Join us on the first Monday of the month for a lively discussion of this month’s title and other of life’s mysteries. Copies of the book are usually available at the circulation desk or can be reserved online or by asking at the desk. This discussion also features cheese pizza while it lasts.  Free and open to all. Booklist Reviews *Starred Review* On remote and sparsely populated Ellesmere Island, half-Inuit Edie Kiglatuk, who has never lost a client, is the best guide in the Canadian High Arctic. Then one of two southerner white men, who hire Edie for a hunting expedition, is mysteriously shot and killed in an incident that local authorities cover up. When the victim's colleague returns for a trip led by Joe Inukpuk, Edie's beloved stepson, the man is lost in a blizzard, and Joe struggles home, incoherent and frostbitten, and soon commits suicide. Devastated by her loss, Edie—a 33-year-old divorcée, recovered alcoholic, and part-time teacher, who was financing Joe's nursing training—falls off the wagon temporarily before setting out to prove the connection between the recent events. With occasional help from police sergeant Derek Palliser, a man obsessed with lemmings and a failed love affair, she risks her life to find the truth. In a gripping debut novel, McGrath (who has written nonfiction as Melanie McGrath) transports the reader to a land of almost incomprehensible cold and an unfamiliar but fascinating culture, taking on issues of climate change, energy exploration, local politics, and drug and alcohol abuse. Edie, a fiercely independent woman in a male-dominated milieu, is sure to win fans. Expect great things from this series. Copyright 2011 Booklist Reviews.    

Dr. Atul Gawande's acclaimed bestseller, Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End, has started a national conversation about the deep flaws in our society's current treatment of people with serious illness and those who are facing end of life. Using Dr. Gawande's book as a springboard and drawing on the rich resources of Cooley Dickinson Health Care, local librarians and medical professionals will look closely at our goals for end-of-life care and being to plan how to bring about better outcomes for ourselves and our loved ones.  Discussion led by Cooley Dickinson Health Care professional. This is a project of libraries in Hampshire and Franklin Counties and Cooley Dickinson Health Care and is free and open to all. Copies of the book are available online or at the adult circulation desk.