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

The weather may be cold, but these titles are hot! Place your holds now on these three books available soon from your Community Library!

This Is Running For Your Life by Michelle Orange: This debut collection of essays from the noted film critic is filled with whip-smart observations on the state of the world, the Facebook generation, and culture at large

The Dinner by Herman Koch: This dark Dutch novel, unfolds sneakily over a single meal, turns from a sugary satire to a psychological thriller as the courses come out.

See Now Then by Jamaica Kincaid: Kincaid’s first novel in a decade is the deeply felt story of the breakdown of a marriage and the complex interior life of a woman and a mother living in Bennington, VT.

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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