Additional Resources 2011

Additional Resources for Cutting for Stone:

• About the Book
• About the Author – Abraham Verghese
• Interviews with Abraham Verghese
• Reviews of Cutting for Stone
• Excerpts from Cutting for Stone
• Reading Group Discussion Guides
• Other Cities Reading Cutting for Stone
• If You Liked Cutting for Stone, You Might Like …
• What Other Communities Are Reading

Additional related resources for the themes of this novel:

• Ethiopia
• Twins
• The Culture of India
• Political Revolutions
• Obstetric Fistula
• Medical Transplants
• The Doctor/Patient Relationship
• Related Medical Topics

Want a basic description, or just some general information about Cutting for Stone? You can find it at these sites:

• Publisher’s information
  • Official Random House site for this book
• Cutting for Stone on Google Books

• Watch the 5 City TV presentation with Lincoln librarians Layne, Lisa and Scott discussing this book! (above)

  
  

  Watch the publisher’s official “book trailer” for this title! (above)

Learn more about the author Abraham Verghese at the following sites:

• Abraham Verghese’s official web site
• Biography on the Random House web site
• Wikipedia page on Abraham Verghese

Want to read a sample from Cutting for Stone first? Visit one of the following sites:

• Cutting for Stone on Google Books
• Excerpt at Random House official site
• Excerpt at NPR
• Excerpt at BookBrowse.com
• Excerpt at PROTO – a newsletter of the Massachusetts General Hospital

On-Line Critical Reviews of Cutting for Stone

Connect to the following on-line reviews of Cutting for Stone, by professional critics:

• Amazon.com
  • Reviews from Literary Critics
  • Customer Reviews
• BarnesandNoble.com
  • Several Critical and Customer Reviews
• Multiple reviews on GoodReads.com
• Multiple reviews on LibraryThing.com
• The Sun Chronicle, Kathy Hickman, February 6, 2011
• San Jose Mercury News, Kel Kenady, February 2, 2011 (PDF no longer available)
• Sonoma County Medical Association, Rick Flinders, MD, and Jessica Flinders, FNP , Winter 2011 (no longer available)
• The Daily News of Galveston County, Dr. Melvyn H. Schreiber, November 28, 2010
• Santa Rosa Press Democrat, John Beck, September 22, 2010
• The Agony Column, Rick Kleffel, July 5, 2010 (no longer available)
• Seattle Post Intelligencer, Regis Schilkin, April 26, 2011
• The Financial Times, Simon Schama, May 11, 2009
• London’s Independent, Michael Bywater, April 3, 2009 (PDF)
• The Sunday Times, David Horspool, March 19, 2009 (PDF)
• Pat Leach, Lincoln City Libraries Director, June 1, 2011

Interested in reading (or listening to, or watching) some interviews with Abraham Verghese? The following list of links will take you to several print or audio interviews he has participated in, covering his book, Cutting for Stone.

• Audio interview with Verghese at Bookotron.com [MP3] [July 2010]
• PBS – Religion and Ethics: Newsweekly 

   [November 2010]

• NPR – Audio chat with Abraham Verghese [April 2011]
• Evanston Public Library interview [March 2010]
• Publisher’s interview with Verghese on YouTube [February 2010]
• Barnes and Noble Studio [February 2010]

Are you leading a book group for Cutting for Stone but need some good topics to get the discussions going? Or are you looking for an opportunity to gather with other readers and discuss this book?

• Official Discussion Questions
• Schedule of Discussion Opportunities
• Schedule of Special Programs and Events

• Random House Books
  • Publisher’s Discussion Guidelines and Questions
• Abraham Verghese’ official web site
  • Guide to Discussion Questions
• ReadingGroupGuides.com
  • Background info and discussion questions

The Topics and Themes of the Book

You’ll find articles about the various themes and subjects of Cutting for Stone, in the following subscription databases available here through the libraries’ “Research Resources.” Have your library card # and PIN (personal identification number, a.k.a. “password”) handy to log into these databases:

• Ebsco Masterfile Premiere — full-text magazine articles
• eLibrary — articles from selected magazines, newspapers, books, and radio and TV broadcasts
• Wilson Biography Reference Bank — full-text magazine articles
• Biography Resource Center — biographical portraits
• History Reference eBooks — numerous history-related texts

Here are some books in the Lincoln City Libraries collection related to the subject of Ethiopia, one of the topical themes of Cutting for Stone:

• Haile Selassie’s War: The Italian-Ethiopian Campaign, 1939-1941 by Anthony Mockler [963.056 Moc] [1985]
• A Song of Longing: An Ethiopian Journey by Kay Kaufman Shelemay [Music 780.963 She] [1991]
• In Ethiopia With a Mule by Dervla Murphy [916.3 Mur] [1968]
• Breakfast in Hell: A Doctor’s Eyewitness Account of the Politics of Hunger in Ethiopia by Myles F. Harris [363.34 Har] [1987]
• Ethiopian Amharic Phrasebook by Tilahun K. Gabriel and Catherine Snow [492.87 Gab] [1996]
• Notes From the Hyena’s Belly: An Ethiopian Boyhood by Nega Mezlekia [B M57146]
• A History of Ethiopia by Harold G. Marcus [963 Mar] [1994]
• Days of Emperor and Clown: The Italo-Ethiopian War, 1935-36 by James Dugan and Laurance Davis Lafore [963.056 Dug] [1973]

Here are some selected web sites containing information about Ethiopia:

• Ethiopia: A Country Study [at the Library of Congress]
• Entry on Ethiopia on Wikipedia
• Entry on the History of Ethiopia on Wikipedia
• Ethiopian history on selamta.net
• General profile on Ethiopia from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs
• Ethiopian history on LonelyPlanet.com (no longer available)
• www.imperialethiopia.org (no longer available)

Here are some books in the Lincoln City Libraries collection related to the subject of Twins, one of the topical themes of Cutting for Stone:

• Identical Strangers: A Memoir of Twins Separated and Reunited by Elyse Schein and Paula Bernstein [306.875 Sch] [2007]
• Divided Minds: Twins Sisters and Their Journey Through Schizophrenia by Paula Spiro Wagner and Carolyn S. Spiro [616.898 Wag] [2005]
• Raising Twins: What Parents Want to Know (and What Twins Want to Tell Them) by Eileen M. Pearlman and Jill Alison Ganon [649.144 Pea] [2000]
• Entwined Lives: Twins and What They Tell Us About Human Behavior by Nancy L. Segal [155.444 Seg] [1999]
• Twins: And What They Tell Us About Who We Are by Lawrence Wright [155.444 Wri] [1997]
• Twins: Nature’s Amazing Mystery by Kay Cassill [155.444 Cas] [1982]
• Twins: An Uncanny Relationship by Peter Watson [155.444 Wat] [1982]

Here are some selected web sites containing information about the Twins:

• Wikipedia entries on Twin and Multiple Birth
• The Multiple Births Foundation
• The Twins and Multiple Birth Assocation [UK]
• The Center for the Study of Multiple Birth
• The Twins Study – at Harvard
• A selection of some of the best books and articles about twins from questia.com

Here are some books in the Lincoln City Libraries collection related to the subject of The Culture of India, one of the topical themes of Cutting for Stone:

• Sacred India by William Dalrymple [294.3 qLon] [1999]
• The Age of Kali: Indian Travels and Encounters by William Dalrymple [915.4 Dal] [1998]
• India by Dorling Kindersly Publishing [915.4 Dor] [various]
• Chasing the Monsoon: A Modern Pilgrimage Through India by Alexander Frater [915.4 Fra] [1992]
• Snakes and Ladders: Glimpses of India by Gita Mehta [915.4 Meh] [1997]
• India by Louise Nicholson [915.4 Nic] [2001]
• The India I Love by Marie Simone Renou [915.4 qRen] [1968]
• There are many, many more books in the libraries’ collection related to the culture and history of India…do a subject search for “India Description and Travel” or “India History”

Here are some selected web sites related to the subject of The Culture of India, one of the topical themes of Cutting for Stone:

• Wikipedia article on the culture and heritage of India
• culturalindia.net
• Indiaforever.org (no longer available)
• The Color of India
• Ministry of Culture – Government of India
• InterNations – a site for Indian expatriots living in Ethiopia
• Wikipedia article on Hinduism in Ethiopia

Here are some books in the Lincoln City Libraries collection related to the subject of Political Revolution, one of the topical themes of Cutting for Stone:

• My Friend the Mercenary by James Brabazon [070.433 Bra] [2010]
• The Rebel: An Essay on Man in Revolt by Albert Camus [303.6 Cam] [classic]
• On Revolution by Hannah Arendt [321.09 Ar3o] [1963]
• Philosophy and Revolution: From Hegel to Sartre and From Marx to Mao by Raya Dunayevskaya [335.411 Dun] [1973]
• Guerilla Strategies: An Historical Anthology From the Long March to Afghanistan by Gerard Chaliand [355.021 Cha] [1983]

Here are some selected web sites containing information related to the subject of Political Revolution:

• History of the Ethiopian Revolution on GlobalSecurity.org
• Ethiopia: A Country Study [at the Library of Congress]
• The Ethiopian Revolution, 1974-1987 [an article by the Council on Foreign Relations]
• Wikipedia entry on The Ethiopian Civil War
• Wikipedia entry on the Derg – the group that backed the Ethiopian revolution

Here are some selected web sites containing information about Obstetric Fistula, the field that Shiva Stone works within in Cutting for Stone:

• Wikipedia article on Obstetric Fistula
• Worldwide Fistula Fund
• Footsteps to Healing
• Campaign to End Fistula
• The Fistula Care Project
• The Fistula Foundation
• Hamlin Fistula Welfare and Research Ltd. (The Fistula Trust)

Here are some books in the Lincoln City Libraries collection related to the subject of Transplants, one of the topical themes of Cutting for Stone:

• Playing God: The New World of Medical Choices by Thomas J. Scully [174.2 Scu] [1987]
• Organ Donation: An Opposing Viewpoints Book by Laura K. Egendorf [617.95 Ege] [2009]
• Organ Transplants: Making the Most of Your Gift of Life by Robert Finn [617.95 Fin] [2000]
• Transplant: A Heart Surgeon’s Account of the Life-and-Death Dramas of the New Medicine by William H. Frist [617.95 Fri] [1989]
• The Xeno Chronicles: Two Years on the Frontiers of Medince Inside Harvard’s Transplant Lab by G. Wayne Miller [617.954 Mil] [2005]
• Organ Transplants: A Patient’s Guide by Hank Pizer [617.95 Piz] [1991]
• Every Second Counts: The Race to Transplant the First Human Heart by Donald McRae [617.954 McR] [2006]
• Practical Manual of Abdominal Organ Transplantation by Cosme Manzarbeitia [E-book] [2002]

Here are some selected web sites containing information about Transplants, specifically focusing on liver transplants:

• Article on liver transplantation in Wikipedia
• All you need to know about liver transplantation in India
• LiverFoundation.org
• Living Donor Transplants, from the Mayo Clinic

Here are some books in the Lincoln City Libraries collection related to the subject of Doctor/Patient Relations, one of the topical themes of Cutting for Stone:

• The Soul of Medicine: Tales From the Bedside by Sherwin B. Nuland [610 Nul] [2009]
• The Most Unhealthy Relationship of All: A Guide to Doctor Patient Communication by Mark A. Hertzberg [eBook] [2002]
• One Hundred Days: My Unexpected Journey From Doctor to Patient by David Biro [616.15 Bir] [2000]
• A Taste of My Own Medicine: When the Doctor is the Patient by Edward E. Rosenbaum [362.19 Ros] [1988]
• Doctors talking with patients, patients talking with doctors improving communication in medical visits, second edition by Debra Roter and Judith A. Hall [eBook] [2006]
• How Doctors Think by Jerome Groopman [610.696 Gro] [2007]
• The Language of Pain: Finding Words, Compassion and Relief by David Biro [616 Bir] [2010]

Here are some selected web sites containing information about Doctor/Patient Relations:

• Wikipedia article on the Doctor/Patient Relationship
• “The Doc-Patient Relationship May Be Key to Quality” (article from U.S. News and World Report)
• “The Doctor-Patient Relationship” (an article from Psychology Today)
• “New Emphasis on Doctor-Patient Relations” (article on NPR, available in text and/or audio)

Modern medicine is in danger of losing a powerful, old-fashioned tool: human touch. Physician and writer Abraham Verghese describes our strange new world where patients are merely data points, and calls for a return to the traditional one-on-one physical exam! (above)

Book Clubs or Other Programs

Cutting for Stone has been has been selected by several local and regional book clubs throughout the United States since it was released in 2009. The following are those with information and/or discussion comments available electronically — most local groups do not put their post-discussion comments online.

• Marin County, California [2011]
• American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine – Book Club [2011]
• Lake Oswego, Oregon [2011]

If You Enjoyed Reading Cutting for Stone, You Might Also Like:

• Away: A Novel by Amy Bloom [2007]
• Beneath the Lion’s Gaze by Maaza Mengiste [2010]
• Better: A Surgeon’s Notes on Performance by Atul Gawande [617.092 Gaw] [2007]
• Down the Nile: Alone in a Fisherman’s Skiff by Rosemary Mahoney [916.2 Mah] [2007]
• Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford [2009]
• An Irish Country Doctor by Patrick Taylor [2004]
• The Lassa Ward: One Man’s Fight Against One of the World’s Deadliest Diseases by Dr. Ross Donaldson, M.D. [2009] (no longer available)
• My Name is Mary Sutter by Robin Oliveira [2009]
• My Own Country: A Doctor’s Story of a Town and its People in the Age of AIDS by Abraham Verghese [616.979 Ver] [1994]
• The Piano Teacher: A Novel by Janice Y.K. Lee [2009]
• Operation Wandering Soul by Richard Powers [1993]
• Tiger Hills by Sarita Mandanna [2011] (no longer available)

What Other Communities Are Reading

One Book Reading Promotion Projects (Library of Congress Center for the Book)

Back to the main One Book – One Lincoln – 2011 page
Back to the One Book – One Lincoln archive site for all past years

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