Mastics-Moriches-Shirley Community Library Reader Advisory Blog: New Alice Hoffman

Captivating and illuminating, Alice Hoffman's Museum of Extraordinary Things is a fairy tale and historical fiction mash-up about an impassioned love affair between Coralie Sardie and Eddie Cohen, two vastly different people living in New York. Coralie works as a mermaid at her father's beloved Coney Island boardwalk freak show and Eddie is a Russian immigrant who has run away from his family and job as a tailor's apprentice. Eddie, an aspiring photographer, captures Coralie's heart as he tries to solve the mystery of a woman's disappearance in the wake of the horrific Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire.

The Museum of Extraordinary Things received a Starred Review from Booklist: "Hoffman unveils both horror and magic in this transfixing tale of liberation and love in a metropolis of lies, yearning, and metamorphosis."

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

New Alice Hoffman

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