Mastics-Moriches-Shirley Community Library Reader Advisory Blog: National Book Award Fiction Longlist Announced

The National Book Foundation's mission is to celebrate the best of American literature, to expand its audience, and to enhance the cultural value of good writing in America. Each year they present awards in multiple categories including Fiction, Non-Fiction, Poetry, and Young Reader Literature. For more information about the National Book Foundation click here.

The foundation's longlist for the 2014 Fiction awards are:

An Unnecessary Woman by Rabih Alameddine

All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr

Thunderstruck and Other Stories by Elizabeth McCracken

Winners of the 2014 National Book Awards will be announced on November 19th.

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

National Book Award Fiction Longlist Announced

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