Welcome to Litsy!

#mortality #septembersenses @Eggs

Day 19 - #Mortality #SeptemberSenses
#Mortality #ChristopherHitchens

Christopher Hitchens was a brave man who looked at death straight in the eye.

Never read anything by Christopher Hitchens before. Saw a number of interviews and thought he was so intelligent and clearly out of my intellectual realm. Esophageal cancer took his life at 62. This is his journey through cancer. What I found most interesting was his thinking that maybe if he were of a weaker constitution, he would have been kinder to his body and lived longer. I definitely want to read Hitch-22.

It's not that it's a bad book. It's just not a feel good kind of thing. A very candid look of a staunch atheist dying of cancer. His observations of how we treat those with cancer and his coming to grips with his own mortality can be direct and cold, but it will make you think.

The last chapter is full of quips and unfinished thoughts. The final jottings of a great man. How sad. 😥

I so miss Hitch and his way with words. Sharp even in his final days. 😔

Hitchens‘ take on his “fighting” cancer. 😢

A final bit of wonderful from Hitchens.

“for what shall it profit a man if he gains the whole world but forfeits his own soul”

“Always prided myself on my reasoning faculty and my stoic materialism. I don‘t have a body, I am a body. Yet consciously and regularly acted as if this was not true or as if an exception would be made in my case.”

“To the dumb question ‘Why me?‘ the cosmos barely bothers to return the reply: Why not?”

Just as I expected: witty, honest, and wonderfully written. The unfinished jottings at the end were interesting and somewhat difficult for me to read, as well as Carol Blue‘s afterword; which was beautifully written and left me rather emotional. I would urge everyone, whether or not a fan of Hitchens, to read this book.

Reading this while Rory is sleeping. Christopher Hitchens is one of my fiancé‘s favourite people. Sad that he is now gone.

#labordayreads I also have The Blue Lagoon on the go (Serial Reader) as well as Jubilee (Audible). Managed to dip into all three today. #readingresolutions @Jess7

Beautiful

Hitchens could be an arrogant, condescending jackass of a man. He could also be poignant and profound and poetic. Mortality is a difficult, beautiful read.

It is so difficult to see the people we admire ailing. I am glad that Hitchens wrote through it all. His voice adds to the conversation, even after death, and what better afterlife is there than that? Continued in the comments.

Hitchens writes about dying like he wrote about everything else -- full of snark, wit, and unabashed honesty, and unfinished because death caught up to him. His wife's afterword is particularly harrowing to read.

Road trip and audio. I love a good solo drive.

Quick trip to the thrift store resulted in a few new-to-me books and audio. #bookhaul

An amazing collection of essays about living in "Tumorville". The author described his illness and treatment in such an unsentimental way, it's incredible. Also, Hitchens was a great writer. I guess it's all that I hoped for when I read "When breath becomes Air".

I just finished "Rabbit Redux" today and now it's referenced in the next book.

In this sharp memoir, Hitchens tells of his diagnosis of esophageal cancer that took his life & his coming of terms with death. I do not know of his celebrity persona before this, so I learnt in this book that he was an opinionated man & his writings often provoked disagreements with some people. I'll say read this with an open mind, after all,we must all deal with death. The last chapter consists of his unfinished notes which is rather poignant.

"If I convert it's because it's better that a believer dies than that an atheist does."

I don't read much non-fiction, and I've never been much for memoirs. The hospital I worked for a few years ago had a Literature & Medicine book club, and this was on the list the year I was chosen to participate. It has really stayed with me. I had no idea who he was before I bought the book, and I had great respect for him as I read even though our lives probably never intersected in any way. #funfridayphoto

I can't objectively review Mortality. I've been a fan of Hitchens's for a long time, so reading his final essay was very bittersweet. All I can say is that he was brilliant, thoughtful and considered to the end.

A few of my TBR books with (nearly) text only covers for Day 3 of the #booktober #bookphotochallenge.

Lyrical and affecting.