Current Reads

So I'm on a library kick...since my dissertation work is pretty much causing me to want to gouge my eyes out with micropippetes, I have taken to fiendishly reading every chance I get.  I should actually be studying for the MCAT which I take in the spring, but figure I only need 3 months so I can hold off a bit longer before I dive into those fun times.
But I digress...so I'm on this kick of medically themed books (surprise surprise...but seriously, I usually don't read much of this genre) and it's been quite enjoyable.
I first read Hot Lights, Cold Steel which is about an orthopedic surgeon's residency at the Mayo Clinic.   It was a really great read and quite interesting but I found it interesting that all the cases he talked about were the absolute worst cases you get.  After working in an ER and on an ambulance, I know that 98% of calls or patients are not very serious (ie we get a lot more sniffles, small lacs, broken bones then we do codes, strokes, MI's, etc).  But in this book, all the highlighted patients were super ill, usually very young, and for the most part didn't survive.  Are the cases orthopods see really all that depressing or are those just the ones that stuck with him?  Needless to say, it just seemed so hopeless and depressing that it was probably one of the first books I've read that made me question my career trajectory into medicine.  I mean, a ruptured artery causing the death of a young mother and her 40 week pregnant fetus?  A 18 year old girl with bone cancer who had to have her leg and half her pelvis removed and still died a year later?  A young boy who got is arm ripped out by some farm machinery and was DOA.  Seriously!  It was interesting but so depressing!  And honestly, I LOVED the ED!  I even loved the severe cases because more often then not they were people you could actually help in some manner.  And I guess the really severe cases like large brain tumors, strokes, etc we usually transferred to another department pretty quickly so we didn't have to watch the progression of symptoms, pain, and suffering.  Anyway, it was an interesting book and a quick read.
Currently, I am reading Michelle Au's This Won't Hurt a Bit.  She has a really interesting style of writing.  Since I just starting reading her blog I knew her style of writing and also some of her back history but it's a pretty interesting though brief take on medical school and residency.  I'm just getting into the part where she has kids and since that's a subject I'm quite interested in (ie having kids during medical training), I'm looking forward to continuing the read!
On deck: Necessary Dreams (Fels), House of God (Shem).