Mastics-Moriches-Shirley Community Library Reader Advisory Blog: kathryn stockett

Ever wonder what your favorite authors read? In this article from The Daily Beast, authors name their personal summer reading selections. Rising young literary star Tea Obreht (author of The Tiger's Wife) recommends The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova; Elizabeth Kostova in turn recommends the all-ages classic Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson. Kathryn Stockett (author of The Help, the bestselling book which has just been released in movie theaters) recommends A Separate Peace by John Knowles, Alexandra Fuller (author of Cocktail Hour Under the Tree of Forgetfulness) recommends Sound of a Wild Snail Eating by Elisabeth Tova Bailey, while Chris Adrian (author of The Great Night) recommends Dune by Frank Herbert. Check one out from your Community Library today!

The Help by Kathryn Stockett has enjoyed continued success since its original publication in 2009 (as evidenced by the fact that your Community Library owns over 20 copies and still has trouble keeping them on the shelf!). Here's a quick plot summary: "Twenty-two-year-old Skeeter has just returned home after graduating from Ole Miss. She may have a degree, but it is 1962, Mississippi, and her mother will not be happy till Skeeter has a ring on her finger. Skeeter would normally find solace with her beloved maid Constantine, the woman who raised her, but Constantine has disappeared and no one will tell Skeeter where she has gone." Interested? One Summer Reading Club member puts it best: "Hurry up and read it before the movie comes out."

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

Famous Authors' Summer Reading Picks

Reader Review: The Help by Kathryn Stockett