Mastics-Moriches-Shirley Community Library Reader Advisory Blog: New love story: The Last Letter from Your Lover

Kirkus describes the newly-released book The Last Letter from Your Lover as "a prize-winning, cross-generational love story of missed connections and delayed gratification [that] hits a seam of pure romantic gold." 1950s trophy wife Jennifer Stirling realizes she is locked in a loveless marriage after gradually recovering from memory loss caused by the traffic accident that opens the story. Jennifer hesitates to leave her husband for journalist Anthony O'Hare, however, as many obstacles stand between the would-be lovers. Forty years later, a journalist leafing through their old, yellowed correspondence slowly pieces together the couple's star-crossed tale. A natural next read for fans of stories like The Secret History of the Pink Carnation or The Love of My Youth.

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 love story: The Last Letter from Your Lover

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