Tag Archives: Book Reviews

“At the End of Life: True Stories of How We Die” Edited by Lee Gutkind

An enlightening book takes us into the hearts of people touched by death

Lee Gutkind’s “At the End of Life: True Stories of How We Die” is not an an easy read. True stories about death and suffering rarely are. Nor is it what most of us would think of as an entertaining … Continue reading

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Sum: Forty Tales from the Afterlives by David Eagleman

This enticing book of vignettes imagines various types of afterlives

When I was little, I used to imagine the afterlife as a heaven with a grandfatherly God in long, flowing robes, sitting on a shiny golden throne atop a bunch of fluffy clouds. David Eagleman’s Sum: Forty Tales from the … Continue reading

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Saving Zoë by Alyson Noël



This fictional tale of a girl who loses her sister to murder teaches readers about the complexities of complicated grief

Struggling to figure out what to read next, visiting one of my local Little Free Libraries turned serendipitous when I picked up this book with my not-quite-that-common name (and its spelling) in its title and learned that death and complicated … Continue reading

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“Healing After Loss” by Martha Whitmore Hickman

This book offers page-by-page “Daily Meditations for Working Through Grief”

I was rummaging through a used bookstore in San Francisco when I stumbled upon this great little healing book that is still in print. Beautifully structured, Martha Whitmore Hickman’s Healing After Loss, Daily Meditations for Working Through Grief is a … Continue reading

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“Can’t We Talk About Something More Pleasant?” A Memoir by Roz Chast

Famed illustrator and cartoonist Roz Chast tackles, in this mainly graphic novel memoir, the challenging issues of taking care of and talking with aging parents about death and what their final wishes would be

Many people might recognize Roz Chast’s cartoons from the New Yorker, where they have appeared since 1978. Personally, my first recollection of her work has to do with one of my favorite books from childhood, Now Everybody Really Hates Me, … Continue reading

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The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch

A professor reflects on his life and achieving his childhood dreams

Professor Randy Pausch didn’t see his struggle with pancreatic cancer as special. Almost 49,000 people are diagnosed with the disease every year, and every one of them has an equally sad story to tell about the diagnosis. His story was … Continue reading

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