Mastics-Moriches-Shirley Community Library Reader Advisory Blog: Book to Movie Alert

Odd Thomas, Dean Koontz's #1 New York Times Best-Selling Novel, has been made into a motion picture starring Anton Yelchin, Addison Timlin and William Defoe. The movie will be releasing this Friday (February 28, 2014).

Odd Thomas seems like a normal guy, but he's harboring a paranormal secret: he sees dead people. Over a period of two days, Odd Thomas and a group of allies, including his soulmate, Stormy Llewellyn, fight an epic battle of good versus evil in a dark, terrifying world.

"This is Koontz working at his pinnacle, providing terrific entertainment that deals seriously with some of the deepest themes of human existence: the nature of evil, the grip of fate and the power of love." - Publishers Weekly Reviews

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

Book to Movie Alert - 'Odd Thomas'

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