Bitches to the ER, stat!

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I have always loved medicine. I was diagnosed with type one diabetes when I was four and a half, so not only was I comfortable with doctors and hospitals, but neither needles nor blood frightened me. Alas, I'm a right brain all the way--math and science are my enemy. Being a doctor was not in the cards for me so I had to live vicariously through TV shows to get my medicinal fix.

I started watching ER with my parents as a kid, and remember watching the premiere of Grey's Anatomy right after Desperate Housewives when I was in high school. So after 25+ years of training via medical dramas and time spent in hospitals, I feel confident that I can diagnose most people with curious symptoms and probably insert a chest tube or a trach with a pen if I'm in a roadside accident and need to save a life.

Fortunately for me (and the lives of others), two of my best friends (and many more!) went into medicine and serve as my own personal Dr. Fauci and orthopedic surgeon respectively so I can now live through them as well.

These beautiful, single, twin geniuses are blessed with being left and right brained and also love reading as much as I--and have not only provided the authentic photos for this post, but also some recommendations for the real-lifers and the wannabes alike.

These books range from nonfiction biographies to medical thrillers, contemporary melodramas to historical jaw-droppers that changed the world as we know it. In other words, there's a spoonful of medicine for everyone.

Let us know what you think in the comments!

Fiction:

Pull of the Stars by Emma Donaghue

My Sister’s Keeper by Jodi Piccoult

Midwives by Chris Bohjalian

Oxygen by Carol Cassella

Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese

The House of God by Samuel Shem

The Great Believers by Rebecca Makkai

Memoirs:

Working Stiff by Judy Melinek

A Thousand Naked Strangers by Kevin Hazzard