In the spirit of reading glasses and all-things reading-related, the book worms that make up the Reading Glasses Shopper team have decided to begin a monthly column called, “What We’re Reading.” Not surprisingly, the column will discuss a page-turner one of our team members is currently reading, or one of their favorite book from the past. We hope you enjoy our picks, and we’d love to hear your thoughts on the book, or other reading recommendations in the comments section.

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Cutting for Stone | By Abraham Verghese

Author Abraham VergheseAuthor Abraham Verghese, MD, MACP, is the professor for the Theory and Practice of Medicine at Stanford University School of Medicine. He’s also Senior Associate Chair of the Department of Internal Medicine.

Born of Indian parents, Verghese grew up in revolutionary Ethiopia near Addis Abba. He cultivated a fascination with medicine at an early age and began his medical training in his home country at Madras Medical College. Verghese moved to the United States to complete his residency and subsequently traveled around the country for different positions. He became interested in writing in the early 1990s and earned his Master of Fine Arts degree from the University of Iowa. Since then his writing has been featured in many prominent publications and he’s published a number of highly acclaimed books.

Verghese is a firm believer in the importance of forming a strong physician-patient relationship and spends much of his time teaching the value of physical examination and demonstrating attentiveness to patients and their families. This same insight into humans is apparent in Verghese’s thorough descriptions and attention to the characters in his novel Cutting for Stone.

Cutting for Stone ReviewWhile I admit the story began slowly, this novel is absolutely engrossing once you’re involved. It’s the story of two twins, born out of a secret union in a mission hospital in Addis Ababa. The twins, orphaned after their mother’s death and their father’s disappearance, grow up in Ethiopia sharing everything– including a fascination with medicine and a love for the same woman. Following a disagreement, the brothers are separated until years later when Marion, the narrator, is forced to entrust his life to both his surgeon father, who left him and the brother who crossed him.

Beautifully written, readers will feel like they are actually in the operating room in Addis Ababa and traveling through Ethiopia with Marion. Fair warning: There is quite a bit of medical jargon, but while it may be hard to understand, it’s not crucial to following the plot.

Images courtesy of GoodReads.com