AMP: Artists' Meeting Place and Resource Collective

Q: What happens when you mix a doctor with a writer
A: A book diagnostician.
September 7, 2007

On the plane again, just can’t wait to get on the plane again… After returning from a marvelous month on the sea, on the Northern Coast of Spain, I’m flying again. This time, I’m going to a conference for doctor-writers in Virginia. I’ve been pondering the fusion of these two disciplines lately and this conference is my second one this year with this target audience in mind. The genre of narrative medicine or literary medicine is exploding these days. Dr. Rita Charon of Columbia University, one of the pioneers in the field, describes it as “the narrative competence to recognize, absorb, metabolize, interpret, and be moved by the stories of illness.” Many medical schools now offer elective courses on lit med. It is believed that health care providers can improve the effectiveness of their care through this type of writing, by developing the capacity for attention, reflection, representation, self-care, and affiliation with patients and colleagues. My favorite narrative medicine writers are: Atul Gawande, Audrey Young, Emily Transue, Manoj Jain, Alok Khorana, Darshak Sanghavi, Rick Boyte, Eliza Lo Chin, and Pauline Chen.

I tend not to write much about patient care, nor for the record do I watch medical-oriented TV shows. My refugee women patients’ struggles inspired Aria and occasionally I meet an interesting character in the clinic who later appears in another incarnation in something I write. Lately though, my dual identity as physician and writer has been applied to sharpening my diagnostic skills as a book recommender.

It all started with Nancy Pearl, librarian (with her own action figure that says “Shhh...”), bibliophile extraordinaire (author of Book Lust and others), and NPR book commentator. She says, “A good book is any book that you love.” What a revelation! A paradigm shift. Goodbye book reviews, scholarly merit, and lit crit. I am frequently asked about books that I love. There are so many that I can barely keep track of them and have taken to building lists on my website.

I have marveled at the booksellers and librarians who handpick books for people on the basis of a few questions. They diagnose reading predilection the way I approach mysterious symptoms. I love it when someone who knows me well introduces me to a book that I’ve never heard of and the connection is instantaneous. It’s an even bigger marvel when a near stranger makes a perfect book match for me.

I know that Aria is not for everyone. As much as my fiance loves me, I know he didn’t connect with my novel. Nor do I share his fiction predilections (though we do overlap in nonfiction interests). So, how do I predict who will like Aria? My fan mail tells me that it’s mostly women or immigrants, mothers, bereaved parents, those who have experienced great grief, armchair travelers, health providers, letter writers, Buddhists, and the spiritually intelligent. I have yet to hear from a person of very short stature, but I am hoping the membership of Little People of America will also appreciate Aria. If you happen to be a fan and fall outside of these categories, please let me know!

While in Spain, offline and without tourist aspirations, I had the luxury of reading for pleasure and writing without interruption. I read three books by people I had met, and I devoured them all. I list them here with my attempt to predict their biggest fans.

Real Food by Nina Planck: self-described nutrition geek meets farmer girl. Sassy and skeptical of conventional scientific wisdom, Planck deeply explores the studies linking meat and dairy to unhealthy outcomes and finds that industrialized, processed foods are the culprit, not traditional animal products. As a pescatarian for the last 16 years (lacto-ovo vegetarian plus fish) and critical reader of the medical literature, I was so convinced by her synthesis that I have begun eating meat again and even drink raw milk despite the infectious disease risks. I recommend this book for cooks, non-animal rights-based vegetarians, those who are concerned about what to feed their children, those who like Michael Pollan’s books (I liked this even better than Omnivore’s Dilemma), and lovers of food who have given up favorite items due to health risks.

Owl Island by Randy Sue Coburn: a romance novel set in the Pacific Northwest with an IQ of 150. I haven’t read romance novels since the 7th grade, and am not one of those people who chooses light, entertaining books to read on the beach or relax (though I did read Melissa Banks’ Girls Guide to Fishing and Hunting and Bridget Jones’ Diary by Helen Fielding and was surprised to have enjoyed both). I tend to be high maintenance and picky about what I read. I now follow Nancy Pearl’s rule about giving a book a 50-page chance and then moving on. Owl Island engaged me for a full day. I could not put it down. Filmmaking, Paris, fishnets (not stockings), and techie gamers all weave themselves into this novel focusing on the lives of 3 generation of smart, interesting, plucky women and the men who love them.

What’s Written on the Body by Peter Pereira: a playful, clever, and poignant book of poetry by a family physician in the Seattle area. If you like poetry and enjoy anagrams, Scrabble, NPR’s Wordplay, Billy Collins’ poems, gardening, medical reflections, or light-hearted banter, you will love this book. Though I now give away most of my books due to an impending move to Istanbul this November, I will hold on to What’s Written on the Body. It’s perfect for before-dinner recitation or mischievous flirtation.

I’m now reading a fascinating biography of Gertrude Bell by Georgina Howell and hope to read more of it on the next planes and trains I will be taking for East Coast book tour (September 26-October 16). If you live in Boston, Connecticut, New York, or DC, or have friends in those places, check out my webpage for my book tour schedule.

If you have any Istanbul recommendations for me, literary or literal, please let me know. It won’t be long before I’m on a plane again.

Your faithful book doctor, Nassim

Footnotes from the Book Tour: Part I
June 23, 2007

"A book tour is the author's punishment for writing a book." --Heard recently on the NPR Quiz Show with Michael Feldman, Whad'ya Know?

Yours truly is back from part I of her book tour--the West Coast, with readings and talks in LA aka Tehrangeles, the Bay Area, Portland, and Seattle--and taking a breather before visiting the East Coast in late September/early October. Many of you have asked me: How was it? More than a few writers I know have told me in hushed tones that they secretly subscribe to Michael Feldman's point of view. Dear reader, I won't lie to you. Taking your book on the road can be exhausting. I felt like I was constantly performing, exploring the limits of my extroversion (even for a warm-blooded social animal like me), and selling myself (an antithetical experience to the solitude of writing the novel).

For the most part though, book tour was incredibly fun. The launch was at my favorite independent bookstore on earth, the Elliott Bay Book Company in Seattle. Over 200 people attended and the bookstore sold out of my book! Aria is actually a bestseller (#6 in fiction) at Elliott Bay--it may be the first and last time it's on a top ten list. My mother, who laments the fact that I’m going to have a small wedding, prepared an amazing Persian feast that night in lieu of the “book shower” she was planning to organize for me. I’ve been working on my joke repertoire at these events as a book about the death of the child can be a downer, and I was thrilled that audience members actually laughed aloud. People have come to these readings from all corners of my life—from childhood neighbors to high school classmates (I graduated 20 years ago), men I dated long ago to new women writing friends, long-lost family members to colleagues, former patients of mine to a chance acquaintances from foreign travels, and a posse of faithful friends (many of whom have attended more than one event). Surprise reunions have been one of the highlights of the book tour for me.

It’s been moving to see how my book has affected readers. I love getting letters from people who’ve been impacted by my little novel. At one reading where I didn’t have many friends in the area, I actually asked audience members why they had come to my reading. The responses were fascinating—there were non-Iranians who'd lived in Iran in pre-Revolutionary days, bereaved parents, high school and community college kids who were getting extra credit from their English professors for attending, arm-chair travelers, future doctors, and the random people who happened to be walking by the store (including a San Diego woman whose marvelous Soltan Banoo restaurant I later ended up visiting with my publishing colleagues) among others.

To share your book with the world when you have worked on it for so many years in private is both scary and a huge delight. It’s a relinquishing of sorts too. What has felt most important to me lately is the opportunity to speak about Iran in human terms during these fragile times. Aria is an apolitical book. Unlike many other books published by Iranian-Americans, it does not demonize the Islamic Republic, nor does it yearn for pre-Revolutionary times. It’s simply the story of an Iranian-American woman and her family as they cope with universal losses. Jasmine, the protagonist, actually fears Iran and confrontation with her parents who’ve cut off contact with her ever since she had a kid out of wedlock. Returning to Iran and reconciling her past turn out to be key elements of her healing process after the death of her child, even if she doesn’t exactly relate to the Islamic rituals around death.

My book recommendations for this month similarly humanize Iran and Islamic history.
Fiction: Check out Anita Amirrezvani’s The Blood of Flowers, a novel set in 17th century Isfahan and told from the perspective of a nameless teenage girl who falls in love with carpet-weaving.
Non-fiction: Read Reza Aslan’s No god but God: The Origins, Evolution, and Future of Islam, a highly digestible historical perspective on Islam through modern times.

Don’t be a stranger. Feel free to get in touch with me anytime. In the next week, you will be able to access video and audio clips from readings and lectures I’ve given, plus TV and radio interviews. Plus, you can see what I will be reading this summer.

For those of you who choose Aria for your book club, I will try my best to call in to your discussion (travel plans and time zones permitting). I will be in Spain and offline in July.

Hasta luego. Happy reading and happy summer, Nassim