Mastics-Moriches-Shirley Community Library Reader Advisory Blog: GoodReads Choice Award Winners Part I

GoodReads Choice Award winners have been announced. 1,156,852 votes were cast by readers just like you! Today we'll highlight award winning genre fiction. Tomorrow, we'll highlight the non-fiction winners. You can view the complete list of award winners here.

Best Novel: The Casual Vacancy by J.K. Rowling tells the story of a small town conflict that occurs after a seat on the parish council is unexpectedly vacated.

Best Science Fiction: The Long Earth by Terry Pratchett tells the story of Larry, a recluse aggressively protective of his solitude, who finds his quiet existence shattered by the arrival of two accidents tourists and decides to do everything in his power to make them leave.

Best Horror: The Twelve by Justin Cronin, follow up to the bestselling book, The Passage, continues the efforts of the survivors of a government induced vampire apocalypse

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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

GoodReads Choice Award Winners Part I

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