Used books = more books :)

So Grant has put a condition on my book-buying habits: from now on, unless I can come up with a good justification, I am relegated to buying books from used-book stores. I'm a bit neurotic about the books that I own-I freely admit this. I rarely loan my books out, I can't stand books with bent spines, I abhor bent corners, and I can only tolerate my own writing in the text. Buying a used book means that I have to accept that it most of the time, it will be in less-than-perfect condition. However, faced with the choice of 1) not getting any more books or 2) buying the books used, I will choose the latter. Plus, I'm quickly beginning to see that you can get MORE books for the same price of a NEW book. Hmmm. There could be benefits to this. :) I've been going back and forth between BN.com and Amazon.com to look at various used book sellers and thus far, have been happy with the results. This could all go out the window the first time I get a book in the mail that doesn't live up to its description, but I'll keep my fingers crossed. :)

What kind of reader are you?

I got this from my friend Emily's blog & loved it!! Thanks, Em!

What Kind of Reader Are You? Your Result: Dedicated Reader You are always trying to find the time to get back to your book. You are convinced that the world would be a much better place if only everyone read more.
Obsessive-Compulsive Bookworm
Literate Good Citizen
Book Snob
Non-Reader
Fad Reader
http://www.gotoquiz.com/what_kind_of_reader_are_you">What Kind of Reader Are You? http://www.gotoquiz.com/">Create Your Own Quiz

Wow! It's been a while!

I can't believe that it's been since July that I last posted. There's been so much going on! I'm currently on my Emergency Psychiatry rotation and everyday is pretty much another call day. We respond to emergencies in the NMCP ER, as well as every civilian ER in the area, and for all branches of the military. The other night when I was on call though, I think I might have set a record. I had a consult come in from AFRICA! Good night!! At first when the corpsman called, I thought it was a joke, but nope. Seriously a call from a deployed doc in Africa who needed help with a psych patient. Too funny. Anyway, I think it'd be hopeless to update on everything else that's been going on, so I'll try to do a rundown of the top 5 things.
1) My mom and Keelie each came down and were able to visit for a week. Mom in August and Keel in September. It was so great to have visitors!! Grant and I feel so isolated down here and we miss Ohio so much, it was nice to have company!
2) I have gotten quite a few great books - my piles are almost getting to be too much. Almost. List to follow in upcoming post.
3) I got my hair cut! It's been long for forever in order for me to put in a bun every day for work, but I couldn't take it any longer. I got it chopped about chin-length and absolutely love it! No more East German look, and the best thing is that when I leave the hospital and go to the store at the end of the day, no one knows I'm active duty out of uniform! I love it!
4) Grant and I had our third wedding anniversary! Three years seem to have flown by - I can't imagine what life would be like without him. He definitely is the reason that I haven't gone crazy over this past year! :)
5) I reread (k, actuall listened to...) Jane Eyre, Wuthering Heights, Pride & Prejudice and Rebecca! I had forgotten just how much I loved the first three. Of course, Rebecca is my all-time favorite, so no forgetting there. Oh! And I saw I Becoming Jane - I loved it, but was so torn. I thought for sure that in the movie Jane would have a chance at everlasting love. I know it's not true to life, but come on! I hate wrong endings! It's the whole reason that I read the end of every book I read first! If it ends wrong, I don't read it. K, with the exception of the Harry Potter novels. I have absolutely not read the end of those yet. I am 2 behind in that series. Sometimes I feel that I will never be able to read all the books in my "to read" notebook!

Alrighty, that's it for now. I have quite a few ideas of things I want to write about, but I will save it for later. It feels good to be blogging again!

Happenings...

Grant & I went to Barnes & Noble yesterday as he was in need of a new dayplanner. When he couldn't find one he liked, he left me there in order to search out Target and OfficeMax. There's nothing like shopping at B&N without Grant repeatedly telling, "Quick like bunnies! Quick like bunnies!" :) So, left alone to shop at leisure I found two great buys: The Pale Blue Eye by Louis Bayard and What the Dead Know by Laura Lippman. Now, the Lippman novel was 50% off and I got 30% off the Bayard novel with a special coupon for renewing my B&N membership card! I think I get the $25 back within a month of buying it. :) I'm especially excited about the Louis Bayard novel - here's the synopsis from the back:

"At West Point Academy in 1830, the calm of an Octobert evening is shattered by the discovery of a young cadet's body swinging from a rope. The next morning, an even greater horror comes to light. Someone has removed the dead man's heart. Augustus Landor--who acquired some renown in his years as a New York City police detective--is called in to discreetly investigate. It's a baffling case Landor must pursue in secret, for the scandal could do irreparable damage to the fledgling institution. But he finds help from an unexpected ally--a mood, young cadet with a penchant for drink, two volumes of poetry to his name, and a murky past that changes from telling to telling. The strange and haunted Southern poet, for whom Landor develops a fatherly affection, is named Edgar Allan Poe."

Oooh - it's going to be so exciting! I finished Under the Banner of Heaven and will not be able to think of Mormonism the same ever again. And, I don't know how I missed in the news that Mitt Romney was Mormon before. No voting for Mitt by this GOP gal. Now I'm listening to Wuthering Heights, a book that I haven't read since probably my freshman year of high school. I'd forgotten how good it is! I think I'll be on a classics streak for a while now. Two of my favorite books in high school were Emma and Jane Eyre and I think I'd like to read (listen?) to those again, too. Which brings me to my next topic...

If one listens to a book on CD, can it really be said that it was read? Grant and I discussed this over dinner last night and he felt that yes, it would be counted as having read the book because you know the contents of the story it contains. I tend to agree, but thought I would open it up for discussion. Any feelings one way or the other?

Other than that, not much going on. I'm on the consult service right now and things are going along just swimmingly. I must say that being a second year is a far improvement over internship year!!! :)

More later!

When the cat is away, the mice will play!

So Grant went home this past weekend for a friend's wedding, leaving me at home to do what I wanted!! :) Friday night I ended up relaxing at home and watched "The Devil Wears Prada" on HBO. Despite seeing the book countless times at B&N, I never had any desire to read it. The movie, however, was decent & I enjoyed Anne Hathaway. I woke up Saturday morning and went into the base to attend the "Advanced Cardio Max" workout session. Wow. My legs are super sore - maybe the "advanced" should have been a warning. I usually attend the session after Cardio Max, but wanted to get an early start on my Saturday. I'll be paying for that judgment call for a couple days. I heard a rumor that if you go into rhabdomyolysis, you could possibly get waived from the PRT. I'm just not sure risking kidney failure is worth it. :)

So, after the workout of the century, I went back home & got cleaned up. I sat down to paint my nails & toes and decided that it'd been over a year since I got a real mani & pedi, so set off to find one of the nearest "Nails Oasis" boutiques. You have to love a $30 mani & pedi combination! Plus, they used OPI, so I was happy. My nails look great & I was totally relaxed after the experience, so I think I'll be making more frequent appearances there now.

I spent Saturday evening up at Barnes & Noble s l o w l y perusing through the aisles and picking up various books that I had on my "to read" list. (I think this will be a lesson to Grant not to leave me alone again for a long time! haha). Here's what I got:
In the Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex by Nathaniel Philbrick
In Harm's Way: The Sinking of the USS Indianapolis and the Extraordinary Story of its Survivors by Doug Stanton
Mount Misery by Samuel Shem (this is the sequel to House of God - the hysterical book about what it's like to go through medical school.) The sequel is actually about the main character who decides to go into a psychiatry residency. I'm starting this one already - I love Shem's sarcastic sense of humor.
Then - those of you who frequent B&N will know what I'm talking about here - I bought three of the B&N Collector's Library pocket-book series. These are the books that measure about 3x5 inches and only appear in the store about three times a year. I love this series because they are hardbound and fit perfectly in a white coat pocket. I pull them out whenever I get bored in the hospital and am supposed to be waiting on an attending, etc. Previously, I've gotten The Brothers Karamozov and The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (currently in my white coat pocket). So last night I added to my collection: Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert, The Portrait of a Lady by Henry James, and Great Expectations by Dickens. And, even Grant will appreciate this: they were only $2.39 each!!! (Normally, $2.99 but 60 cent discount with the B&N club card!) Woohoo! What a buy!!! After I spent about 90 minutes looking through the store, I settled down in the cafe and studied psychopharmacology for about 2 hours. What a relaxing night!

Grant arrived home safely this morning and brought back my engagement ring with him. We'd sent it back with Drew last weekend so that the prongs and setting could be checked at Allison's Jewelry store back in Sidney, Ohio. Otherwise, not much else going on here. I'll write more this week as I'm almost done with a couple of books and will put my reviews here.

Have a great week!

Recommended Books for Psychiatry Residents

Because I started this blog with the intent to write about both literature and psychiatry, here is the recommended reading list I received today from my program director. I'm happy to post this because extensive searching on the internet revealed nothing similar to this listing, so hopefully it will be helpful to others as well.

From the Naval Medical Center Portsmouth Pyschiatry Residency Program:

REQUIRED READING
1.) Kaplan and Saddock’s Synopsis of Psychiatry: Behavioral Sciences/Clinical Psychiatry. 10th edition. Benjamin Saddock and Virginia Saddock . LWW. May 2007.
2.) Clinical Neurology for Psychiatrists. David Myland Kaufman. Suanders. 2007.

STRONGLY RECOMMENDED
1.) Kaplan and Sadock’s Study Guide and Self-Examination Review in Psychiatry. Benjamin Saddock and Virginia Saddock . LWW. May 2007.
2.) Drug Interaction Principles for Medical Practice: Cytochrome P450s, UGTs, P-Glycoproteins. 2nd edition. Kelly L. Cozza, Scott C. Armstrong, and Jessica R. Oesterheld. APPI. 2003.
3.) Principles and Practice of Psychopharmacotherapy. Philip G Janicak, John M Davis, Sheldon H Preskorn, et al. LWW. 2006.
4.) The Neuroscience of Clinical Psychiatry. Edmund S Higgins and Mark S. George. LWW. 2007.
5.) Essential Psychopharmacology. 2nd edition. Stephen Stahl. Cambridge University Press. 2000.
6.) The Clinical Interview Using DSM-IV-TR. Volume 1: Fundamentals. Ekkehard Othmer and Sieglinde Othmer. APPI. 2002.
7.) The Clinical Interview Using DSM-IV-TR. Volume 2: The Difficult Patient. Ekkehard Othmer and Sieglinde Othmer. APPI. 2002.
8.) Study Guide to DSM-IV-TR. Michael A Fauman. APPI. 2002.
9.) Desk Reference to the Diagnostic Criteria from DSM-IV-TR. APPI. 2000.
10.) DSM-IV-TR Case Book. A Learning Companion to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition Text Revision. Robert L. Spitzer, Miriam Gibbon, Andrew E. Skodol, et al. APPI.
11.) The Art and Science of Brief Psychotherapies: A Practitioner’s Guide. Core Competencies in Psychotherapy. Mantosh J. Dewan, Brett N. Steenbarger, and Roger P Greenberg. APPI. 2005.
12.) Introduction to Supportive Psychotherapy. Core Competencies in Psychotherapy.Arnold Winston, Richard Rosenthal, and Henry Pinsker. APPI. 2005.
13.) Long-Term Psychodynamic Psychotherapy. A Basic Text. Core Competencies in Psychotherapy. Glen O. Gabbard. APPI. 2005.
14.) Learning Cognitive-Behavior Therapy. An Illustrated Guide. Core Competencies in Psychiatry. Jesse H. Wright, Monica R. Basco, and Michael E. Thase. APPI. 2005.
15.) Competency in Combining Pharmacotherapy and Psychotherapy. Integrated and Split Treatment. Core Competencies in Psychotherapy. Michelle B. Ribs and Richard Balon. APPI. 2005.
16.) Psychodynamic Psychiatry in Clinical Practice. 4th edition. Glen Gabbard. APPI. 2005.
17.) Cognitive Therapy, Basics and Beyond, Judith S. Beck. Guilford Press, 1995.
18.) Theory and Practice of Group Psychotherapy. Irvin D. Yalom. 1995
19.) Freud and Beyond: A History of Modern Psychoanalytic Thought. Stephen Mitchell and Margaret Black. HarperCollins. 1996.
20.) Massachusetts General Hospital Handbook of General Hospital Psychiatry. 5th ed. Theodore A Stern, Gregory Fricchione, Ned H. Cassem, et al. Mosby. 2004.

It's exciting to me that there's so much out there to learn about psychiatry. A bit overwhelming, but still exciting. :)

Reading on the Beach!

This past week most of my husband's family came down to visit. My mother-in-law helped me clean my house and Grant hung up pictures and decorations that we've been collecting for the past year. So, finally, the condo is shaping up! And, I think that every single article of clothing that Grant & I own is clean as Maureen (my mother-in-law) worked like crazy to get it all washed, dried, ironed & put away!!! It actually feels relaxing to be at home now! :) So - all that activity took place during the first half of the week and then the latter half of the week we spent down at Nags Head. We got to see our niece and nephews and play on the beach for a day. I got a healthy amount of sun but Grant got a little more than he thought! I'm not thinking that the spray-on sunscreen is the safest way to go.... While Grant & his brothers played football and swam, I sat under my umbrella and finished two books! I have to admit, my idea of a perfect vacation is going to a museum or a historical place, but relaxing on the beach with a good book is a close second. :) I finished two books down there: Maisie Dobbs and Water for Elephants, both of which were great. I'd previously said that Water for Elephants could be a bit hard to stomach with the descriptions of the way that circus animals were treated, but there's justice in the end. :) I'm now reading the second Maisie Dobbs mystery, and I'm about halfway through a new Jamestown archeology book that we picked up in Williamsburg earlier this week. (Oh! I forgot - Williamsburg was great! Maureen & I only got to go to a few of the shops, but I'm definitely planning on taking Grant back to see the actual historical area & the first psychiatric hospital in the colonies!) As I haven't been driving to work for the past week, I still have a bit more to listen to in Under the Banner of Heaven, but anticipate finishing it this coming week.

Now, for the much-anticipated summer reading recommendations from the National Review:
http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=NGExNWRlMTk0NjJiMTIxZTdhMGQyMzBiMDQ4YjA3YjY=
There are some great books on this list!!!

And, for some exciting news for Alexander McCall Smith fans (thanks for the update, Emily!!)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/04/AR2007070401548.html?hpid=sec-artsliving
Hollywood has finally decided to take Precious Ramotswe and her No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency to the big screen!!! It's supposed to be out by Christmas! I'm so excited - this is one of my favorite series of books. Hopefully the movie will be well done!

I have to do some shopping for office supplies over the weekend & plan on moving into my new office at the hospital Sunday afternoon. More updates later!