Mastics-Moriches-Shirley Community Library Reader Advisory Blog: Recently in the Media

The Community Library has many books that are featured on television and radio programming. Check out some of our latest additions below:

My Story by Elizabeth Smart and Chris Stewart: (Biography)
Speaking out for the first time, the daughter of a close-knit Mormon family, who was held captive and repeatedly raped, recounts the constant fear she endured, her courageous determination to maintain hope, her dramatic escape and her transformation from victim to advocate. (Publisher Summary)

The Book with No Pictures by B.J. Novak: (Children's Pictures Book)

The Emmy Award-winning actor best known for his performances in The Office presents a silly read-aloud book that combines a deliberately image-free format with wacky nonsense text, goofy song lyrics and more. By the author of One More Thing. (Publisher Summary)

The Paying Guests by Sarah Waters: (Historical Fiction)

Forced to take in lodgers in economically challenged 1922 South London, widow Mrs. Wray and her spinster daughter find their lives profoundly and disturbingly changed by the arrival of a modern young couple. By the best-selling author of The Little Stranger. (Publisher Summary)

Mr. Bones by Paul Theroux: (Fiction/Short Stories)

A collection of short stories from the acclaimed author of The Mosquito Coast includes stories about a family whose father is becoming a joke-telling, old-fashioned minstrel and two sons who watch their father's obsessive battle with some raccoons. (Publisher Summary)

Boy on Ice by John Branch: (Biography)

Traces the career of the star player for the New York Rangers, from his childhood in Saskatchewan to his professional career, and reveals how a series of concussions led to his accidental death and subsequent investigations into systematic violence in contact sports. (Publisher Summary)

The Marshmallow Test by Walter Mischel: (Mastering Self Control)

A psychologist known for a famous delayed-gratification test discusses whether willpower can be taught and offers tips and strategies for improving and mastering self-control and applying it to everyday challenges like losing weight, quitting smoking and overcoming heartbreak. (Publisher Summary)

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

Recently in the Media

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