Mastics-Moriches-Shirley Community Library Reader Advisory Blog: Lose yourself in amazing 'Amazir'

If you like your historical fiction to transport you to destinations as vividly drawn as characters, try the newly-released Amazir: A Novel of Morocco, which Booklist describes as "an epic adventure-cum-love story set in 1938." When an idealistic young Englishman, Harry Summerfield, befriends an American oil explorer in Gibraltar, their meeting sparks a journey for both men that will take them across Morocco and northern Africa. There, they encounter the harsh realities of Berber opposition to French colonial rule and the passion and conflict of a love for the same young French woman. The book's publisher describes Amazir as "a breathtaking journey into the souks and mountains of Morocco that chronicles a powerful love affair and a nation's political turmoil."

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

Lose yourself in amazing 'Amazir'

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