Mastics-Moriches-Shirley Community Library Reader Advisory Blog: Best of the Best Book List

In the spirit of creating a year-end "Best of 2013" book list, The Daily Beast takes a different than usual approach. Rather than just creating their own "best of" list, they also take 39 additional lists and tally up how many times a book was cited as being the year's best to give their readers a "ranked ultimate guide." Click here to read the full article and to view all the winners.

The Daily Beast gave us a ranked list of 10 fiction and 10 non-fiction books. The ultimate winners are as follows:

Fiction: The Tenth of December: Stories by George Saunders

George Saunders, an undisputed master of the short story creates his most honest, accessible, and moving collection yet. The collection includes "Home," a story about a soldier's return home from war; "Victory Lap," about an abduction attempt; and the title story, in which a cancer patient on the verge of suicide ends up saving the life of a young misfit.

Non-Fiction: Book of Ages: The Life and Opinions of Jane Franklin by Jill Lepore

Book of Ages: The Life and Opinions of Jane Franklin

Book of Ages presents a portrait of Jane Franklin, Benjamin Franklin's youngest sister. In addition, the novel presents a different account of the founding of the United States of America.

Have you read any of the top books of 2013? Send us your review!

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

Best of the Best Book List

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