What an absolutely amazing book. It was beautiful beyond words. Everyone who loves reading, loves his/her mother, and/or loves reading beautiful words of wisdom should read.

I wanted this book to be great. Love the idea, love the concept, but ultimately it was difficult to read and all over the place.

It did inspire me to start up the Case family book club though! Will report back after the first meeting in two weeks.

What can i say about this book. When i first started it i wasn't sure i was going to like as much as i did. To begin with it felt a little over inflated but as the book progressed it really felt like i was sitting in the room with the author and his mother listening in on their conversations about books. Its a book based on the authors mother who is dying of cancer and you may think that this book would be depressing - its not!! its about the time they spend together at the Chemo session and they set up their own little book club, but there is so much more to it. Will's mother is an inspiration to all of us not just her pluckiness against the cancer (she is unassuming and so would not like that word to describe her) but she always had time for other people, even people she didn't really know and her ever true self that wanted to help others all her life. She has inspired me to be a better person after reading this, so thank you Will Schwalbe for lettings us get to know your mother. And the books they discuss have made my to be read pile a lot longer. Read this book!

I love books - so reading about books is always fun for me. I also loved the idea of books bringing two people even closer together - I really believe that is one of the best things about reading! I'm planning to add a number of these books to my "to-read" list.

ON top of that, the story of the man coming to terms with his mother's impending death, and the mother's coming to terms with her own mortality, struck a chord with me. Having lost a parent to cancer, a lot of these descriptions and stories rang very true.

Loved this book. Or maybe I fell in love with the author's mother. Either way, it was a wonderful story and i really appreciated the author and his mom's love of books and reading.

This is a wonderful book for anyone who is passionate about books and sharing books with others. It's also a very sweet, loving story about an adult son's time with his rather amazing mother as she undergoes treatment for cancer, knowing that the treatment is only buying time. This is non-fiction, so the mother and son are real people, though the mother - Mary Ann Schwalbe - seems almost out of a story herself. A quick but very engaging read.

This book is borne of a lovely concept, and it is clear that Mr. Schwalbe truly loved his most unusual and admirable mother. Perhaps he loved her too much to write an interesting book about her. She is revealed as almost Christ-like, but decidedly not human, in her generosity, forbearance and wisdom. The author revealed nothing that made his mother's story really interesting. I don't doubt that there is an interesting story to be told. Marianne Schwalbe's life was one well-lived and I want to hear more about it at some point, but this telling reveals only the surface and often feels inauthentic. The discussion of the books read is so brief it is not worth talking about that aspect of the book. I gave 2 stars because I am not made of stone. I appreciate a loving portrait of a man's mother and understand his grief, but at the end of the day I thought of this book what Willoughby thought of Colonel Brandon (Sense and Sensibility) it is the sort of book "everybody speaks well of and nobody cares about; whom all are delighted to see and nobody remembers to talk to." In other words, honorable, decent, boring.

pretty boring tbh. this is my fav type of book (memoir-esque, death related), so thats saying a lot. nothing pointedly wrong with it though.

Great read that intertwines itself with other relevant pieces of literature and dares to speak-forwardly about death and those who are forced to let loss enter their lives.

This was a conversation about life, what matters and books. Their conversation interested me because it was such a reminder of my own mother and all we once spoke of including books. I suspect i liked it because the author is my age so I could relate to much of their exchanges and his mother had similarities to mine. I miss her and this sweet conversation helped ease the missing. I also added some books to my list!