Mastics-Moriches-Shirley Community Library Reader Advisory Blog: December Book Display: Legal Thrillers

On the hunt for some exciting legal thrillers? Go beyond John Grisham with the books featured in the library's December Readers' Advisory display, at the foot of the stairs in the fiction section. Selections include works by established favorites like Steve Martini and William Bernhardt to relative newcomers like Joshua Ferris and David Hosp (click here for a complete list). And if you've read all these already, try searching the subject term "legal stories" to browse 800+ similar books in the Mastics-Moriches-Shirley Community Library's catalog. What are your recommendations?

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

December Book Display: Legal Thrillers

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