海角大神

If you could read only one more book, and then no others, for the rest of your life, what would your last selection be?

The question comes to mind, indirectly, in Norah Gallagher鈥檚 latest book, 鈥淢oonlight Sonata at the Mayo Clinic,鈥� recently released in a paperback edition by Vintage Books.

Gallagher鈥檚 memoir explores her medical odyssey after being diagnosed with an inflamed optic nerve that threatened to leave her permanently blind.

As the book begins, though, Gallagher is in denial about the vague symptoms suggesting that she might be sick. She does a number of things to distract her from the impending health crisis, including a little winter reading.聽

鈥淚 sat down in front of the fire and resumed reading 鈥榃olf Hall鈥� by Hillary Mantel, the last book, as it turned out, I would read for two years,鈥� Gallagher tells readers. 鈥淭he last book I have read as I write these words.鈥澛�

As 鈥淢oonlight Sonata鈥� progresses, Gallagher鈥檚 eye problem makes sustained reading difficult 鈥� at least in the typical way that sighted readers enjoy literature.聽

And so, by default, 鈥淲olf Hall鈥� becomes a personal landmark for Gallagher, although she certainly didn鈥檛 intend it that way.

鈥淲olf Hall,鈥� a historical novel published in 2009, is a fictional speculation on the court politics behind Henry VIII, the much-married English monarch of the 16th century. The book won the Man Booker Prize and garnered good reviews, although Publishers Weekly, which also had some nice things to say, concluded that Mantel had included 鈥渁 distracting abundance of dizzying detail.鈥�

What Gallagher doesn鈥檛 say, because it鈥檚 really not the point of her story, is whether 鈥淲olf Hall鈥� would have been the book she had chosen for the last book she鈥檇 read 鈥� at least for a very long time.

And who鈥檚 to say what any of us select if given such a choice?

But the larger lesson of 鈥淢oonlight Sonata,鈥� apparently, is that the simple act of reading 鈥� of scanning lines with one鈥檚 eyes from page to page 鈥� can be an easy thing to take for granted.

Gallagher鈥檚 book is a powerful reminder to appreciate books themselves, and for a simple reason: One day, and probably at a time not of our choosing, all of us are going to read our very last book.

聽Danny Heitman, a columnist for The Advocate newspaper in Louisiana, is the author of 鈥淎 Summer of Birds: John James Audubon at Oakley House.鈥�