Mastics-Moriches-Shirley Community Library Reader Advisory Blog: Big Titles This Month

This month, three popular authors will release long awaited books and your Community Library will have them.

M.L. Stedman's debut novel The Light Between Oceans has received lots of pre publication buzz as "The Must Read Book of 2012". It tells the story of a childless couple living on a secluded island in early 1900s Australia. When an infant washes up on shore, a rift in their marriage develops only the be further complicated by the search for the baby's mother. Will the book live up to the hype?

And When She Was Good by bestselling author and multiple prize winner Laura Lippman is a gripping crime novel involving a suburban madam, a convicted killer whose sentence is about to be overturned, and the child they will both do anything to keep.

Fans of the Dark Hunter series rejoice! Sherrilynn Kenyon is back with Time Untime. Get ready to meet a new Dark Hunter in this installment.

Did you know that you do not have to wait until we physically receive a book to place a hold? You can request a title as soon as we place out order with the publisher!

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

Big Titles This Month

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