Sunday, August 24, 2008

Entry for January 23, 2007 ~ Got Books??

I love books. I am obsessed with them. I read every day...Catholic writings by the Saints, Fantasy & Faerie Tales, books about gardening, Arts&Crafts.
I have several favorite authors, but among my favorites are Jane Austen, JRR Tolkien, Terry Brooks, Shakespeare (more performed than written, however ), and many of the Saints in the Roman Catholic Church were brilliant!
This is why, whenever I go to appointments, I always take a book with me, unless I know that the waiting room has a ready supply of current copies of favorite magazines...quick reading for a 'quick' visit? ha! ~
The other day I went to the orthopedic surgeon with my daughter Clare. She has a bad left knee, and despite surgery several years ago to correct it, sometimes she still has a problem with it, not dislocating like it did before, but always aching...forcing her to use a heating pad for comfort and take lots of Tylenol.
When we got there, I realized that even tho' this doctor has a history of keeping patients waiting for a couple of hours every visit, I had neglected to bring my own reading material.
No matter, right? He's bound to have something in there for us to peruse while sitting there...right?
Well, that was sort of right...
What we did find was an assortment of books!
Yes, that's right...books!
And I am not talking about easy-read, ten-page picture books either! Nope, not a coffee table book in sight!
I am talking novels here...200-300 page books, by Dickens, Swift, Capote, you-name-it!
Since we last saw him, he has joined with another bone specialist and is in a new location...so I'm not sure if it was he who ordered the library, or if it was his partner in crime. But I do know one thing for sure...no doctor I have ever seen fills his waiting room with books, not a magazine anywhere, unless he knows ahead of time that he is expecting patients to WAIT A LONG TIME!
Needless to say, I was completely turned off by this, even tho' I'm sure some of the tomes were written by authors that I myself have read...that didn't matter! How long did he think we were there to wait??
Did he think I could finish Shakespeare's sonnets in one sitting? Or chase Alice all through Wonderland in a single day?? Perhaps he expected me to show Frodo Baggins a shortcut to Mordor, eh? Hmm-mm...??!?
I rather think neither of these two men have ever read any of the books they stock in their office, I think they must have been donations from others. I also think it was more a matter of not realizing how it would turn anyone off who comes in to sit, wait, browse...Maybe they thought we would be impressed by their learning, eh?
It seems to me that I would be better impressed by their knowledge of how to help my daughter with her knee than whether or not they have ever discovered Lilliput with Lemuel Gulliver!
A simple People magazine would have gone further to make the time go more quickly, as I sat there from 11:30 in the morning until almost 2:00 in the afternoon...
Next time I go there, I will be sure to remember my copy of the Complete Works of Jane Austen, or perhaps something by Tolkien...whichever volume of his most famous quintuple-book series I am in the middle of reading at the time.
Then, when Clare is finally called back into the examination room I can simply mark my place, discuss with the doctor, and take my adventure home with me!

1 comment:

*~JennD.'J.M.J.'~* said...

* Lisa
Books? I've never seen them in a waiting room, unless they're children's storybooks. Usually, I run across magazines I have no interest in: Golf Digest, PC, Car and Driver, US News and World Report. Our current dentist has women's magazines!!! Southern Living, Parenting, Oprah, Everyday With Rachel Ray, etc...they have some for men, too, and even Highlights for Children.
Wednesday January 24, 2007 - 06:57pm (PST)

* JennD
We went to see Dr. Fishman the other day, the plastic surgeon who took care of Theresa's nose...and Laura found a copy of Highlights in the waiting room ~ she took it with her when they called T into the exam room and wouldn't let go of it until she had finished it! 'Hey, Mom, wanna read about the Timbertoes?' LOL... even after T & I had gone back out to the car, she was sitting in the office reading it, until the girls told her she could borrow it! :)
Wednesday January 24, 2007 - 11:14pm (EST)