Good Reads & Good News!

Over winter break before school resumed, I decided to take up some reading- and not just any reading, but fun reading. Reading in which I could look forward to turning each page. Don’t get my wrong, psychology journal articles can be thought-provoking and interesting. But at the same time, they can be quite dry. And, since most of my time is occupied by reading these dry, heavy research reviews, the only thing that I have the opportunity to read outside of school is the occasional magazine. So during my time off, I actually read 3 books of my own choosing. It was relaxing and it was liberating (one of my selections, “Taking Charge of Your Fertility” was not only inspiring but extremely informative- either for au natural people like me who want to stop relying on artificial hormones, or for those who are struggling to start a family. It should be a required reading for all women!).

Honestly, I’ve never really fancied reading. I don’t really recall either of my parents reading to me when I was young and it certainly was not a pastime I enjoyed as a teenager. I completed my assigned reading during high school without complaint- I have fond memories of reading The Pearl, To Kill a Mockingbird, Dante's Inferno, and The Great Gatsby, just to name a few. But I was not the young person that had a random book laid out on her bedside table, or even a member of the typical family who had at least one bookshelf in their house.

Despite this, I’ve always secretly envied the person who makes time to read for fun and enjoys doing so. To get lost in some one else’s story, to relate to their thoughts and emotions, to paint a portrait in one’s mind of the details between the lines- I always found it intriguing.

So, to occupy my fascination for my newfound interest, I took myself to the bookstore to pick up a few more selections. I rarely frequent the big-box bookstores like Borders or Barnes and Noble- I just end up getting overwhelmed by too many choices and leaving empty-handed. But, on this occasion, I set aside the entire evening (Eric was at home watching a Sharks game) to comb through the shelves with a goal in mind of leaving with at least one book.

After circling both floors of the store at least twice, I visited the fiction section once again. One novel in particular that sat on the Best Seller shelf immediately caught my eye- "Beautiful Boy" by David Sheff. The backside of the book spoke of a tale of a father’s addiction to his son, whose life was slipping through the cracks from drug use. It’s a story of a parent’s undying attachment to their child from the perspective of a father who is at a loss in understanding and helping his son. I held on to it while I continued browsing. I eventually settled upon a second title, a story set in the 1940s of a medical doctor who delivers his own twins and immediately learns that one twin has some sort of developmental delay. He quickly decides to give up the ailed twin, but not before his maid learns of the situation and takes the child as her own without the parents’ knowledge. The novel is a story of the twins and their parallel, yet separate lives.

As I left the bookstore that day, I realized the obvious coincidence that my 2 new reads are not far departed from my typical topics of study at school- the mental mechanisms of addiction, the fragility of the family unit, the stigma associated with mental disorders. So, there we have it. My professional interests in a nutshell unconsciously spilling over into my personal life. Go figure.

On a separate note, after nearly 2 months of editing and reviewing, my IRB thesis protocol has been approved!! It’s about time… hence the reason for my recent lack of posts here. I was getting quite nervous, as the deadline for May graduation was quickly approaching. As it turned out, I was approved on February 19, the day before the deadline- a little too close for my comfort, but I’m extremely relieved. The next step: working like mad to recruit at least 500 participants!