Tuesday, August 10, 2021

First Chapter First Paragraph Tuesday Intros - Committed: Dispatches from a Psychiatrist in Training; Adam Stern, MD


Welcome to First Chapter/Intros, hosted by Yvonne @ Socrates Book Reviews
Each week readers post the first paragraph (or 2) of a book we are reading or plan to read.  

                             Committed: Dispatches from a Psychiatrist in Training; Adam Stern, MD
                                                           Mariner Books - July 2021


Prologue

"I have a recurring dream in which I look down and notice for the first time that I'm soaring above the earth. I'm exhilarated but also filled with fear.  I don't know how I made it off the ground, and the act of looking down seems to cause me to lose whatever momentum it was that propelled my upward.  I need to figure out how to keep moving before gravity pulls me back to earth, ending in a terrible crash.  Sometimes I awaken just as I begin to fall, and other times the dream ends with my discovery of an unexpected solution.  The version that gives me the most comfort is when I look to one side or the other and notice that I'm not alone.  In those moments, when I see someone floating right next to me, my fear still exists, but its more surmountable.  Maybe we can figure this out together.

After reading far too many thrillers, I felt like I needed to try something different so I chose this memoir.  What do you think - read more or pass? 

22 comments:

  1. Wow, I hate those kinds of dreams, but I love the sound of this book. Thanks for sharing, and for visiting my blog.

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    1. Dreams can be so strange at times. I am a great one for the bizarre. Dreams about people I haven't seen in 50 years or ones were I'm snooping around in places I've lived previously, lost in parking lots and can't find my car LOL

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  2. I'm not sure I'd read more on this one, maybe a paragraph or two just to see.

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  3. I'm always fascinated by the symbolism in dreams. The book is off to a good start!

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  4. Sounds interesting. I'd read more. :)

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  5. It's an interesting opening, for sure. And I'm a real sucker when it comes to memoirs, so I imagine I'd have to read at least a few more pages before deciding whether or not this is one I want to read. (This reminds me that I've read almost no memoirs yet this year...time to fix that.)

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    1. Sam, If you like memoirs, have you ever read: Smoke Gets in Your Eyes: And Other Tales from the Crematory? Caitlin Doughty? The Removers, Andrew Meredith is also quite interesting. Of course I like a walk on the darker side.

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    2. I've read the first, but not the second, Diane. I'll look for that one.

      Growing up, one of my best friends lived above his family's funeral home, so I have kind of a taste of what that lifestyle is like. I read a memoir a while back called The Undertaker's Daughter by Kate Mayfield that brought that experience back in spades. You might want to take a look at it, too.

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    3. Sam, Happy surprise, I actually have The Undertaker's Daughter on my Kindle but hadn't read it - thanks for mentioning it. I think I will like it.

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  6. I'd have to read the explanation of starting with the dream sequence. I'm intrigued by dreams, both the bizarre and those shared by a huge segment of the population.

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    1. Me too Jen - I often wished I kept a dream journal with dates. Most of my family says they don't dream or if they do they rarely recall the dream but for me they are quite vivid.

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  7. When I was young I had two recurring dreams, but the funny thing was that I was telling my mom and dad about them and when I was talking about one of them my dad got a very strange look on his face. When I asked him what was wrong he said that he had had that same dream many times too.

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  8. It sounds like an interesting book, but I rarely read memoirs. Still, it's an intriguing opening.

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  9. This sounds really interesting and a good book to through into the mix when genre fatigue starts showing up. I have dreams of falling but I never make it past starting to fall to look around and see if someone else is around me.

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    1. Yes, I need to mix it up more instead of mostly thrillers I'd like to do thrillers, memoirs, translated literary, contemporary, mysteries and a few historical

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  10. I have this on my wishlist. I hope you will read it and tell us whether we should read it or not!

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  11. Oh, what a beautiful start, Diane! I hope you enjoyed the rest.

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