Sunday, April 14, 2024

Book Review: Driving Home Naked (and other misadventures of a country veterinarian)

Driving Home Naked (and other misadventures of a country veterinarian) by Melinda McCall* (She Writes Press, 2023, $17.95, 304 pages PB) Review by Skye Anderson 

Now that I have your attention. . . . !

If the cover illustration (with the requisite border collie as co-pilot) doesn't reel you in, the title will: Driving Home Naked. 

If you like to carry a book around with you as you go through your day and open it when you have a few empty minutes (rather than using your i-phone), this is the book for you, with short anecdotes of sometimes humorous situations and other times unbelievable situations. However, you might want to cover the cover, especially due to the title!

Divided into three sections, "Dressing the Part" (with 18 short chapters covering the years 1990-2007), "Peeling Off the Layers" (12 stories, 2008-2011) and "Wearing Many Hats" (25 situations, 2012-2021), Driving Home Naked covers the early years, mid-career and experienced experiences to date of a teacher of others in a female large-animal veterinary practice in Virginia. 

Who hasn't wanted to be a veterinarian? Not I! I still want to be one. And I can be - sort of - by reading books like Naked.

I hesitate to say this, but I especially liked the two stories about euthanasia, one being rather humorous. But I can't tell you my favorite story - McCall simply included too many. However, she will sell and sign her books at the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival at the Howard County Fairgrounds on 4 and 5 May: I can't wait to chat with her!

The Author

McCall is truly living her dream and was driven to be a veterinarian from an early age, having been brought up on a dairy farm. You, too, can live your dream of being a veterinarian in Driving Home Naked without having to drive home naked yourself!

*Also author of Million Dollar Goat

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