One More Book

One more book (for now). But first, I can hear you asking "how does a med student have time to read all these non-medical books?" Well, you need to know- I'm an avid reader. That's one of those phrases that gets thrown around but what does it really mean? Well, for me it means a couple of things. One, I'm addicted to books. When I get really stressed- like so stressed chocolate chip cookies won't cut it (and that's really stressed!)- the best "therapy" I know is to wander around in a bookstore- for hours. My mom is always amazed at how long I can spend in a bookstore. I tell her the longer the better- I spend several hours browsing books, I end up buying just a few. If I tried to leave real quickly, I'd end up buying everything I saw instead of spending time figuring out what I really want. At least, that's what I tell myself. Anyway, being an avid reader also means that I wish I could read a lot of books on a lot of subjects all at once- and I usually try! But what this lack of patience usually ends up meaning is that I get a few chapters into a book, and think it's really good- but then get distracted by another really good book that I can't wait to read... and before you know it I have 5 or 10 or 20 books lying around, all with bookmarks at various places, and if I want to finish any of them I have to start back at the beginning because it's been too long since I started it and I can't remember the part I've read! Finally, and most relevant to this blog, being an avid reader for me means that once I start a book, I can't put it down until I finish it. Wait a minute! I just said exactly the opposite! Well, maybe I should put it this way. If I start a book and don't finish it right away, I probably won't finish it because I'll get engrossed in several other books before I have a chance to get back to it. But when I do pick up a good book, I usually want to read and read and read... I can sit for hours at time, and it's quite normal for me to read an entire book in 2 days. So how can a med student read so many books? I very carefully choose when to pick up a new book- I choose a time when I know I can devote several hours to it for the next few days without compromising my "obligations" to school. So, true to form, yesterday I picked up "Uncharted" by Angela Hunt (a Christian novelist). Now, the last time I read a novel (I'm not even sure I remember which one it was!) I had the usual sense of "guilt" for spending so much time reading a novel- the overachiever med student in me thinks I should be more productive than that- but I actually don't read novels that often, and when I do they are carefully chosen and usually speak to me in powerful ways (otherwise I lose interest and go study instead!) Anyway, after reading "Uncharted" I felt no such guilt. It makes such a powerful statement, I still feel my heart skip a beat when I think about it, and feel far too challenged by it to regret taking time to read it. It's an allegory, about 6 friends from college who promise to stay close but lose touch until many years later when one of them dies and the other 5 are reunited. It's very well written and grabs your interest quickly, but as you get deeper into the book and the allegory begins to come together, it is all that the subtitle promises: expect the unexpected. Please read it- let me know what you think. It has such a power, is so different from what you expect. The subtitle truly says it all... and this book will leave me thinking and pondering and wondering for days... until some new book grabs my fancy! (And actually, tomorrow is my day off so I might just go hunting for a book right now...) This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 Unported License.