"Ship Fever"

I recently finished “Ship Fever,” a collection of short stories by Andrea Barrett. One of the things I like about Barrett is that her stories usually have scientific and/or historical plot elements. (The other book of hers that I’ve read, “Voyage of the Narwhal,” deals with a 19th-century naturalist who goes on an expedition to the Arctic Circle.)

Stories included in “Ship Fever” focus on a doctor who volunteers to treat Irish cholera victims fleeing to Canada to escape from the potato famine, two Englishwomen who try to disprove a commonly-held belief about swallows, the final days in the life of Carl Linnaeus, and a love affair between two science teachers.

But the stories are not just about science. Barrett deftly weaves the science into compelling tales of relationships and adventures, so you don’t feel like you’re reading a dry scientific text—far from it. I don’t often read short stories, but I enjoyed these and plan to read more of her work.

“Ship Fever” won the National Book Award in 1996, so I am counting it towards the “Book Awards Reading Challenge.” This is my fifth one, so I’m doing pretty well. I’ve been trying to do one a month, and I need to read seven more by the end of June 2008. Plenty of time….