Book Review: The End of Your Life Book Club by Will Schwalbe

Non-fiction.  I read this for the CLPL Real World Reads non-fiction book club for November 2014.  This book would be worth the read just for the list of books at the end!  This is a narrative non-fiction account of a book club that developed between Will Schwalbe and his mother when she found out she had stage four pancreatic cancer.  She had an amazing background, helping refugees all over the world, so it was not uncommon for her to come home with varying infections, so they thought she had contracted hepatitis on her last trip.  Eventually they figure it out and begin treatment, to make her life last as long as it can in the way she wanted: she was very concerned with her quality of life, not just prolonging it as long as possible.

Will Schwalbe was in the book publishing industry at the time, always an avid reader, and from a family of avid readers.  He and his mother spent much time at the hospital for her chemo treatments, and decided to use the time to discuss one of their favorite things, books.  They covered new works, classics, and used their discussions to learn more about each other and life as a human being.

If you are a reader you will connect to many of the ideas in this book.  It is not sugary-sweet, it does delve into some terrible issues and frustrating struggles, but he somehow manages to keep it contemplative and not depressing.  It is a wonderful idea to have this kind of connection with your parents or children, in fact I am trying it out myself.  I told my son he can pick the books, and we are currently reading through a young adult series, it has been pretty fun so far!

Needless to say, I recommend this book to those who love to read, those thinking about loosing a loved one, and those who want a list of some really great books to read!  I already finished one, The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery, and it was one of the best books I have read in a very long time.

And so it goes...

Book Review: The Leisure Seeker by Michael Zadoorian

Read for book club (10/2010) at Crystal Lake Public Library. This is my favorite book club read so far! I absolutely loved this book! This is the one that has stuck with me the most, out of anything I have read the last couple of years, but especially from the book club reads.

It is a fun, touching, sad, but spunky novel about an elderly couple's trip across country via the famous Route 66. The voice of the book is Ella who tells about her life as they travel from their home in Michigan to their final destination in California. It could be a sad book because the two of them are ill but instead the writer's voice is so good that I never once felt sad just thrilled from one page to the next.

Ella's husband John has Alzheimer's and as the book progresses we find out she is sick as well (cancer) but determined to have one great final trip no matter what happens. They used to take good old fashioned road trips with their children and she recalls some of these fondly for us. Other moments which should be sad are really funny, like when they are camped out for the night and they both somehow end up hitting the ground and cannot get up. Ella is a real spitfire and she makes a fantastic protagonist!

I learned a lot from reading this book about love, health, determination, and humor in the face of what is almost certain embarrassment and could easily become depressing. I was mad at her for the ending, and despite seeing it coming a mile away, I still wanted to turn those pages every minute. Our group had a fun time reminiscing about the good, bad, and ugly things that happened during road trips in our own lives; and thanks to our smart librarian, we all brought along some of our own road trip pictures to share on the day of our discussion which were really fun to look at!

I also got a little education about the American road and Route 66 in the process. There is a great greenhouse near my house that has these giant statues that I always wondered about because they seemed so odd (The Greenhouse of Crystal Lake). It turns out they are pretty common if you have traveled on or around Route 66. Apparently there were a plethora of Paul Bunyan statues along the way, and many of them were re-purposed by local businesses and used for their own signs, like the ones near me at the greenhouse of Paul Bunyan and an Indian Brave. That helped clear it up for me because I couldn't figure out why they had these bizarre and massive things where people go to buy their plants!
I seriously adored this novel and would recommend it to anybody who wants to reminisce about the good old fashioned family trips they had, to think about what it means to grow older with the love of your life, and how to do things your way every step along the journey of life, come what may!

And so it goes...

Adam Yauch of Beastie Boys has Cancer

Adam Yauch, aka MCA, just recently announced on http://beastieboys.com/, the band's website, that he has cancer in his parotid gland and in a lymph node. In the video he says that it is localized and that since it has not spread throughout the rest of his body/they caught it early, he should recover just fine. Apparently it is very treatable and in most cases they can eliminate it completely. As a result of this medical condition they are canceling some shows, which he apologized for in the video, where he appears beside fellow band mate Adam Horovitz, aka Ad-Rock.

They are very at ease in the video and even crack a few jokes, including Ad-Rock starting a country band in the vein of Kenny Loggins. I have been a die-hard Beastie Boys fan for many years, so I wish Adam Yauch a speedy recovery!

And so it goes...