Mastics-Moriches-Shirley Community Library Reader Advisory Blog: Happy Birthday, William Floyd

William Floyd School District, William Floyd Parkway, William Floyd Plaza - William Floyd's name is all over this community, but who was William Floyd anyway? In fact, William Floyd was a local resident (his estate in Mastic is now a historic site) who was a signer of the Declaration of Independence. Celebrate this local founding father's 277th birthday on Saturday, December 17th by visiting your Community Library. At 3 pm, local schoolchildren will perform music and read selections from their essays, after which all are invited to help blow out the candles on William Floyd's birthday cake and enjoy some light refreshments. Can't make it to the party? Read up on William Floyd - check out a book from your Community Library's "Happy Birthday William Floyd" display.

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

Happy Birthday, William Floyd

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