Mastics-Moriches-Shirley Community Library Reader Advisory Blog: Only one week until Thanksgiving

There's one week left until Thanksgiving! Become inspired to count your blessings through these (or other) selections, and please comment: what are you thankful for?

Leszowitz, N. & Sammons, M.B. (2009). Living Life as a Thank You: The Transformative Power of Daily Gratitude

Publisher Summary: The authors present a program for incorporating gratitude into one's life and reaping its many benefits, in a book with motivational quotes, suggested gratitude practice, and anecdotes that is divided into such chapters as "Thank You Power" and "Putting Gratitude into Action."

Emmons, R. (2007). Thanks! How the New Science of Gratitude Can Make You Happier

Publisher Summary: A proponent of the field of positive psychology offers a close-up study of the positive influence on people's lives of the systematic cultivation of gratitude, explaining how the practice of grateful thinking can increase one's chances for happiness and help one cope more effectively with stress, recover more quickly from illness, enjoy better physical health, improve relationships, and other benefits.

Being Mortal by Atul Gawande

Genre: Adult Non-Fiction
Rating: 5 out of 5

"Being Mortal is about the limitations of what modern medicine can provide for people as their lives draw to a close. Gawande argues that the objective of medicine should not merely be treatment and survival; medical care should also ensure dignity in death and having control over one's final moments. He argues that instead of aggressively fighting the inescapable realities of aging, we should ask the hard questions of ourselves and our loved ones -- What makes life worth living? When should we try to extend our lives, and when should we choose a better quality of our remaining days over extending their quantity?

This book is difficult to read. Not because of the way Gawande writes -- his style is highly engaging, and he never lapses into excessively scientific jargon or overly simplistic explanations -- but because of the tough subject matter. Gawande draws on his own experiences as a doctor and peppers his book with honest and humane stories of his patients, friends, and family; the stories he tells make the book more accessible, and also more heartbreaking. (And that's not a bad thing.)

No one likes to think about their loved ones', or their own, impending mortality. But it's important to have these hard conversations, because as Gawande says, "endings matter." - Amanda

Only one week until Thanksgiving

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