January 2011 Reading List

Dear Me,

I am committing to reading a book per month.

Back then, I was able to finish 4-5 books a month. Aside from mountaineering, reading books is my only vice (if you can call it that).

I became a mom and doing all the things that go with it on my own. Reading had taken a backseat.

2011 marks my conviction to get back to my first love: books.

I will make sure that I will find time to read despite the busy schedule. I do not care if I have to read in between doing various house chores or in a cab or train en route somewhere.

For this month, I am aiming for two books. Concurrently, I am being engaged by Tom Gabbay and Robin Cook.




The Berlin Conspiracy by Tom Gabbay

Jack Teller is through with the CIA -- until the Berlin station is contacted by a Colonel in the East German Stasi just days before President John F. Kennedy's scheduled visit to the Wall. The Stasi officer has an important message -- and he will speak to no one but Jack.

The informant claims a treacherous plot is brewing to assassinate the American president in Germany -- a conspiracy originating at the highest levels of the U.S. government. Only Jack Teller believes the threat is real, and it has left him alienated and alone in a divided city that holds too many dark secrets. And if he forgets the two essential truths of the espionage game -- that lies are currency and nothing is what it seems -- he won't live to prevent a global catastrophe.


Critical by Robin Cook

Angela Dawson, M.D., appears to have it all: at the age of thirty-seven, she owns a fabulous New York City apartment, a stunning seaside house on Nantucket, and enjoys the perks of her prosperous lifestyle. But her climb to the top was rough, marked by a troubled childhood, a failed marriage, and the devastating blow of bankruptcy as a primary-care internist. Painfully aware of the role of economics in modern life, particularly in the health-care field, Angela returned to school to earn an MBA. Armed with a shiny new degree and blessed with determination, intelligence, and impeccable timing, Angela founded a start-up company, Angels Healthcare, then took it public. With her controlling interest in three busy specialty hospitals in New York City and plans for others in Miami and Los Angeles, Angela's future looked very bright.

Then a surge of drug-resistant staph infections in all three hospitals devastates Angela's carefully constructed world. Not only do the infections result in patient deaths, but the fatalities also cause stock prices to tumble, leaving market analysts wondering if Angela will be able to hold her empire together.

New York City medical examiners Laurie Montgomery and Jack Stapleton are naturally intrigued by the uptick in staph-related post-procedure deaths. Aside from their own professional curiosity, there's a personal stake as well: Laurie and Jack are newly married, and Jack is facing surgery to repair a torn ligament at Angels Orthopedic Hospital. Despite Jack's protests, Laurie can't help investigating-opening a Pandora's box of corporate intrigue that threatens not just her livelihood, but her life with Jack as well.


**I'm almost done with the other book. :) Way to go!