Too many books?
Does "too many books, too little time" apply to you? It sure does me. I'm always reading two or three books at the same time, with a large stack sitting nearby, metaphorical ladies-in-waiting. Here's a glimpse at what's keeping me company right now.

The Heart Speaks: A Cardiologist Reveals the Secret Language of Healing by Mimi Guarneri (2006 Touchstone). As a medical student, Guarneri learned that the heart, an organ, pumped 100,000 times a day, transporting oxygenated blood to the brain and other organs. Guarneri's book shares what she learned about the heart as a physician, and how maintaining a healthy heart and healing a broken one involves forgiveness and gratefulness as much as it does medical understanding.

Physical: An American Checkup by James McManus (2006 Farrar, Straus and Giroux). McManus undergoes a three-day "executive physical" at the Mayo Clinic. That experience and the results of that physical, combined with several other important health matters in his life lead McManus to examine today's health care system, scrutinizing political and medical flaws.

Our women's health initiative, Raising Up Healthy Women and Girls, spurred me to select those two books. Having a daughter about to turn 16 led my husband to buy Deborah Tannen's You're Wearing That? Understanding Mothers and Daughters in Conversation (2006 Random House) for me. With humor and keen insight (and what mother hasn't needed those?), Tannen explores the challenges of mothers and daughters understanding each other when it seems they are speaking two different languages.

Looking ahead to summer, I'm going to set a personal goal of reading at least one book each week. That will help whittle down the large stack next to my desk. Now what about the ones on the shelf?