end of your life book clubThe End of Your Life Book Club — Will Schwalbe (2012 nonfiction)

Despite the rather off-putting title of this superbly written autobiography, the book is an engaging and uplifting one. Will's mother and he, both voracious and eclectic readers, begin discussing their current reads and swapping books while she is undergoing chemotherapy for an advanced stage of pancreatic cancer. Soon they discover they have formed their own ad hoc, two-person book club. Schwalbe uses the current book they are reading together as a springboard to discuss insights into the cancer and therapies, their relationships, relevance to other works they have read, world events, and a variety of topics one would not necessarily expect in such a book. Both Will and Mary Anne Schwalbe have highly interesting professional backgrounds, which further enriches the book. The bibliography at the end entices the reader to add a number of books to his/her own personal reading list. Available in the Castro Valley Library in a number of formats.

Reviewed by Carol Lyke