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3.82 AVERAGE
3.82 AVERAGE
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
I liked this ... didn't love it. There were some interesting portions, some statements I liked and highlighted, but I also felt a little like I had to push through to the end. As the author himself says in the note at the beginning "I didn't know I was going to write this book, I've had to rely on my memory, along with notes, papers, lists, letters, emails ..." and it does feel a little pieced together. It's both a general rundown of the author's mother's life, a bit on their relationship, and a peek at the books that they read together. Everything stays pretty superficial though, it didn't seem to really delve deep enough to grab me emotionally. I tagged a couple of the books to put on my list, but so many of them didn't sound like ones I'd be interested it, even though Will and his mother apparently loved them. I'd really only heard of a few of them (The Hobbit, Olive Kitteridge, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo).
This book popped onto my TBR because I found a physical copy ... I can't recall if it was in a LFL or a thrift store. Add in non-fiction November and I figured I'd give this a go. Despite the possibilities, it read a little dry. One thing it did reinforce for me is that I do not want to get old, or go through operations or treatments that require so much of my family's time, money, worry. I still just cross my fingers for a quick and easy (and early) exit and still can't help but wonder about why we don't let people make the choice ... I know some would still want to fight to the end, but I would prefer to just have the official goodbye and end it on my own terms.
It was interesting to hear about so many books, but again, it was all superficial, just basic stuff, nothing really telling ... a deeper dive would be a bit of a spoiler to anyone who hadn't read the books, but as it was, it was fairly blah.
The author states "I had so many Davids in my life..." and boy did he ever! That's a disadvantage to nonfiction if you are keeping names true, and you have this many repeats. I was seriously confused at times over all the Davids. When one was killed in a car accident (the author of a book Will was editing) I thought it was his partner David, and wondered at the lack of emotion addressing the death ... and then I was confused when David still appeared to be around (and wondered if this was more time shifts).
1st person/Past tense. The mother/son are both left/Democrat. Adoration of Obama, work with refugees, the author is gay as is his sister, discussed but it isn't overdone.
No proFanity. Some of the other words I notice ... careened, scrum, sneaked, Carnegie (NEG pronunciation). Mention of Ambien. Vero(Beach) ... Hubs and I watched "Kaos" recently and "vero" was a work said in that and I'd always think of it when it was said here. ARB ... Already Read Book ;)
The narration was good, I wonder how the mother would have liked her "voice" as the male narrator presented it. There were a few accents, which the narrator added in.
This book popped onto my TBR because I found a physical copy ... I can't recall if it was in a LFL or a thrift store. Add in non-fiction November and I figured I'd give this a go. Despite the possibilities, it read a little dry. One thing it did reinforce for me is that I do not want to get old, or go through operations or treatments that require so much of my family's time, money, worry. I still just cross my fingers for a quick and easy (and early) exit and still can't help but wonder about why we don't let people make the choice ... I know some would still want to fight to the end, but I would prefer to just have the official goodbye and end it on my own terms.
It was interesting to hear about so many books, but again, it was all superficial, just basic stuff, nothing really telling ... a deeper dive would be a bit of a spoiler to anyone who hadn't read the books, but as it was, it was fairly blah.
The author states "I had so many Davids in my life..." and boy did he ever! That's a disadvantage to nonfiction if you are keeping names true, and you have this many repeats. I was seriously confused at times over all the Davids. When one was killed in a car accident (the author of a book Will was editing) I thought it was his partner David, and wondered at the lack of emotion addressing the death ... and then I was confused when David still appeared to be around (and wondered if this was more time shifts).
1st person/Past tense. The mother/son are both left/Democrat. Adoration of Obama, work with refugees, the author is gay as is his sister, discussed but it isn't overdone.
No proFanity. Some of the other words I notice ... careened, scrum, sneaked, Carnegie (NEG pronunciation). Mention of Ambien. Vero(Beach) ... Hubs and I watched "Kaos" recently and "vero" was a work said in that and I'd always think of it when it was said here. ARB ... Already Read Book ;)
The narration was good, I wonder how the mother would have liked her "voice" as the male narrator presented it. There were a few accents, which the narrator added in.
So well written with lots to appreciate. Will and his mother's had the golden opportunity to spend time over books during her chemo treatments. They began to realize they had virtually been in a book club together his entire life.
I loved the last paragraph of the book
"...Mom taught me not to look away from the worst but to believe that we can all do better. She never wavered in her conviction that books are the most powerful tool in the human arsenal, that reading all kinds of books, in whatever format you choose - electronic (even though that wasn't her) or printed, or audio - is the grandest entertainment, and also is how you take part in the human conversation. Mom taught me that you can make a difference in the world and that books really do matter: they're how we know what we need to do in life, and how we tell others. Mom also showed me, over the course of two years and dozens of books and hundreds of hours in hospitals, that books can be how we get closer to each other, and stay close, even in the case of mother and son who were very close to each other to begin with, and after one of them has died."
I loved the last paragraph of the book
"...Mom taught me not to look away from the worst but to believe that we can all do better. She never wavered in her conviction that books are the most powerful tool in the human arsenal, that reading all kinds of books, in whatever format you choose - electronic (even though that wasn't her) or printed, or audio - is the grandest entertainment, and also is how you take part in the human conversation. Mom taught me that you can make a difference in the world and that books really do matter: they're how we know what we need to do in life, and how we tell others. Mom also showed me, over the course of two years and dozens of books and hundreds of hours in hospitals, that books can be how we get closer to each other, and stay close, even in the case of mother and son who were very close to each other to begin with, and after one of them has died."
A book about the profound love of books, reading, and the lifelong relationships we have with them, I found it apropos to read THE END OF YOUR LIFE BOOK CLUB while at the Vortext Writers Workshop at Hedgebrook on Whidbey Island. Author Will Schwilbe’s engaging “voice” gently pulls readers into the pages and makes them part of the book discussions he and his mother had during the last two years of her life.
An unexpected bonus is that by the time you turn the last page you’ve acquired an amazing, widely varied reading list!
An unexpected bonus is that by the time you turn the last page you’ve acquired an amazing, widely varied reading list!
The blurb for this book makes it sound really good, but I couldn't get interested so after 40 pages I have given up. Perhaps the people are too ordinary - after all, I've just finished reading a book about a man who has climbed Everest (among many other things), but then a woman who has done all the things the author's mother has done, like being on the board of this or that international organisation (I think that's what was said) and going on humanitarian trips to Afghanistan etc., with scant regard to her own safety and complete disregard for her family's concerns, is hardly ordinary either. It's also probably not within the bounds of entirely ordinary to have two of your offspring in gay relationships, but this fact was dropped in so casually in this first part of the book that there's no indication if there was any drama over this.
This book could well have been a celebration of the extraordinary, all wrapped up in the tragedy of an early(ish) death and an exposition of how books can forge connections between us, and if there'd been wry comment on the mother's controlling nature rather than passive acceptance of it, and if there'd been real delving into the shared books rather than the tiniest dip (almost like name-dropping), then I could well have enjoyed it. Sadly, I found it so dull that it was easy to stop reading.
This book could well have been a celebration of the extraordinary, all wrapped up in the tragedy of an early(ish) death and an exposition of how books can forge connections between us, and if there'd been wry comment on the mother's controlling nature rather than passive acceptance of it, and if there'd been real delving into the shared books rather than the tiniest dip (almost like name-dropping), then I could well have enjoyed it. Sadly, I found it so dull that it was easy to stop reading.
I don't know what is wrong with me, but I just couldn't get into this book. I loved "The Middle Place" (another memoir that focuses on a parents' cancer diagnosis) because I felt so connected to the characters and actually wanted to have a beer with Greenie. In this book, however, I never connected with Will or Mary Ann. His writing seemed a bit....pretentious? Boarding school, exotic travels, international missions, high brow books, incessant name dropping .. Not relatable and I understand her support for universal health care but I could have done without the politics! Disappointing for me.
An honest look at a mother son relationship and their shared love of reading. Keep Kleenex close while reading.
This was an excellent book about a man and his relationship with his mother, about great books, about dying, about living, about generosity. I really enjoyed it.