Year in Review: 2017

2017: An interesting year. Started out promising reading/blog wise. Then made a big move. I was still reading, but Good Calories, Bad Calories was a very, very slow read. After that I did not read much. With that being said, I still read some really good books this year.

I read and reviewed 17 books in 2017. I also wrote a post on the Netflix show Narcos and wrote a summary of some classic movies I watched at the beginning of the year. Given that I only read 17 books, here are my top 3 books of 2017, along with 2 honorable mentions.

Top 3 Books of 2017:
Quench Your Own Thirst by Jim Koch
The Magic Strings of Frankie Presto by Mitch Albom
Being Mortal by Atul Gawande

Honorable Mentions:
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by J.K. Rowling
Good to Great by Jim Collins

This is usually where I set some goals for the blog and/or reading. I am not going to go crazy for 2018. I will read as I have time and try to consistently write on the blog. It is wild to look back and see posts from 2011. Eventually I want to make an easier way to sort through everything I read. Other than that, let's shoot for 24 books.

Lastly, and what gives me the most joy, is my Christmas book giveaway. This year I only gave away 8 books. But it was still a success. Next year hopefully I read more books so I have a wider selection to give away. It got tough for some of my friends (I try to match each person with a book they would personally enjoy). Happy holidays and a healthy new year! Onto 2018!

Being Mortal by Atul Gawande

I had a sour taste after reading Victoria & Abdul. As I mentioned in previous posts, I did not read much towards the end of this year. The holidays were approaching and my Christmas book giveaway was shaping up to be weak. I decided to wander Barnes and Noble for some inspiration. I saw Being Mortal on the first table of books I walked by.

The word "mortal" caught my attention because of my day job. I read the back cover and it sounded interesting. The subtitle of the book sums it up perfectly: what matters in the end. Atul Gawande is a doctor at one of the hospitals in Boston. He writes about how Americans care for people as they age. He looks at this from a doctor's perspective, but also from a patient perspective as his father his aging.

In the old days, as parents aged, they would move in with their kids and grandkids. The families stayed together to care for the elderly, who were seen as wise and knowledgeable. The premise is we have shifted to a place where we want our elders to be safe, even if it means taking away their cars, putting them in nursing homes, giving them countless meds. Besides the financial cost, it takes a toll mentally and physically, to the point where one asks what is the point of living? What matters in the end?

The author does not have an answer, as it will vary from person to person. He suggests it is more about having that conversation than what the answer is. Some will want to take care of themselves; others will be happy as long as they can still eat ice cream. Hospice seems like a reasonable happy-medium for many at the end of the road (something I did not know much about).

It is a very insightful book and I think it is spot on. I had my dad read the book and then shared it with an old college professor. They used words like "sobering" and "dark" but at the same time they agreed the author was spot on and it was good to think about.

My rating for Being Mortal: 5 stars out of 5. Get it here!