Mastics-Moriches-Shirley Community Library Reader Advisory Blog: The Top 15 Most Borrowed Books

Wondering what everyone else is reading? Not sure what to read next? Check out this list of "The Books Most Borrowed in U.S. Libraries" that the folks at Library Journal compiled as of October 15, 2014. (Click on the covers below to place your holds.)

1. The Heist

2. The Goldfinch

3. Personal

4. Big Little Lies

Invisible by James Patterson and David Ellis

5. Invisible

Top Secret Twenty-One by Janet Evanovich

6. Top Secret Twenty-One

All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr

7. All The Light We...

8. The Silkworm

9. A Perfect Life

10. Gone Girl

11. Cut and Thrust

Unlucky 13 by James Patterson and Maxine Paetro

12. Unlucky 13

13. Mean Streak

14. Mr. Mercedes

15. The Target

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

The Top 15 Most Borrowed Books - Fiction

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