Mastics-Moriches-Shirley Community Library Reader Advisory Blog: Latest Hannah Swensen mystery (with recipes): 'Cinnamon Roll Murder'

Attention culinary mystery readers: the latest book in the "Hannah Swensen" series by Joanne Fluke, Cinnamon Roll Murder, has just been released. When the keyboard player for the Cinnamon Roll Six jazz band is murdered after a tour bus accident on the way to Lake Eden, Minnesota, Hannah Swensen, after digging up several local suspects, discovers that there is nothing sweeter than catching a killer. This book is the 15th in the series, following Devil's Food Cake Murder; the series started in the year 2000 with Chocolate Chip Cookie Murder.

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

Latest Hannah Swensen mystery (with recipes): 'Cinnamon Roll Murder'

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