cutting for stone

I finished "Cutting for Stone" by Verghese - such a good, satisfying book. It's one of those sweeping sagas about a family entangled in a country's political revolution and spans the globe. I loved the author's medical expertise and perspective - there's a birth scene in there I will never forget! I was a bit turned off by the trope of the main character being haunted for life by the mean girl he knew as a kid and dreaming of having her virginity was the point of his life. Kinda like Pip in "Great Expectations" - it's a good way to propel the story forward while keeping in touch with their childhood but I think it's unrealistic (and creepy).

I also read "If You Follow Me" by Malena Watrous was excruciatingly fantastic! I was laughing my head off and squirming at the cultural misunderstandings experienced by an American teaching English in Japan. I've read a million books about Americans in France or Italy but never Asia, so it was fresh territory. The author did teach English in Japan so I feel she really portrayed the awkward reality of dealing with a toothache in a foreign country or trying to discard an appliance. Can you imagine having neighbors analyze your garbage every day? Yikes!

"The Gift of an Ordinary Day" by Katrina Kenison is memoir about her years building a house and watching her oldest son go off to college. It's nothing remarkable or astonishing, but she has an ability to savor each mundane day and cherish the moments of life. She can get a bit flown with herself - there are many mothers with much worse struggles than my kid doesn't want to move - but I still liked her company. I can always use more reminders to embrace these ordinary days of raising my baby.

I also read "An Exact Replica of a Figment of My Imagination" by Elizabeth McCracken - a memoir about motherhood and an American in France! My two interests combined. The author had a stillborn baby and then a healthy baby a year later. It's very moving and heartbreaking, of course. She has a precision about her emotions and how people responded to her - she's not maudlin at all. Her tale jumps around in chronology so you're anxious to find out what exactly happened. Anyway, it's very affecting and brave.

Currently reading "The New Yorkers" by Cathleen Schine (who I love) and then "The Elegance of the Hedgehog."