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

Showing posts with label shakespeare. Show all posts

Readers unite for "World Book Night"

What famous literary personage (supposedly) both came into and left this world on April 23? If you guessed William Shakespeare, scholars mostly agree that you're right! Organizers of World Book Night selected April 23 in part for its significance as the Bard's birthday (and death day). Celebrate the second annual "World Book Night" by setting tonight aside for reading. Turn off your TV, turn off your phone, and settle into a quiet spot with a good book, or read one aloud with your whole family! And don't forget to encourage your friends to follow your example. As always, Mastics-Moriches-Shirley Community Library is your source for great reading material.

Beware the ides of March

Roman emperor Julius Caesar was famously warned to beware the ides of March (today, March 15), but he failed to heed the prophecy and was killed. For more on his story, read Shakespeare's classic play "The Tragedy of Julius Caesar" or the modern retelling The Ides of March. For more thrilling tales of cautionary foretellings, you can also try Prophecy, The Paradise Prophecy, or The Romanov Prophecy.

Caught Reading: The Weird Sisters

Recently, there's been a lot of positive feedback at the staff desk about the newly-published book The Weird Sisters by debut author Eleanor Brown. Readers agree that it's a good, quick read about sisterhood, adulthood, destiny, and returning to the nest, all peppered with Shakespeare references that you don't need to be an English professor to understand. Here's the publisher's official summary: "The Andreas family is one of readers. Their father, a renowned Shakespeare professor who speaks almost entirely in verse, has named his three daughters after famous Shakespearean women. When the sisters return to their childhood home to care for their ailing mother, and to lick their wounds and bury their secrets, they are horrified to find the others there. But the sisters soon discover that everything they've been running from might offer more than they ever expected." Sound interesting? Reserve your copy today!

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