When Breath Becomes Air

Photo from cupofjo

Today's goodness comes in the form of "good reads." The memoir of a brilliant, neurosurgeon who dies within a year of a stage IV lung cancer diagnosis before his life's work is complete does not sound like something good...

...certainly the end of a life, a cherished love, dreams unrealized, is sorrowful...

... but I found Paul Kalanithi's memoir to be a beautifully written and poignant account of both death and dying and of finding a meaningful way to live when life is ending.

Within its pages: some of the most intimate and lovely words I have ever happened upon, interesting reflections on his work as a neurosurgeon and on his interactions with patients and colleagues, literary references and poetic influences, reflections on family and on the powerful comforts sustained in a quiet room surrounded by those that love us, a keyhole into the most final of moments when the only strength we have left is to simply be.

There is a hopefulness about a life, a struggle, a story, about words so affecting they continue to resonate long after they have left the page... An ending that does not leave us feeling like his story is over.

This book will not leave you.