Rhona Morrison Why did Rhona love this book?

I loved this memoir because it was humorous and it transported me back to my own days as a junior doctor in a District General hospital, in the mid-1980s.

The black humour of a medic combined with the real human stories made it very relatable. This, merged with an easy-to-read diary style, captured the true life experiences and dilemmas of a junior doctor working in the NHS perfectly.

It was a walk down memory lane for me and it would provide an amusing insight for non-medics.

By Adam Kay,

Why should I read it?

3 authors picked This Is Going to Hurt as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Now an AMC+ series starring Ben Whishaw

The acclaimed multimillion-copy bestseller, This Is Going to Hurt is Adam Kay’s equally "blisteringly funny" (Boston Globe) and “heartbreaking” (New Yorker) secret diaries of his years as a young doctor.

Welcome to 97-hour weeks. Welcome to life and death decisions. Welcome to a constant tsunami of bodily fluids. Welcome to earning less than the hospital parking meter. Wave goodbye to your friends and relationships. Welcome to the life of a first-year doctor.

Scribbled in secret after endless days, sleepless nights, and missed weekends, comedian and former medical resident Adam Kay’s This Is Going…


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Book cover of God on a Budget: and other stories in dialogue

God on a Budget By J.M. Unrue,

Nine Stories Told Completely in Dialogue is a unique collection of narratives, each unfolding entirely through conversations between its characters. The book opens with "God on a Budget," a tale of a man's surreal nighttime visitation that offers a blend of the mundane and the mystical. In "Doctor in the…

Book cover of Beat the Reaper

Kellen Burden Author Of Flash Bang

From my list on brutal thrillers with heart.

Why am I passionate about this?

There's something about broken people trying to do good that has always resonated with me. In basic training, a drill sergeant with debilitating PTSD told us what combat would be like through a storm of choking sobs and a haze of tears. He needed us to know. Even if it broke him. Working as an investigator in Denver and Washington, I watched people with complicated pasts and uncertain futures fight tooth and nail (sometimes literally) to put human traffickers behind bars. Literature has always been a bridle for that wildness I saw in the world. A tool for taking the ghashing, stomping, unruliness of the human experience and making it rideable, relatable, survivable.

Kellen's book list on brutal thrillers with heart

Kellen Burden Why did Kellen love this book?

A savage, icepick of a hitman novel that will bury itself in your cerebellum. It’s a slippery, sexy book about the making and subsequent unmaking of a contract killer, complete with all the usual trappings and a few resolutely unusual ones. halfway through this novel, I realized that there weren't any rules to this. That you just built humans from scratch and turned them loose in your world and whatever they did, they did.  A guy stabs someone with his own fibula in this book. Eat that Macgyver. 

By Josh Bazell,

Why should I read it?

3 authors picked Beat the Reaper as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

The Doctor will see you now....

Meet Peter Brown, a young Manhattan ER Doctor who has a past he'd prefer to stay hidden. When a figure from the old days emerges it looks increasingly unlikely that his secret will stay intact.
Nicholas LoBrutto, aka Eddy Squillante, is given three months to live, and it's clear to Peter that the clock is ticking for both of them. He must do whatever it takes to keep him - and his patient - alive.

It's time to beat the reaper....


Book cover of A Knife in the Fog

Vicky Earle Author Of What Happened to Frank?

From my list on books with quirky characters in intriguing places.

Why am I passionate about this?

I have loved stories all my life, not only to read but to write. I have a particular passion for mysteries and will soon be releasing the sixth book in my Meg Sheppard Mystery Series. I read for enjoyment and prefer fast-paced stories with compelling characters. I’ve selected these books because they’re great reads and I hope you find them as entertaining as I did!

Vicky's book list on books with quirky characters in intriguing places

Vicky Earle Why did Vicky love this book?

I loved the creativity and intensity of this mystery, which features Margaret Harness and Arthur Conan Doyle. 

I was captivated by the setting of London, UK, in 1888–the time of the Whitechapel murders (Jack the Ripper). Harper brings fascinating characters to life and paints a vivid scene of abject poverty. 

I was enthralled by this piece of historical fiction and loved Harper’s ingenuity in casting Arthur Conan Doyle as a detective, much like his creation, Sherlock Holmes.  

By Bradley Harper,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked A Knife in the Fog as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Winner of Killer Nashville's 2019 Silver Falchion Award for Mystery and Edgar Finalist for Best First Novel, its audiobook won Audiofile Magazine's Earphone Award for Mystery and Suspense. Recently named as a "Recommended Read" by the Arthur Conan Doyle Estate.
 
This debut novel is the first in a series starring the real-life author and suffragette Margaret Harkness, continued in Queen's Gambit.
 
"Ardent feminism and cerebral detection face down the Ripper in the fog-shrouded streets of London: a feast for lovers of historical crime!"
 
--Laurie R. King, author of The Beekeeper's Apprentice and Island of the Mad
 
"Arthur Conan Doyle chasing…


Book cover of Over the Santa Fe Trail to Mexico: The Travel Diaries and Autobiography of Dr. Rowland Willard

Doug Hocking Author Of Terror on the Santa Fe Trail: Kit Carson and the Jicarilla Apache

From my list on Santa Fe Trail for history buffs.

Why am I passionate about this?

Historian Doug Hocking grew up on the Jicarilla Apache Reservation of New Mexico. He knows her peoples, towns, and trails. He has completed advanced studies in history, his first love, anthropology, and historical archaeology. Since retiring as an armored cavalry officer, Doug has owned his own business. With this background he has insight into America’s great commercial road, the Santa Fe Trail, and into battles and soldiering. He understands Apache lives as few others do.

Doug's book list on Santa Fe Trail for history buffs

Doug Hocking Why did Doug love this book?

Dr. Willard traveled the trail in the 1820s. He met Hugh Glass, the Revenant as Hollywood named him, and inspected his wounds. Willard brought medicine to New Mexico and Mexico where the Catholic church had made life difficult for doctors. He describes the treatments he used and it’s truly remarkable that any of his patients survived.

By Rowland Willard, Joy L. Poole (editor),

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Over the Santa Fe Trail to Mexico as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

One of the first Anglo-Americans to record their travels to New Mexico, Dr. Rowland Willard (1794-1884) journeyed west on the Santa Fe Trail in 1825 and then down the Camino Real into Mexico, taking notes along the way. This edition of the young physician's travel diaries and subsequent autobiography, annotated by New Mexico Deputy State Librarian Joy L. Poole, is a rich historical source on the two trails and the practice of medicine in the 1820s.

Few Americans knew much about New Mexico when Willard set out on his journey from St. Charles, Missouri, where he had recently completed a…


Book cover of Tell No One

Dan Lawton Author Of Taken: A Mother's Secret

From my list on domestic thrillers danger is found inside your house.

Why am I passionate about this?

Thrillers are just that—thrilling. But thrillers with lots of explosions and gunfights aren’t that appealing to me since I know the hero will make it. With realistic domestic, at-home-style thrillers, the thrilling nature is how the scenarios could really happen. Those are the most thrilling ideas, the ones I can see how they could actually happen to someone—or to me. That makes it exciting. This is why I read many of them and have written quite a few, too, because there’s nothing more thrilling than thinking your home, or the people in it, isn’t as safe as you thought. 

Dan's book list on domestic thrillers danger is found inside your house

Dan Lawton Why did Dan love this book?

One of the best books I’ve ever read. The story’s puzzle is terrific, and the action is constant, intense, and entirely plausible.

This novel was one of the reasons I fell in love with the thriller genre, thanks to its continuous redirection and explosive revelations sprinkled throughout. Completely devourable.

If there was ever a novel I wish I could read again for the first time to be shocked all over again, this is unquestionably the one.   

By Harlan Coben,

Why should I read it?

4 authors picked Tell No One as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Every year, the Doctor David Beck and his young wife, Elizabeth, meet at the same deserted lake to rediscover their love for each other, and inscribe one more year into 'their' tree. But that year was the last. Elizabeth was kidnapped and Beck knocked unconscious. By the time he woke up, his wife had been discovered dead, and horribly mutilated. For eight years he grieves. Then one afternoon, he receives an anonymous e-mail telling him to log on to a certain web-site at a certain time, using a code that only the two of them knew. The screen opens onto…


Book cover of The Waiting Room
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