PERSONAL - Reads & Recommends Reviews
Time/Stress Management
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The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference by Malcolm Gladwell This book offers insight into the motivators of social epidemics and explains why certain kinds of people brought together can make change happen. It really cuts to the quick of illustrating that little things can and do create big change.
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The Relaxation Response by Herbert Benson, M.D - Harper Torch, 1975 Revised 2000 Our Western world tends to push us into constant situations of "Fight-or-Flight". Dr. Herbert Benson helps us cope with our mind-body with the "Relaxation Response." We would all benefit incorporating this easy tool for 'better living' into our live.
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Family and Children
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Mamalita: An Adoption Memoir by Jessica O’Dwyer In Mamalita: An Adoption Memoir, Jessica O’Dwyer shows the pain and joy behind international adoption and reveals that the love for one’s child – whether adoped or biological- overcomes all boundaries. After the author and her husband, dermatologist Tim Berger, MD spend a frustrating and unsuccessful year trying to adopt their daughter from Guatemala, Jessica quits her job and moves to Antigua, Guatemala, to finish the case herself. The book is quite touching and is equal parts thriller, love story, and expose. Tim and Jessica struggle against a corrupt, indifferent bureaucracy while attempting to bond with their daughter and maintain their own long-distance relationship. Along the way, they are exposed at times to the underbelly of international adoptions – where babies are treated almost like a commodity. The memoir reveals the nature of parenthood and how love and loyalty can inspire two people to become stronger and braver than they can possibly imagine. Publishers Weekly called Mamalita “harrowing and riveting." Disclosure: Dr. Tim Berger is a WDS member.
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The Hot Mom's Handbook: Moms Have More Fun! by Jessica Denay The book was reveiwed on the Today show and is a fun, upbeat look at how to cultivate yourself and still be a great mom.
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The Heart of a Family : Searching America for New Traditions That Fulfill Us by Meg Cox Have you ever wondered how you can create treasured and lasting family traditions when the daily juggle of professional and personal life is sometimes more than enough of a challenge?! Meg Cox interviewed over 200 diverse families for this warm and wise compilation of family rituals ranging from major holidays to everyday bedtime routines and gives valuable advice on creating new traditions--both practical and whimsical--from scratch.
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Boys Will Put You on a Pedestal (So They Can Look Up Your Skirt): A Dad's Advice for Daughters by Philip Van Munching, Katie Couric A cute book for those with adolescent daughters.
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The Happiest Baby on the Block : The New Way to Calm Crying and Help Your Newborn Baby Sleep Longer by Harvey Karp As new parents, my husband and I found this book insightful and very helpful. Dr. Karp's five "S"s help pull together bits of wisdom and some instincts into a pattern that helps sleep-deprived parents quickly calm a newborn. The book is easy to read and short in length--key points for newborn parents. Dr. Karp's words had us swaddling, sshhhing, and swinging our baby to calmness and sleep with great relief. We recommend this book to any about-to-be parents or grandparents, and it is now our favorite gift to give with a simple flannel blanket just perfect for swaddling joyous bundles.
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Beauty Basics for Teens by Dianne York-Goldman and Dr. Mitchel Goldman This book has many good points for teenagers.
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Thundering Sneakers by Prudence MacKintosh For mothers who have all boys! Women trying to combine career and the raising of a family will find refreshing humor and insight in Prudence Mackintosh's books Retreads and Thundering Sneakers. I particularly recommend these books to others, like me, who are mothers of boys. The author is a skillful storyteller, whose tales of raising three sons sound all too familiar. E.g.:"If you ever doubted original sin, or for a fleeting moment believed in the innate goodness of man, you missed my four-year-old's birthday party." Trying to balance career and children, I have frequently reflected on her observation "...by the time the third one came along I was old enough to appreciate the pleasures of limited ambition."
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Personal Health
Personal Health
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A Whole New Life: An Illness and a Healing by Reynolds Price This is an inspirational book written so beautifully. When I first started to read it, I thought that I would feel depressed reading about a professor who becomes paralyzed by a tumor. Yet on the contrary, I felt inspired and loved his descriptions of his interactions with the doctors, his friends and the people who cared for him--especially how he had to learn to accept help and humble himself to survive. This book would be helpful for physicians and caretakers and patients suffering from any illness.
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Wisdom of Menopause by Christiane Northrup, MD Through her personal stories and many fascinating case histories, Dr. Northrup shows women how they can make menopause a time of personal empowerment and positive energy - emerging wiser, healthier, and stronger in both mind and body than ever before. "Interesting insights from a woman doctor's perspective."
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The Five People You Meet in Heaven by Mitch Albom From the author of Tuesdays with Morrie, a stunning novel about the afterlife. Heaven is not a lush Garden of Eden, but a place where your earthly life is explained to you by five people who were in it – loved ones or distant strangers – each one changed your life forever.
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Eve's Seed: Biology, the Sexes and the Course of History by Robert McElvaine, McGraw-Hill, 2001 This book combines anthropology, history and politics to explore how peoples views of sexual difference have shaped history, inviting new readings of Genesis, Darwin, Locke, de Tocqueville and many others. McElvaine's thesis is: "hell hath no fury like a man devalued." He considerably deepened my understanding of why the work of changing culture to support women's development is so challenging and complex. Also McElvaine is an outstanding, witty writer.
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The Wisdom of the Enneagram: The Complete Guide to Psychological and Spiritual Growth for the Nine Personality Types by Don Riichard Riso , Doubleday 1999 I've only met a few medical educators who've ever heard of the enneagram, an easily accessible system based on ancient wisdom and referring to nine distinct personality types. It's an extremely valuable tool for personal transformation and development and for improving ones own mentoring/coaching skills. This book is the best introduction to it.
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Pleasure Reading / Fiction
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The Gift of Rain by Tan Twan Eng This is a good one!
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The Farseer Trilogy by Robin Hobb The Farseer Trilogy is an engaging medieval fantasy escape. I found it so enjoyable that I am into the third book in the 2nd trilogy on the Magic ship. Very engaging and a great escape from everyday.
Assassin's Apprentice (The Farseer Trilogy, Book 1) Royal Assassin (The Farseer Trilogy, Book 2) Assassin's Quest (The Farseer Trilogy, Book 3) |
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Loving Frank by Nancy Horan This captivating historical fiction book is about Frank Lloyd Wright and the married woman with whom he had an affair, Mamah Borthwick Cheney. This story reveals the struggle between maternal love and romantic love.
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The Last of Her Kind by Sigrid Nunez A wonderful "coming of age" book set in the Sixties. It's all there, sex, rock-and-roll, and drugs.
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The Other Boleyn Girl by Philippa Gregory It’s both tragic and happy; read it before you see the movie!
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The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon This book is filled with cliffhanger after heart-racing cliffhanger.
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The Book of Salt by Monique Truong A tale of culture, food, family and sexuality on a bed of beautiful language.
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The Physician by Noah Gordon A tale about an eleventh century English boy who, after becoming a traveling barber-surgeon/seller of tonics/entertainer, desires to learn as much as there is to learn about healing and undertakes a journey to study medicine in Persia. A fascinating page turner.
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Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk “For all of you who have sons, husbands, fathers, brothers: About becoming a man. I found it eye-opening!”
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The Last Report on the Miracles at Little No Horse by Louise Erdrich The theme of this novel is about women reacting and responding to their environment.
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The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini (his debut novel) It is an entrancing epic of fathers and sons, friendship and betrayal, cruelty and love. The setting is Afghanistan and America, but the political events are only a backdrop to the vivid and engaging personal story. It is a powerful first book of this Afghan and I hope many will follow.
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Three Junes by Julia Glass A marvelous novel - you will wish there were a fourth June.
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Dante Club by Matthew Pearl A mystery set at Harvard with Longfellow, Holmes and Emerson.
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Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides Cleverly written novel offering perceptions from the patient’s point of view.
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Sister of My Heart by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni This book is about two Eastern Indian women who shared the same household. It is heartwarming!
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Women of Silk by Gail Tsukiyama This is a book that explores the development of sisterhood in the Chinese silk industry in the early 20th century. A fascinating look at women developing an independent voice in a male dominated society.
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Five Quarters of the Orange by Joanne Harris This novel is set on the banks of the Loire River Valley in France during the Nazi occupation and postwar. I can’t put it down.
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The Murder Room by P.D. James Excellent character development. A great mystery.
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Suzanne's Diary for Nicholas by James Patterson I recommend reading "Suzanne's Diary for Nicholas", by James Patterson. Fast reading, but most enjoyable!
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I Don't Know How She Does It: The Life of Kate Reddy, Working Mother by Allison Pearson Bridget Jones Diary 20 years later.... Married Hedge fund manager, mother of two. She's got the working woman/mother thing down.
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Pleasure Reading / Non-Fiction
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Mamalita: An Adoption Memoir by Jessica O’Dwyer In Mamalita: An Adoption Memoir, Jessica O’Dwyer shows the pain and joy behind international adoption and reveals that the love for one’s child – whether adoped or biological- overcomes all boundaries. After the author and her husband, dermatologist Tim Berger, MD spend a frustrating and unsuccessful year trying to adopt their daughter from Guatemala, Jessica quits her job and moves to Antigua, Guatemala, to finish the case herself. The book is quite touching and is equal parts thriller, love story, and expose. Tim and Jessica struggle against a corrupt, indifferent bureaucracy while attempting to bond with their daughter and maintain their own long-distance relationship. Along the way, they are exposed at times to the underbelly of international adoptions – where babies are treated almost like a commodity. The memoir reveals the nature of parenthood and how love and loyalty can inspire two people to become stronger and braver than they can possibly imagine. Publishers Weekly called Mamalita “harrowing and riveting." Disclosure: Dr. Tim Berger is a WDS member.
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Three Cups Of Tea by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin This is an inspirational story of a man whose personal mission was to build schools in remote Pakistan and Afghanistan. As a tribute to his sister, he emphasized educating girls, who were always last on the list for education. Not only is it an example of what one individual can accomplish, this story gives wonderful insights into rural village life in Pakistan and Afghanistan, as well as the true teachings of Islam.
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The Big Oyster—history On The Half-Shell by Mark Kurlansky This fascinating and engrossing book tells the story of how the oyster influenced the culture, history and development of New York. Detailed maps, drawings, recipes and photos are included in this rich book.
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The Yarn Harlot-The Secret Life of a Knitter by Stephanie Pearl-McPhee “Don't finish many books with a toddler, but managed this. And it is a serious good laugh.”
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Celebrating Women by Paola Gianturco In Paola Gianturco's book, Celebrating Women, Thais honor the women who saved their city. Swazi virgins dance for the Queen Mother. Polish girls float wreathes of wildflowers on the river. Moroccan Berber divorcees invite shepherds to marry them. Couples race over obstacles in Finland's World Wife Carrying Championships. Beautiful women in the United States vie for scholarships. Ten other festivals will intrigue and inspire you.
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Secrets of the Sexually Satisfied Woman: Ten Keys to Unlocking Ultimate Pleasure by Laura Berman, Ph.D. & Jennifer Berman, M.D. I hope you enjoy this wonderful book as much as I did. These two authors know their stuff!
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Going Alone: Women's Adventures in the Wild Edited by Susan Fox Rogers A collection of stories written by women who explored the great outdoors solo, and along the way learned a great deal about themselves and their capabilities.
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Queen of the Turtle Derby by Julia Reed Ms. Reed is the keynote speaker at the WDS Annual Meeting Luncheon in New Orleans, LA on February 20. In this engaging collection of essays, Mississippi native Reed—a writer for Vogue and the New York Times Magazine who now splits her time between New Orleans and New York City—presents a fresh and eclectic portrait of the South.
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The Art of Possibility: Transforming Professional and Personal Life by Rosamund Stone Zander An uplifting short book written by the conductor of the Boston Symphony and his wife, a psychologist.
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Reading Lolita in Tehran: A Memoir in Books by Azar Nafisi I highly recommend this book. It is a brilliant intermingling of literary criticism and politics.
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Ciao, America! by Beppe Severgnini An Italian Discovers the U.S. A bella laugh.Wonderfully funny and perceptivefun from first page to last, pure and simple."-Jonathan Yardley, Washington Post
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The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down by Anne Fadiman One of the most profound books I have ever read.A must read for Doctor's which is a seminal work of Cultural Anthropology. It's about a Hmong child, her American Doctors, and the Collision of Two Cultures. This book explores the clash between a small county hospital in California and a refugee family from Laos over the care of Lia Lee, a Hmong child diagnosed with severe epilepsy. Tragedy which must be avoided between cultures.
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BoBos in Paradise: The New Upper Class and How They Got There by David Brooks A hilarious and insightful social commentary about Bourgeois Bohemians. You will squirm and recognize yourself and people you know all throughout this book
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