Recommendations from our Faculty and Mentors, 2006

Dr. Constance Brinckerhoff

• John Adams by David McCulloch
• The Cry and the Covenant by Morton Thompson
  A wonderful tale of childbed fever and non-sterile technique, and one doctor's fight to change physician behavior in the 1800s.
• How We Die by Sherwin Neuland.
  Written by a surgeon from Yale. A sensitive and very readable account of the end of life.

Dr. David Bzik

• The Malaria Capers: More Tales of Parasites and People, Research and Reality by Robert S. Desowitz.
  Not surprisingly the story is just as relevant today as it was 10 years ago, if not more so.

Dr. Sharon Cahoon-Metzger

None of these are particularly obscure but they are all interesting and/or entertaining and would certainly be worth one's time while lying on the beach!!

• Lucky Man by Michael J. Fox
• The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat by Oliver Sacks
• One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey
• Some spiritual wisdom in:
  Standing for Something by Gordon B. Hinckley
• And on a more lighthearted note:
  A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson
• Neither Here Nor There: Travels in Europe by Bill Bryson
• The Lost Continent: Travels in Smalltown America by Bill Bryson
• These earlier works of Hanover's own Bryson are absolutely hilarious!
• Letters From a Nut by Ted L. Nancy
  Not everyone will appreciate his humor to the degree I do

Dr. Brian Catlin

• War and Peace by Tolstoy
• Anna Karenina by Tolstoy
  It took me well into my 50's and, dare I say 60's, to get around to reading what I now consider the two finest novels I have ever read, namely Tolstoy's War and Peace and Anna Karenina. I would recommend the recent translation of the latter by Richard Pevear as being more readable. They are both long, but completely masterful.
• American Caesar by William Manchester
  For history I have found no one better than William Manchester. His biography of Gen. Douglas McArthur, American Caesar, I enjoyed immensely. His biography of Winston Churchill (2 vols.) is better, despite the fact that he became ill before completing volume 3.

Dr. Nan Cochran

• Blindness by Jose Saramago
  This Portuguese author was awarded the Nobel Prize for literature in 1998. The story is a haunting allegory about the human condition in which an epidemic of "white blindness" afflicts the residents of a city indiscriminately. With tremendous sensitivity and detail, this novel describes the horrors of human weaknesses in a parable of loss and depravity.

Dr. Arnold Fabricant

• War Is A Force That Gives Us Meaning by Chris Hedges
• American Century by Harold Evans
  Not necessarily "beach" reading but very thought provoking and pertinent.

Dr. Charles Faulkner

• Racing the Antelope by Bernd Heinrich
  For those with a more than passing interest in exercise and/or physiology, I heartily recommend Racing the Antelope. The author is an insect physiologist, and successful long-distance runner, and he knows how to weave a story.

Dr. Aniko Fejes-Toth

• All the King's Men Robert Penn Warren
  A classic, everyone should read it.
  "Set in the 30s, this Pulitzer-prize winning novel traces the rise and fall of demoagogue Willie Stark, a fictional character who resembles the real-life Huey "Kingfish" Long of Louisiana. Stark begins his political career as an idealistic man of the people, but soon becomes corrupted by success and caught between dreams of service and an insatiable lust for power."
• "Carry Me Across the Water" by Ethan Canin
  Ethan Canin is an MD who writes now full time.
• Snow Falling on Cedars by David Guterson
• The Transplanted Man by Sanjay Nigam, MD
  A story about an Indian immigrant community whose quirky challenges are played out at a local hospital.
• Bel Canto by Ann Patchett
• A Girl Named Zippy: Growing Up Small in Mooreland, Indiana by Haven Kimmel
  Reading for the light-side

Donna DiFillippo

• The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver
  This is an amazing book. When I finished reading it, I thought that if I were Barbara Kingsolver I would have to quit writing. It is worth reading just to check out the character who speaks in palindromes. This will be a long read because the language is lush, the setting exotic, and the history lesson regarding US policy in the Congo is astonishing.
• Cold Mountain by Charles Frazier
  This is another long read. It took me a long time to finish because I found myself re-reading sentences just to savor the artistry of the language. I met Charles Frazier and when I told him this he smiled and said, "Thanks, I spent a lot of time considering each word." It shows.
• The Girls Guide to Hunting and Fishing by Melissa Bank
  A funny and poignant book of short stories that will be quick to read. Perfect for an airplane. I found the stories entertaining yet thought provoking, and I liked the way they stand alone and yet are connected through common characters. It's a clever technique.
• Naked by David Sedaris
  Actually anything by Sedaris is funny but if I had to choose one collection, this would be it. I laughed out loud - check out the piece about his visit to the nudist colony. He is a brilliant essayist and commentator who now lives in Paris.
• Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris
  This story chronicles his difficulty with the language and culture of France. If you've ever been to Paris this might be one you would want to read as well.
• The Tennis Partner by Abraham Verghese
  This is a somber and humbling book written by a gifted healer who is ultimately unable to heal a friend lost in the throes of addiction. It would be interesting for future doctors to take a look at this true story, particularly if there is an interest in substance abuse issues.

Dr. Paul Guyre

• The Ascent of Rum Doodle by W.E. Bowman
  Republished by Pimlico 2001--a fast, farcical and fun little spoof on mountain climbing.
• A Walk in the Woods: Rediscovering America on the Appalachian Trail by Bill Bryson
  A bit longer spoof and a must read locally for hikers.
• The Forgotten Plague: How the Battle Against Tuberculosis Was Won and Lost by Frank Ryan

Dr. Matthew Heintzelman
For the most part, I like to read books that just take me away.

• The Leatherstocking Tales by James Fenimore Cooper..... pure adventure out in the wild.

• Le Morte D'Arthur by Malory
  It's got everything: sex, violence, intrigue, magic and wizardry, scheming conniving bad guys batttling good guys, people quite literally dying of broken hearts...pure escapist literature at its classic best.
• The Tree Where Man was Born by Peter Matthiessen
  The Snow Leopard by Peter Matthiessen
  These two books are written by a wonderful nature writer and quasi-philosopher; Matthiessen is a gifted nature writer with a talent for descriptive writing that makes you feel as if you're along with him on his travels....The first book takes you on a safari through Africa, the second to the Himalayas. The Snow Leopard is a mix of nature travelouge and Zen Buddhist reflections.....it's not as dense as I might make it sound.
• My First Summer in the Sierra by John Muir
  Simply a beautiful book...again, you feel like you're walking along with Muir such is the power of his descriptive writing. The chapter about the wind storm is pure delight!

Dr. Leslie Henderson

• Crytptonomicon by Neal Stephenson
  A great mix of fiction and history on code breaking in WWI and computers in this century.
• Breaking Clean by Judy Blount
  A memoir that shows that life in eastern Montana in the 1950's was not much different from life in Montana in the 1850s. Superb imagery and a starkly honest and introspective telling of her life.
• Angle of Repose by Wallace Stegner
  Simply a wonderful book in every aspect
• The Van by Roddy Doyle
  One of his trilogy of life in Northern Dublin (The Commitments and the Snapper, the other two). This one, I think, is the best of the three in how a person's good heart and good humor (the writing can be wickedly funny) can overcome the setbacks that happen to ordinary people.
• Straight Man and Nobody's Fool by Richard Russo.
  Superb character portrayals of life at a small liberal arts college (Straight Man) and in a down and out upstate NY town (Nobody's Fool). Excellent writing and very, very funny.
• White Teeth by Zadie Smith.
  Another spot-on character portrayal and also a highly amusing tale of immigrant life and growing up in late 20th century London.
• The Alienest by Caleb Carr.
  Great airplane book (i.e., one you cannot put down) that brings in serial murder and the birth of forensic psychiatry at the turn of the 20th century.
• Dune by Frank Herbert.
  Classic science-fiction mysticism. Great book.

Sue Ann Hennessy

• Good Harbor by Anita Diamant.
  A chick book. Anita wrote the bestselling novel "The Red Tent." It was an easy read yet a wonderful, graceful story about two women from slightly different backgrounds coming together to form a special friendship. To quote the review on the back of the book "If you are missing a close friend or a friendship "Good Harbor" strikes a cord.
• Don't Stop the Carnival by Herman Wouk
  This book is for pure escapism, enjoyment and good beach reading. It's about a New York Public Relations man who tries to escape the city rat race (and his mid-life crisis) to start a new life on a tropical island in the Carribean. This book was popular in the 1960s, and recently has made a come back.

Dr. Daniel Longnecker

• The Genesis Code by John Case
  science fiction/religion

Dr. John Lyons:

• The Life of Pi by Yann Martel
  A novel that won the Booker Prize (for the British commonwealth it is sort of like the Pulitzer but more) last year. Story of an Indian boy shipwrecked in a lifeboat with a tiger. Light and easy fun read but ultimately deeper than it seems.
  "At one point in his journey, Pi recounts, "My greatest wish--other than salvation--was to have a book. A long book with a never-ending story. One that I could read again and again, with new eyes and fresh understanding each time." It's safe to say that the fabulous, fablelike 'Life of Pi' is such a book. --Brad Thomas Parsons"
• A Peace to End All Peace: The Fall of the Ottoman Empire and the Creation of the Modern Middle East by David Fromkin.
  Often recommended as the book to read if you want to understand the Middle East of today. Thorough and historical but still makes for interesting reading.

Linda C. Martin

I lean toward autobiographies and mysteries/thrillers. None of these is remotely connected with what you've studied all year and will be light weight reading.

• The Road from Coorain by Jill Ker Conway
  The story of a girl who grew up on a sheep station in the Australian bush and eventually became the first woman president of Smith College.
• A Year in Provence by Peter Mayles
  Mayles and his wife decided to retire from the urban rat race of London and take up a more relaxed and restful life in Provence. They expected to spend their time lounging about in the sunshine, drinking wine and sampling the local cuisine. Instead, they had to learn to deal with local mores, got involved in the great truffle hunt, and many other funny adventures.
• Agatha Christie: An Autobiography by Agatha Christie
  Agatha Christie was the grand dame of British mystery writers. Her story takes the reader from her sheltered life in a wealthy family in turn of the century England through her latter years as a renowned author in her own right and wife of a world famous archeologist.
• All Creatures Great & Small by James Herriot
  Herriot trained in Scotland and joined a veterinary practice in the Yorkshire Dales in Northern England. He wrote a series of books about incidents in what was primarily a large animal practice. All of Herriot's books are feel good stuff. It's obvious that while there was a steep learning curve as he began to deal with Yorkshire farmers and the rigors of a country practice, his profession brought him a great deal of satisfaction.

Martha D. McDaniel

• The Shell Seekers by Rosamunde Pilcher
  A bit sappy, but comforting...lessons in coping with unhappy turns of events, and aging gracefully.
• Crossing to Safety by Wallace Stegner
  What are friends about, anyway?
• Angle of Repose by Wallace Stegner
  Aging; generational gaps; graceful accommodation to the unexpected.

Dr. Eugene Nattie

• The Samurai's Garden. By Gail Tsukiyama.
  Spare prose illuminates great emotion and tension as Stephen, son of chinese businessman visits summer home in Japan to recuperate from TB where servant, Matsuo, is Japanese and Japan is attacking China. His friend Sachi is a leper. Other friend Kenzo was her lover. Keiko is young Japanese girl whom Stephen falls in love with. Beautiful book. Unforgettable characters. Samurai as gardener.
• The Silk Weavers by Gail Tsukiyama.
  A young Chinese girl is forced to leave the home of a farmer and wife to work in silk factory, where she grows up in the company of other women who share love and freedom, to some extent, within the walls of a factory as compared to an arranged marriage. Excellent book.
• Atonement by Ian McEwan.
  I suggest that you read reviews on-line. I think it is about the power of the written fictional word as told thru an amazing story that begins with a young girls devastating report of her 'witness' to a relationship between her sister and a young man who is in the employ of the family and ends with a fictional version of this 'story' as yet unpublished and with an as yet uncertain final story line as told by the now elderly girl.
• Ghost Soldiers by Hampton Sides. Unbelievable rescue of WWII prisoners in death march of Bataan.
• War in a Time of Peace: Bush, Clinton, and the Generals by David Halberstam.
  Very good almost contemporary history. He wrote "The Best and the Brightest."

Dr. David Nierenberg

• The Tennis Partner by Abraham Verghese
  A medical student, struggling with substance abuse all along the way, becomes an intern. The story uses tennis as a metaphor for many challenges in life and in medicine. A very powerful book about a close friendship that develops despite the strains of two medical careers.
• The Shipping News by Annie Proulx
• Snow Falling on Cedars by David Guterson
• The Cider House Rules by John Irving

Dr. Joe O'Donnell

• Kitchen Table Wisdom by Rachel Naomi Remen
• My Grandfather's Blessings by Rachel Naomi Remen
• The Call of Stories: Teaching and the Moral Imagination by Robert Coles
• The Call of Service: A Witness to Idealism by Robert Coles

Dr. George O'Toole

• Little, Big by John Crowley
  This is a tough book to describe. It is the story & history of a family, but an unusual family with some interesting mystical ties.
• Return of the Osprey by David Gessner
  This book discusses the natural history of the Osprey and the environmental movement that saved this awesome bird. All of this is told from the perspective of a writer spending a season watching Osprey's on Cape Cod.

Dr. Elmer Pfefferkorn

• In My Own Country by Abraham Verghese.
  This book is a beautifully written sensitive account of how a young Indian-American physician (and ID expert) encountered the early incursion of AIDS into rural Tennessee. Another of his books is "The Tennis Partner", about the suicide of a colleague, palls only by comparison with the brilliant "In Another Country". His current medical school appointment is, I believe, in both medicine and in creative writing.

Dr. William Rigby

• The Constant Gardener by John Le Carre.
  A story of a seemingly bland and unremarkable British Civil Servant in Nairobi whose remarkable young wife gets murdered. This murder mystery involves his wife's involvement with the less seemly elements of multinational pharmaceutical corporations, drug studies of AIDS/TB and the exploitation of the Third World. Above all, a series of beautiful (but not necessarily appealing) character studies and a journey to redemption.
• Adaptation to Life by George Valliant
  Just a sensational book about coping styles of men followed since their sophomore year in college that were identified based on their likelihood for success. This is the followup as these individuals were in their 40s. I read this the month before I graduated medical school and felt it gave me as much insight into personality development as anything I did in medical school.
• The Razor's Edge by W. Somerset Maugham
  A simply told story about life in its full perspective (foibles, morals, questing and ultimately the many forms of happiness found in 5 individuals) told against the backdrop of the first half of the 20th century. One of Bill Murray's favorite books, so perhaps not for everyone.
• Plainsong by Kent Haruf
  Just a great book and series of character sketches of a pregnant teen, some children and a husband with a mother/wife slowly going to madness and two twin ranchers that have lived alone since their teens. told in remarkably spare beautiful prose. Watch the elderly twin ranchers steal the book. My 4 sisters and I loved this book.
• Mariette in Ecstasy by Ron Hansen
  A disturbing tale of coping with either hysteria or saintliness in a young novitiate in a Northern New York convent in the early 1900s. Just gorgeous poetic prose to be mulled over.
• Atticus by Ron Hansen
  Beautifully crafted about father's love for his son and redemption.
• No Great Mischief by Alistair MacLeod
  Another great story of a life of the bittersweet life of a Scottish family from Nova Scotia: Beautiful spare prose, like Haruf.

Jennifer S. Schiffman

• Prodigal Summer by Barbara Kingsolver
  A beautifully written book full of wonderful imagery and a great story line. It takes place in the South and weaves a strong environmental message with fascinating characters that all seem to be unrelated but are drawn together in the end. Prodigal Summer and Animal Dreams (another Kingsolver book) are on my list of all time favorites-the kind of book that you never want to end.

Dr. Oscar Scornik

• Girl with a Pearl Earring by Tracy Chevalier
  An account about the life and times of the Dutch painter Johan Vermeer, and a fictional young member of his household . It works better if you follow the text with the reproductions of the paintings (an inexpensive one: Vermeer, Phaidon Colour Libary).
• In the Heart of the Sea by Nathaniel Philbrick
  A well researched and written account of the ramming of the whale-ship Essex in the Pacific by a sperm whale. This real life story became the basis of Moby Dick.
• The Name of the Rose by Humberto Ecco's
• For the lazy ones, with lots of vacation time in their hands, may be a good time to reread War and Peace, or the Tolkien series (much better than the Lord of the Rings movie and will prepare you for next year's sequel).

Dr. Nancy Speck

• The Last Place on Earth by Roland Huntford.
  It is the story of the race to the South Pole by Admundsen and Scott. What particularly interested me was the leadership styles of the two men, which Huntford compares throughout this book. Roald Amundsen has become one of my historical heroes - a true leader from whom many lessons can be learned.
• Seabiscuit by Laura Hillenbrand
  Another recent favorite of mine which is the story of three underdogs - a horse, a jockey, and a trainer, who captivated the attention of America in the 1930's. It is a wonderful read that captures a moment in the history of this country. A movie of the book starring Toby Maguire is about to appear this summer.

Dr. Rand Swenson:

• Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies by Jared Diamond

Dr. Bernard Trumpower

• The Constant Gardener by John Le Carre
  A typical Le Carre mystery, set in Africa. It's about a British diplomat tracking down the disappearance and murder of his wife, who had stumbled upon illegal activities of a big drug company in impoverished Africa. A good mystery and probably especially enjoyable reading for a medical student.
• "Pope Joan" by Donna Cross.
  I've just started this book, which is written by the wife of a friend of mine. It's about a woman who supposedly became pope in the 9th century by adopting the identity of her brother, who was skilled in a Viking raid. It's historical fiction and a "thick read," but the book has a real following in Europe and is catching on here in the States. Richard Cross tells me that Donna has been negotiating the details for a movie.

Dr. Charles Wira

• It's Not About the Bike: My Journey Back to Life by Lance Armstrong
  This is an outstanding book about an athlete's struggle and success against testicular cancer. His suffering through chemo along with the mental challanges he faced, to eventually come back and win the Tour de France 3 times in a row, is a source of hope for millions suffering with cancer. It is essential reading for all future physicians.

Dr. Lee Witters:

• Regarding the Pain of Others by Susan Sontag
  Rethinking of the intersection of news art, and understanding in the contemporary depiction of war and disaster. How pictures can inspire dissent, foster violence, or create apathy.
• Rembrandt's Eyes by Simon Schama
  A lovely book mixing history and art
• A Wonderful Little Girl' Sian Busby
  Story of the famous Welsh Fasting Girl of 1867-69
• Michelangelo and the Pope's Ceiling by Ross King
  The painting of the Sistine Chapel ceiling
• Stupid White Men by Michael Moore
  'nuf said

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