Book Review #4 - The End of Your Life Bookclub

A nice book about a mother and son who both enjoy reading and how their interest in books strengthened their bond during the mother's treatment and progression of pancreatic cancer.  Definitely a book readers will appreciate as it reaffirms what I have always found to be true: that reading is a gateway to understanding the world and each other.

As horrible as this sounds, at times I wish the author had decided to write a fictionalized novel instead of a memoir/biography.  I know! Horrible!  It's not that the book isn't well written.  It is.  It's not that the book's arc doesn't develop well.  It does.  It's not even that the characters aren't interesting.  They are.  My only explanation is that I stay focused better when I'm reading a story that can stay with the story and not leave it to explain this, that and the other facts surrounding both his and his mother's life and background.  But that is my own weakness with non-fiction...the flow.

My favorite part of the book, by far, was the weight Will Schwalbe gave books.  Bookclubs get a bad rap and Schwalbe himself lightly mocks them by admitting that the bookclub his mother and he forms breaks all the rules as there is no food served and it only has two members.  As frustrating as book clubs can be, and they often are, I love that a book has the power to gather and join minds.  Even when I disagree with someone about something we've read, I am still delighted that we have that commonality of experience.  Will proves the worth of not only reading, but reading with the anticipation of discussion by the way he lovingly tributes the thoughts and beliefs of his mother with each book discussed.  It sounds like a country song, but I like this quote from the book: "Reading isn't the opposite of doing; it's the opposite of dying."

If you like to read and want some affirmation that you're spending your time wisely, this book is for you.