Missing in action

Yes, I know. I've been missing in action. I have had my nose buried in this book, Cutting for Stone, for the past few days, and I'm only halfway through. Every page of this book is filled with such vivid imagery and the characters are so alive to me that I must force myself to put it down every now and then. Even though I want to skip ahead to find out what's going to happen, I'm afraid of missing something of the beautifully drawn characters, so I refuse to rush through this story. A short excerpt from the San Francisco Chronicle:

Not a word is wasted in this larger-than-life saga. ... Verghese expertly weaves the threads of numerous story lines into one cohesive opus. The writing is graceful, the characters compassionate and the story full of nuggets of wisdom.

I waited until this book came out in paperback, which was just recently, before I bought it. I cannot recommend it highly enough if you want a big (667 pages) and absorbing book to read. I'll be back when I'm done!
:-)