Some of My Best Patients Were Animals

August is southern author month for Books & Beer Club. Last month, one of our members suggested that we read a new book by a local author, K.C. Nayfield. Nayfield is a local veterinarian who had put together a collection of stories about his over 30 years as a veterinarian. Our member seemed pretty confident that the author would be happy to attend our August meeting.

I've only had one pet, a cat, and he only had one veterinarian in all the years he was part of our family. So my experience with veterinarians is pretty limited. The book is a collection of articles that had been in our local paper over the years. Some were adapted for the book. Others went in the book as they'd been in the paper. Nayfield called the book "fact-tion" as all the stories were based on truth, but some of them were embellished much more than others.

I didn't know that while I was reading the book. While I was reading I had clear preferences for the stories about Nayfield becoming a veterinarian and the stories that were about the personalities of the pets - or their owners. It was full of local culture. I wasn't really interested in the technical medical stuff. But now that I understand how the book was put together, it makes sense that some of that medical stuff was included. There were also stories about his time volunteering his services in both the Bahamas and in Cuba which I found fascinating and inspiring.

It was a pleasure meeting with the author last night. It gave a much better insight into the book, into his experiences.