Mastics-Moriches-Shirley Community Library Reader Advisory Blog: Attention Evanovich fans: Reserve your copy of Explosive 18 today

Many of the library's regular visitors rave about Janet Evanovich's hilarious "Stephanie Plum" mystery series. Conveniently, each book in the series has its number embedded in the title, starting with One for the Money and continuing to Smokin' Seventeen, which was just released at the end of June. Explosive Eighteen, the next book in this wildly popular series, is now on order from your Community Library. Place a hold on it to ensure that you get your copy as close as possible to the planned release date of November 22, 2011.

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

Attention Evanovich fans: Reserve your copy of Explosive 18 today

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