Books read in recent memory

Cathedral by Raymond Carver. Short, short stories about very American people and their problems. I admit to choosing this book because the title resembles my family name.




Cutting for Stone by Abraham Vergheese. An ambitious novel about a surgeon who grows up in Ethiopia, raised by parents who are physicians. He goes to American to escape the unstable situation in Addis-Ababa (he is suspected of being party to a destabilization plot against the ruling government) and finds his real father—the world-renowned surgeon.



The Sympathizer by Viet Thanh Nguyen. This is a double-agent’s confession about his involvement in the Communist Viet Cong and his apparent loyalty to the Americans. I wanted to visit Vietnam after reading this masterpiece—I still do.