Book review – Cutting For Stone

I read a lot especially when I am on vacation. However Cutting For Stone is a big novel. (534 pages) and it took me almost all last week to read it. I did have company on my vacation to Isla so I didn’t have as much time as usual to just read.

I got totally wrapped up in the lives of all the main characters. For his first book of fiction Abraham Verghese’s Cutting for Stone is a tremendous accomplishment with gorgeous writing, interesting and sympathetic characters, fascinating setting, gripping narrative. One of the twins is the narrator of the story but that doesn’t take away from really getting to know the other characters in the novel.

Read it, I think you will like it!

The story is a riveting saga of twin brothers, Marion and Shiva Stone, born of a tragic union between a beautifulIndian nun and a brash British surgeon at a mission hospital in Addis Ababa. Orphaned by their mother’s death in childbirth and their father’s disappearance, and bound together by a preternatural connection and a shared fascination with medicine, the twins come of age as Ethiopia hovers on the brink of revolution.But it’s love, not politics — their passion for the same woman — that will tear them apart and force Marion to flee his homeland and make his way to America, finding refuge in his work at an underfunded, overcrowded New York City hospital. When the past catches up to him, wreaking havoc and destruction, Marion has to entrust his life to the two men he has trusted least in the world: the surgeon father who abandoned him and the brother who betrayed him.”

I came across a blog titled “All the Books I can Read” where the blogger has a ton of book reviews. Many of the books she has reviewed are books that I have read and enjoyed or now have on my list of “to read”.

Eternal On the Water – a book review

I am no longer updating my Have Read and Future Read pages. I found it to be too tedious to copy and paste links and synopsis of what I was reading. I haven’t deleted those pages because I may go back to updating them.

So anyway here is my book review.

Eternal On the Water by Joseph Monninger.

This is a story about two well educated individuals. Cobb is a teacher at a prestigious New England prep school. Mary is a PHD teaching biology at a university. They meet the night before they are going to kayak down a river. There is an instant attraction. They spend time together on the river experiencing new wonders and some of Mary’s history.

Without giving too much away you pretty quickly find out that Mary has the possibility of having a bad genetic gene that will cause an early death. Mary has chosen not to have testing done to determine if she has this gene. She doesn’t want to know how or when she will die.

The story is full of wonderful things like a trip to Yellowstone to study the environment once packs of wolves had been re-introduced. A trip to a small Bali island where Mary’s brother is a hero for the diminishing turtle population.

This is a true love story. It’s a feel good story and ultimately a story of faith, love and un-selfishness character.

Read the book!

Did you know…

This caught my eye when I was looking for something on Wikipedia (I know)

From Wikipedia’s newest articles:

Chupare stingray

Wow who knew?

Books, books and even more books

I have been on a book buying binge again lately. The following books I received a few days ago in the mail.

Sawtelle David Wroblewski
Other Queen Philippa Gregory
The Shack William P. Young
Nights in Rodanthe Nicholas Sparks
Goldengrove Francine Prose
Woman of a Thousand Secrets Barbara Wood
Sweet Life Mia King
The Smart One and the Pretty One Claire LaZebnik

Then Saturday I ordered these which won’t be shipped until 10/14/08 as a couple of the books have not yet been released:

Off Season Anne Rivers Siddons
I See You Everywhere Julia Glass
The Lucky One Nicholas Sparks
The Sum of Our Days Isabel Allende

Did I say that I have a bunch of books already waiting to be read? Well, I do.

Books, books and more books

Although I typically only read on weekends and when I travel I am a very avid reader. At any given time I have at least 20+ books in the pile of books to read. I usually order books from Barnes & Nobel because I have a yearly membership which saves me 10% -15% and gives me free shipping. Every month there is an email with some specials with bigger discounts. I have my books shipped to my office since I am never home and don’t want them sitting on my front porch. The mail room guys are like “um you have MORE books!”

If I enjoy the book I want others to read it and enjoy it also. When I read a book I always think of who would enjoy the book the most and then pass the book to them. The only thing I ask of friends I give books to is that they share them with others. My last trip to Isla Mujeres two friends loaned me books for a change. I came home from that trip with three of my books unread.

Books that I have recently read and enjoyed some more than others:

The Other Boleyn Girl – Philippa Gregory ***
Ines of My Soul – Isabel Allende *****
Sundays at Tiffany’s – James Patterson & Gabrielle Charbonnet **
The Girl Who Stopped Swimming – Joshilyn Jackson **
Water For Elephants – Sara Gruen *****
Selling the Lite of Heaven by Suzanne Strempek Shea **** hysterically funny!
The Blood of Flowers – Anita Amirrezvani *****
Plum Wine – Angela Davis-Gardner ***
James Patterson – Women’s Murder Club series the 7th in the series **** I bought the series so I can now read 1 – 6
Peony in Love – Lisa See ****
T is For Trespass – Sue Grafton ***** I love everthing by her and have read all A – T
The Almost Moon by Alice Sebold ** a bit disturbing. The first sentence is “When all was said and done killing my mother wasn’t that difficult”
Tender Bar: A Memoir – J. R. Moehringer ***** wonderful characters plus a woman I work with knows the author
Atonement – Ian McEwan ***

A few of the books on the to read pile. The pile of books is not usually on the floor. I just wanted to take a photo to add to this post. :>)

Just ordered:
The Sugar Queen – Sarah Addison Allen
The Gift of Rain – Tan Twan Eng
Skeletons at the Feast – Chris Bohjalian
The End – Salvatore Scibona