Cutting for Stone

by Abraham Verghese

I'll probably say this a few times this year, but my goodness, hands-down, no-contest, straight-up, BEST BOOK I HAVE READ SO FAR THIS YEAR.

"Cutting for Stone" is an amazing, beautiful, awe-inspiring, insert-fifty-glowing-adjectives-here type of book. Reviewers use words like "Richly written, vivid, masterpiece," and I couldn't agree more.

Set largely in Ethiopia and America in the 1950s- 1980s, the story is that of two twins born attached at the head. Surgically separated after the horrendous birth that kills their mother and drives their father to leave the hospital - and his babies- behind, the twins are raised by two doctors working at "Missing" hospital in Addis Ababa.

While each twin exhibits unique personality traits, their initial tie remains strong and causes intersections throughout their lives. Both twins will follow in their adopted parents' footsteps to careers in medicine, though their specialties and motivations will differ greatly. One twin will travel to America, and experience life as a medical resident in the 1970s & 1980s, before returning to Addis Ababa.

I literally couldn't put this book down, and am thankful that my mother had the presence of mind to give it to me in the chilly winter months, when I wasn't busy with work and could basically abandon my life for two days to read it while getting ready in the morning, brushing my teeth, eating breakfast, etc etc etc.

It's written by Abraham Verghese, a physician who also wrote "My Own Country," his story of working in an eastern Tennessee hospital and specializing in infectious disease during the onset of the AIDS epidemic, when the first HIV/AIDS patient arrives in the town. This book is absolutely on my list of books to read this year!