Mastics-Moriches-Shirley Community Library Reader Advisory Blog: Historical Debut: The Twelve Rooms of the Nile

In an imaginative historical debut by Enid Shomer, two historical figures travel down the Nile and fall in love before they became famous. The year is 1850. Florence Nightingale, daughter of a prominent family and at 29, well on her way to being a spinster, sets sail on a trip down the Nile chaperoned by family friends. Plagued by mysterious seizures, Gustave Flaubert has dropped out of law school and written his first (unpublished) novel when he decides to explore and document the largely unexplored monuments of ancient Egypt. The two unlikely soul mates come together by sharing their deepest torments and biggest hopes against the background of mid 19th century Egypt in The Twelve Rooms of the Nile.

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

Historical Debut: The Twelve Rooms of the Nile

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