Mastics-Moriches-Shirley Community Library Reader Advisory Blog: the fault in our stars

Some young adult books have interesting stories and compelling characters that make then enjoyable for teens and adults alike. Check out some of these titles available at your Community Library.

In Darkness by Nick Lake, set during the aftermath of the Haitian earthquake, tells the story of 15 year old Shorty who is trapped underneath rubble. As he grows weaker, he has visions of his violent past as a gang member, his lost twin sister, and Toussaint L'Ouverture, who liberated Haiti from French rule.

Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein tells the story of "Verity", a British secret agent during WWII captured in enemy territory. Her Nazi interrogators give her a simple choice: reveal her mission or face a grisly execution.

Rachel Hartman's debut novel, Seraphina, is a rich and original fantasy novel. In a world where dragons and humans coexist in an uneasy truce and dragons can assume human form, Seraphina, whose mother died giving birth to her, grapples with her identity amid magical secrets and royal scandals.

In The Fault In Our Stars by John Green, sixteen year old Hazel, a stage IV thyroid cancer patient accepts her terminal diagnosis until a chance meeting with a boy at cancer support group forces her to reexamine her perspective on love, loss, and life.

Not sure what book to pick for your book club? Here are some popular discussion-worthy books, many of which have multiple copies available at your Community Library:

Hunger Games - In a future North America, where the rulers of Panem maintain control through a televised survival competition pitting young people against one another, sixteen-year-old Katniss's skills are put to the test when she voluntarily takes her younger sister's place.
The Paris Wife - Follows the life of Ernest Hemingway's first wife, Hadley, as she navigates 1920s Paris.
The Night Circus - Waging a fierce competition for which they have trained since childhood, circus magicians Celia and Marco unexpectedly fall in love with each other and share a fantastical romance that manifests in fateful ways.
The Weird Sisters - Unwillingly brought together to care for their ailing mother, three sisters who were named after famous Shakespearean characters discover that everything they have been avoiding may prove more worthwhile than expected.
The Fault in Our Stars - Sixteen-year-old Hazel, a stage IV thyroid cancer patient, has accepted her terminal diagnosis until a chance meeting with a boy at cancer support group forces her to reexamine her perspective on love, loss, and life.

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

YA Books for Adults

Popular Book Club Books