I just finished reading "Beat the Reaper" byh Josh Bazell. Holy Hannah! Here's an interview with the newly-minted MD and first-time author: http://www.goodreads.com/interviews/show/22.Josh_Bazell
I don't think I've ever read anything quite like this one before. If I had to do a logline description, I'd probably call it "Scrubs Meets The Sopranos Meets House" and while that'd neatly sum it up, it'd still not "really" hit the mark.
Thank heaven this guy's working on a second novel. I hope it's even half as good. The book jacket photo shows him on Baker Beach (one of my absolute favorite teenage hangouts) with the Golden Gate Bridge in the background. He's perfectly handsome, AND he's a surgeon, AND he can write. Damn! Some guys get all the good genes.
However, I did have a fleeting thought of Ethan Canin -- what? maybe 15, 20-or-so years ago??? he was the Next Great Writer out of San Francisco. Literati saluted him for his scintillating short stories, which really were quite extraordinary.
I think he burned out on his own fame, choked on his own ego.
Didn't Caesar have some slave following him around, whose job was simply to keep repeating "remember, thou art mortal, remember, thou art mortal????
Writers can get too big for their britches. I really like this guy's style, and I sure HOPE that doesn't happen. He's got such a fun and fresh style, it's addictive.
AWKWARD MOMENT ALERT: When I was maybe 20 or so pages into the novel, and fully LOVING his writing style, I actually mentioned it in a meeting with my direct reports -- raved about the book, how cool the author's writing style was and how funny the thing was (as far as I'd gotten). One guy even logged it directly into his iPhone app that lets you snap a photo of a book cover (since I had it in my purse, he asked to see it, and snapped the photo) -- and then links you right to Amazon.com for the book. Ingenious idea.
So, then... I kept reading. And reading. And I got to the, well, really raunchy-hot sex scenes. Yah, I had recommended this AT WORK. I can hear the HR storm troopers gathering to bust down my door!!!! So, I did go back and mention, "Hey, I know I recommended this book -- but I learned something. I'll never do that again at work until AFTER I've read the whole thing -- because when I told you how cool it was, I was about two chapters in, and it hadn't gotten kinky yet. So sorry, please don't call HR!"
Good thing I have a good relationship with the staff.
And THAT comment makes me think of something from a book called "Executive Warfare" -- one of the universal rules for executives is: "don't EVER be stupid enough to belive that your direct reports really LIKE you. They don't."
Always have to remember how different "work" is at my current gig, from anything I've done in the past. Except maybe Microsoft -- that had a veneer of buddies/colleagues -- but even though the division VP's office was the same exact size as your's and everybody else's (except for BillG's and SteveB's -- they had dou ble offices) -- they WERE still higher on the food chain than you.
At my current company, the hierarchy is very old-school. I always have that in mind. And I do my best to conform. I think I've learned a lot about that in the last few years. I love the gig, and bit-by-bit, I see my own life molding to the job.
Onward and upward.
