I really enjoyed The End of your Life Book Club by Will Schwalbe. It's about his mother who is dying of cancer and the books they share as they move toward the end of her life. So much of it reminded me of my mom and her cancer experience. It was good for me to relive this as a third party looking in. It was nice to not feel so much and be so involved this time around. Plus, I loved all of the mini book reviews which made me want to rush out and read many of the recommended novels.
A part of the book that rings so true...and something I think about a lot... is how the younger kids and grandkids and really all of us are going to miss out on the bright light that was my Mom.... I cried a bit, but mostly just felt for all of us who have to lose such a vibrant loved one. I dog-eared this part:
But we were all going to have to say goodbye to Mom taking her youngest grandchildren to a Broadway play or the Tate museum or Harrod's to marvel at the Food hall or visit the pet store puppies. We were going to have to say goodbye to the little ones remembering their grandma beyond a fleeting image or an imagined memory prompted by a photograph. We would need to say goodbye to Mom at their graduations and to her buying them clothes and to them bringing home boyfriends or girlfriends to meet her.
We would also have to say goodbye to the joy of watching the next generation soak up the massive quantities of love their grandmother would have given them and seeing them learn that there was someone else in the world who loved them as much as their parents did. A grandmother who was delighted by all of their quirks and who thought they were the most amazing creatures on earth. I was learning that when you were with someone who is dying you may need to celebrate the past , live the present and mourn the future all at the same time.
Other books that I am recommending are
The Lincoln Hypothesis by Timothy Ballard
My name used to be Muhammed by Tito Momen
365 Thank Yous by John Kralik.
The Lincoln Hypothesis is a "what if" book. It asks the question, "What if Abraham Lincoln read the Book of Mormon?" then goes on to provide specific data and much research as to why this probably happened. It shows proof that he atleast checked out the Book of Mormon from the Library of Congress and had it in his possession for 8 months. I found it all so fascinating...and ended up believing it happened and this book changed Lincoln's life and the course of the Civil War. I read this on the bus ride to and from Trek, while I was in my pioneer clothes, and thinking about life in the nineteenth century. It was very impactful.
My Just-Linda Friend gave me her copy of My Name used to be Muhammed and I just tore through it in one airplane ride. I was so fascinated by the Muslim ways of doing things...and how religious persecution is still so alive all over the world. Tito , the author, went through so many horrible things because he was a Christian in Islam. It was inspiring and faith promoting.
My sweet friend Diane gave me 365 Thank Yous for my birthday. It was MORE than I thought it would be. It's about gratitiude and how being aware of people and thanking others for their specific contribution in your life can be life changing. It was a good reminder to me....and a wake up call to express more gratitude.
I'm always amazed how different books come into my life just when I need that exact message.
Books are dear to me.
________________and something else I learned from a book_________
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