Mastics-Moriches-Shirley Community Library Reader Advisory Blog: Grab and Go

Looking for a book to read but only have a minute to spend at the library? Stop by our Impulse Display conveniently located at the entrance to the library right by the Circulation Desk. On display today:

Cavendon Hall by Barbara Taylor Bradford

The Chase by Janet Evanovich and Lee Goldberg

Cavendon Hall by Barbara Taylor Bradford: A tale spanning 16 years in Edwardian England finds the centuries-long relationship between the aristocratic Inghams and the Swann family who serves them tested by the outbreak of World War I.
Wayfaring Stranger by James Lee Burke: A decade after taking a shot at Bonnie and Clyde during one of their notorious armed robberies, Weldon Holland escapes death during the Battle of the Bulge and marries a beautiful young woman with whom he seeks his fortune along the Texas-Louisiana oil coast.
For All Time by Jude Deveraux: When Graydon meets Toby at his brother's wedding, he becomes enthralled with her, despite his destiny to marry a noble woman, and asks her to help him hide on Nantucket away from his regal responsibilities.
The Chase by Janet Evanovich and Lee Goldberg: FBI agent Kate O'Hare must once again covertly team up with brilliant con man Nicholas Fox to take down Carter Grove, a former White House chief of staff who has stolen a rare Chinese artifact from the Smithsonian.

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

Grab and Go

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