Books

I just finished a FANTASTIC book. It's called 'The Girls' and it's by Lori Lansens. My aim this summer is to read some more Canadian Lit and this was a great start. She also wrote 'Rush Home Road' which I read last summer and also really loved.

The novel was extremely touching. It made me cry several times, which isn't really anything new with me and novels, both for joy and sadness. The imagery was so bitter sweet that it made my heart ache. A lot of the scenery of Southern Ontario was familiar to me.

As medicine is so much of what defines me right now, it also made me contemplate medicine and humanity and how dehumanizing a visit to the doctor can be, especially for those who make a lot of visits. So far, I have found that some people define themselves by their illness and some do not. Some people wear their survival or suffering like a badge of honor and some bury it deep within themselves and strive for a "normal" life. It's difficult as physicians to appreciate these individual differences and deal with patients according to their own coping mechanisms. It's hard for friends of the afflicted to do that as well.

I'm now reading 'A Student of Weather' by Elizabeth Hay. Hopefully it's just as great!