Mastics-Moriches-Shirley Community Library Reader Advisory Blog: Award-winning romance for Valentine's Day

Romance is read year-round, but for many, Valentine's Day marks its special season. Treat yourself to a book from your community library's February display of award-winning romance, located at the foot of the stairs in the Fiction section. Books on display range from The Three Weissmanns of Westport, a modern-day retelling of Jane Austen's classic Sense and Sensibility, to the steamy historical romance Barely a Lady, in which Olivia nurses her wounded ex-husband back from the brink of death only to discover he has no memory of their divorce. Click here for the full list, created by librarian Noreen O. Got any romance must-reads you'd like to suggest? Please comment!

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

Award-winning romance for Valentine's Day

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