Mastics-Moriches-Shirley Community Library Reader Advisory Blog: Unbanned Books: Slaughterhouse Five & Twenty Boy Summer

Just in time for Banned Books Week! According to this article in Reuters (republished in this issue of Shelf Awareness), a school board in southwest Missouri unanimously voted to overturn a previous ban on two books, Twenty Boy Summer and Slaughterhouse Five. The controversial books include violence, offensive language, and sexually explicit material which run contrary to Biblical teaching. The decision allows the books to be available in the school, but only parents or guardians may check them out. Additionally, the books cannot be added to teachers' required reading lists. Have you read one of these books? Weigh in by commenting!

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

Unbanned Books: Slaughterhouse Five & Twenty Boy Summer

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