There was a time when I stopped reading. A long time—years, in fact. I described myself as a book-a-holic—once I started reading a book, I couldn’t quit. If I was reading, I neglected the laundry or the dishes or dusting or any of the other tasks I needed to complete before I went back to work at my busy Family Medicine practice.
Then I discovered writing. And in order to write, I had to read. I started at the top of my bookcase, the beginning of the alphabet, and read from Bunyan, Pilgrim’s Progress, through Fitzgerald, Hemmingway and Plath, to Salinger (and all the alphabet in between) all the books I had saved for all the years, meaning to get to them someday. And somehow in all that reading, I discovered memoir. Not only because I was writing my own, but because I discovered they were interesting. The best read like novels, and kept me engaged, not wanting to put them down, anxious to get to the resolution. Memoir also had another advantage—each one was teaching some universal truth.
We all have broken spots in our lives–traumatic upbringing, a bad breakup, bullying, divorce, death—life happens. A good memoir describes the author’s particular broken spot while also revealing a truth about life that resonates with the reader. I want my memoir to reveal and resonate, and to tell a universal truth. I want it to read like a novel, so that you can’t wait to get to the end, but also to reveal a truth you can relate to.
While I am looking a publisher for my memoir, HEAL ME—BECOMING A DOCTOR FOR ALL THE WRONG REASONS (AND FINDING MYSELF ANYWAY), I am reading other memoirs and finding universal truths.
I would like you to join me on my reading and truth-discovering journey. I will read and review and share my recommendations with you. I will give you a synopsis, who the book is aimed at (in other words would you be interested in reading it?), why you should read this particular book, and what about it you may enjoy.
I will give you updates on my writing journey, but will also recommend good books by emerging authors, books you may not have heard of, books you can read about and decide if they are for you. In addition, you can recommend books for me to read and review, or you can send me a review of your own—I just may publish it.
I hope you will join me by signing up for my occasional newsletter, to be sent every time I finish a book and review it. It may be two weeks or a month, who knows? I also invite you to review books you are reading and send the reviews to me. Who knows, I just may send that review out in my newsletter.
