RECENT READING

Before I left for my Texas visit, I finished Perri Klass' novel The Mystery of Breathing.  Klass is herself a baby doctor, and her novels deal with the world of hospitals and sick children.  Which might sound depressing, but is not.  She is a fine writer, and I suspect she is also a fine doctor.  This novel takes place in the particularly scary world of neonatology intensive care, where the babies are very premature and the mystery of breathing is a daily struggle.  It is a mystery of sorts, as Maggie, the MD central character, has become the victim of a harrassment campaign, carried out by person or persons (and reasons) unknown.  She is a complicated character, arrogant and proud, but vulnerable and lonely at the same time.  I didn't like her very much at the beginning of the book, but as I lived with her through her professional and personal crises, we bonded.  I can't say much more without giving away critical elements of the story - I will say that this book brings us into a world seldom visited by any but the medical personnel and parents whose babies are fighting for their lives in an NICU.  The fear factors here are the life and death struggles of tiny infants and the doctors and nurses who take care of them.  I held my breath through many passages of medical procedures.  But I loved this book.

On the flights to and from Texas I read Augusten Burroughs' much touted book, Running with Scissors. It's been around for a while, so you've either read it or read about it.  Unlike most, I utterly disliked this purported memoir.  Though he's writing about extremely emotional events, I felt no emotion in the writing.  It all felt distanced, untrue, unreal, unfelt.  This may have been on purpose, perhaps it's the only way to write about such a disfunctional youth - but for me this book was words on paper only.  No matter how outrageous the events and characters, they remained cardboard cutouts, never flesh and blood.  I won't read any more Burroughs, that's for sure.  Too many other books, too little time.