Abraham Verghese's Reading List

"I'm drawn to big epic novels, and this was all that at over 800 pages."

"I found it stunning. It left me no choice but to systematically read everything of his."

"it made me go back to and better appreciate "Crime and Punishment" and to commit to read all of Dostoyevsky's oeuvre."

"A generation of physicians outside of America name "The Citadel" as the book that called them to medicine."

"both with memorable protagonists on a quest for meaning and purpose in life."

"only in your fifth decade will you have experienced enough heartbreak to truly grasp this great love story."

"Even when he's writing prose it reads like poetry"

"it suggested to me that anyone with a curiosity and empathy for their fellow human beings and a willingness to work hard could be a good physician"

"one of the many books that I purchased but never got to until now ... it's a riveting story."

"to come close to being in the shoes of a patient with a terminal condition, Tolstoy's "The Death of Ivan Ilyich" is the required text."

"will make you viscerally feel what child abuse is like, something no pediatric textbook can convey."