Mastics-Moriches-Shirley Community Library Reader Advisory Blog: Big Titles This Month

The literary world closes out the year with highly anticipated titles that will be available at your Community Library!

Brothers: George Howe Cult on his brothers and brothers in history: National Book Award finalist George Howe Cult blends history and memoir into this exploration of how brothers impact each other's lives.

A possible life: a novel in five parts: International bestselling author Sebastian Faulks presents five linked stories that trace the experiences of soldiers who's relationships are shaped by war.

Raised from the ground: This novel, originally published in 1980 by Portuguese Nobel prize winner Jose Saramago and translated for the first time in English, documents the lives of the poor Mao Tempo family during times of political strife.

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

Big Titles This Month

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