Mastics-Moriches-Shirley Community Library Reader Advisory Blog: lawyers

The Garden of Burning Sand by Corban Addison

The Garden of Burning Sand by Corban Addison:

When a girl with Down syndrome is sexually assaulted in a Lusaka slum, human rights lawyer Zoe Fleming and Zambian police officer Joseph Zabuta conduct an investigation that reveals a link between the victim and a powerful local family.

Cried for No One by Hubert Crouch:

Alexis Stone, a stunningly beautiful University of Texas co-ed with a troubled past, is found dead in her apartment after a night of hard partying, the victim of a suspected drug overdose. Her body is buried at the Caring Oaks Cemetery in her hometown of Fort Worth, Texas, and later found beneath an inverted crucifix on the altar of a rural church desecrated by satanic markings. Alexis' distraught parents want revenge for what happened to their only daughter and turn to flamboyant Fort Worth trial lawyer, Cal Connors, to get it

Indefensible by Lee Goodman:

When a birdwatcher stumbles on a crime in the woods, federal prosecutor Nick Davis uncovers a high-stakes plot involving small-time drug dealers, petty thieves, domestic abuse perpetrators, child pornographers and the highest offices of the legal system.

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

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