I aspire to be well-read

For those of you who haven't heard, I've joined a book club. It's here at MCV, and made up of women physicians--my attending invited me after we had a brief literary discussion one day in the MD workroom. I read, well more accurately I listened to via ipod, the Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao and loved it. The book club discussion was very Discussion Lite, but nonetheless I really liked thinking in the way that you do when you try to answer discussion questions.

While I was listening to Oscar Wao during my morning commute, I was gifted Katharine Graham's Personal History and am churning through it. The book was selected by Mel and Eric for me, as a wedding favor. The book also served as a placecard (the reception was in a library), and books were also included in the centerpieces. I loved it! I last read/analyzed fiction in my undergrad Intro to Fiction, which I took on a whim. I read Bleak House over Easter that year, one of nine or ten books I read in nine weeks.

Quite a bit of time this morning has been dedicated to looking over book lists, blogs, and ordering some titles from my neighborhood library. The next book club book is Three Cups of Tea, which I'm not that excited about, but one of my supervisors will be facilitating the discussion, so I believe our May book club meeting will be a good one. It's rainy, my patients are fine, and I'm having some difficulty drumming up enthusiasm for work today...I snuck in at 9:45 just in time for team. I'd rather be at home right now, in bed with cats, reading because I'm up to the part in Personal History where Phil Graham has committed suicide and Katharine Graham is about to assume control over the Washington Post! I read online today some conspiracy theories regarding Phil Graham's death, and how it may have been somewhat of an assisted suicide by those close to him and his wife. It seems that his bipolar disorder was treated only with therapy, and that is just universally a bad decision. Not to mention that his family/physicians did not take a very hard line with him about purusing inpatient treatment when he really started to spiral out of control.

These days, bipolar is the catchall, misunderstood and misused diagnosis for people who are angry and aggressive. Pediatric bipolar is actually very rare, probably moreso than in adults. When I hear it as a past diagnosis, I tend to roll my eyes. But real bipolar is totally fascinating, and reading the Graham autobiography has piqued my interest further.