Will Schwalbe: The End of Your Life Book Club

When his mother was diagnosed with a terminal illness, Will Schwalbe knew just what to do: Pick up a book. And another. And Another. They read and discussed literature together and formed the End of Life Book Club.

The End of Your Life Book Club: Will Schwalbe ​

I am Sorrow: Who will listen to my feelings?
Who will listen to my useless land?
After the war, my skin had been damaged, there are crates in my body.
Although I was sad, sorry and suffering, Who will listen to my feelings?
I am sad, sorry and suffering. Who will know my feelings?
I am not sad about my harmed body, I am sorry because of the people who can't use me rightly, Who will know my feelings.

The poem above is titled, I Am Sorrow by Sindy Cheung. The Vietnamese girl composed it when she was 16-years-old and living in a refugee camp in Hong Kong. We're talking about Sindy Cheung because she was one of Mary Anne Schwalbe's favorite writers.

Mary Anne Schwalbe loved the written word and shared that passion with her son, Will. Their love of books led to the creation of a unique relationship between mother and son. Will Schwalbe writes about that relationship between himself, his mother and books in his book The End of Your Life Book Club.

Will Schwalbe spoke with Anna Maria Tremonti in the fall of 2012.

Listen to their conversation at the top of this web post.

This segment was produced by The Current's Howard Goldenthal.