Well, that's actually not true at all. Good books are quite easy to find, but that's the title I chose because I feel like I'm dating this book I'm reading. It's called Cutting for Stone, and I love it. I really do. But I just can't finish it. Abraham Verghese is incredibly talented. He writes beautifully and sophisticatedly and tells a story unlike any author I've read recently. But my goodness, I cannot get into the plot, and it breaks my heart. Perhaps it's because after a day of work with homeless folks and housed-but-unemployed folks, followed by hours spent in intentional community, I need something with a bit more levity. Perhaps it's because being out of school has shortened my attention span or dulled my intellect. If it's the latter, then I'm in big trouble for the rest of my adult life because it's been only four months since I was last studying (MCAT). Maybe I'll come back to it. I hope I do. It is bizarre how it feels like such a big decision to walk away from this book. The fact that it's monsoon-ing outside, I'm sick, and I drank six cups of coffee this morning only intensifies my feelings.
As a memorial to the time we spent together, here is a quote from Cutting for Stone that I liked: "But you don't always know the answers before you operate. One operates in the now. Later, the retrospectoscope, that handy tool of the wags and pundits, the conveners of the farce we call M&M -- morbidity and mortality conference -- will pronounce your decision right or wrong. Life, too, is like that. You live it forward, but understand it backward. It is only when you stop and look to the rear that you see the corpse caught under your wheel."
I'm now accepting book recommendations that are not The Hunger Games, with which my housemates are obsessed but which I'm just not interested in reading (not least because it was written for a 13-year-old audience).
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