Mastics-Moriches-Shirley Community Library Reader Advisory Blog: Tis the Season For Holiday Fiction

With a chill in the air, the time is right to start reading joyous and whimsical holiday fiction. Check out these new titles that are sure to get you into the holiday spirit!

She maybe thirty-fifth in line for the throne, but Lady Georgiana Rannoch cannot wait to ring in the New Year...that is until a Christmas killer starts wringing necks. Part love story, part social commentary, Rhys Bowen's Twelve Clues of Christmas is all fun.

Shirley, Goodness, and Mercy are back in Debbie Macomber's Angels at the Table. With Will, an apprentice angel under their wings, they descend upon Times Square on New Year's Eve to enjoy the festivities. When Will spots two lonely people in the crowd, he decides the time is right to make a heavenly match.

In The Christmas Garland by Anne Perry, the year is 1857, and India is in full scale rebellion. When a prisoner escapes after a guard is murdered, British medical orderly John is arrested. His trial is intended to be a show trial only but thanks to some detective work and a Christmas garland, John may receive a holiday miracle.

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

Tis the Season For Holiday Fiction

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