April's Book Competition - Memoir

I love a good memoir. There’s something so powerful about reading someone’s life story, and if it’s done well, you learn something too. This month for the friendly book club competition, I wanted something in the Memoir genre.

The Ground Rules

To help keep things mostly apples-to-apples, I selected a theme each month. Then, Leslie and Noah each submit a book to me for reading. Neither knows what the other shared with me. Then, over the course of a month, I read the books and choose a winner for the best book that month.

April 2022: Memoir

Leslie submitted Beauty in the Breaking by Michele Harper. Here's what she said about why she chose it:

I don’t usually read memoirs but this one was so well done. Michele is an ER doctor and this book explores the physical and emotional sides of medicine and healing. Michele is able to bring to light both the disenfranchisement of her patients and the stigma around being a Black woman in medicine.

Next, Noah submitted Surely You’re Joking, Mr. Feynman by Richard Feynman. Here's what he said:

Richard Feynman is a genius beyond modern comparison, he worked on the Manhattan Project, and was also one of the more prolific physicists to work on quantum mechanics. He won a nobel prize for his work on quantum electrodynamics. This book highlights a well rounded and amazing human, who happened to be the smartest person on earth.

Last month, the romance books were more love stories than true romance genres. Memoirs are a bit more predictable. I was excited to read both because they are very different: different eras, different places, different genders, different races. But, the similarities are shocking.

Beauty in the Breaking has pros and cons. I thought the author, Michele Harper, had a very interesting perspective as a Black, female MD in a male-dominated field. Her stories are viewed through that lens and bring an important perspective to the conversation. One complaint I have about this memoir is the technical detail of the medical field. Some passages felt like they could only be fully appreciated by other medical workers. This is not a bad thing, but I found myself glazing over with medical acronyms and pharmaceuticals. Overall, we need more stories like this to help break down biases in medicine and many other industries.

Surely You’re Joking, Mr. Feynman has been on my TBR for years. Richard Feynman is a fascinating character in history. I thoroughly enjoyed the beginning stories of his childhood as you can see how it shapes his future. As he moves forward to college and early working days, the stories take on a more technical slant, and, honestly, I struggled to follow some of the stories and concepts. I wasn’t enthralled. You can clearly tell Feynman was a brilliant man, but his stories weren’t cohesive for me. That said, the ending was quite strong and left you with the warm fuzzies.

Two Will Enter, One Will Win

Comparing these books and deciding on a winner between my two friends isn't easy. I wrestled with this decision because the books seem different, but are actually similar in technical detail, anecdotes, and end result. This month, Leslie takes the win again!

Here’s a recap of point totals:

January: Noah

February: Tie

March: Leslie

April: Leslie

Noah stands at two points while Leslie just took the lead with three points. May’s book is “Something happy” and I can’t wait to see what the selections are.