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Showing 141 - 160 of 438 items
By Lisa Hobbs Birnie, Sue Rodriguez. 1994
Written in collaboration with Sue Rodriguez and published soon after her death in February 1994, "Uncommon will" chronicles the years…
following Rodriguez's diagnosis with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. Birnie covers Rodriguez's legal battles for assisted suicide, and the physical and private torment she suffered before her death. c1994.By Daniel Turcotte. 1991
By Merrie-Ellen Wilcox. 2019
Moving between science and culture, Wilcox takes a straightforward look at the fascinating, diverse ways in which we understand death,…
both today and throughout our history. Each chapter includes a brief telling of a death legend, myth or history from a dBy Shoshana Berger, B. J. Miller. 2019
The first ever practical, compassionate, and comprehensive guide to dying-and living fully until you do. "There is nothing wrong with…
you for dying," palliative care doctor B.J. Miller and Shoshana Berger write in A Beginner's Guide to the End. "Our ultimate purpose here isn't so much to help you die as it is to free up as much life as possible until you do." Theirs is a clear-eyed and big-hearted action plan for approaching the end of life, written to help readers feel more in control of an experience that so often seems anything but controllable. Their book offers everything from step-by-step instructions for how to do your paperwork and navigate the healthcare system to answers to questions you might be afraid to ask your doctor, like whether or not sex is still okay when you're sick. You'll be walked through how to break the news to your employer, whether to share old secrets with your family, how to face friends who might not be as empathetic as you'd hoped, and to how to talk to your children about your will. (Don't worry: if anyone gets snippy, it'll likely be their spouses, not them.) There are also lessons for survivors, like how to shut down a loved one's social media accounts, clean out the house, and write a great eulogy. An honest, surprising, and detailed-oriented guide to the most universal of all experiences, A Beginner's Guide to the End is the one book that everyone needs.By Kate Mulgrew. 2019
In this profoundly honest and examined memoir about returning to Iowa to care for her ailing parents, the star of…
Orange Is the New Black and bestselling author of Born with Teeth takes us on an unexpected journey of loss, betrayal, and the transcendent nature of a daughter's love for her parents. They say you can't go home again. But when her father is diagnosed with aggressive lung cancer and her mother with atypical Alzheimer's, New York-based actress Kate Mulgrew returns to her hometown in Iowa to spend time with her parents and care for them in the time they have left. The months Kate spends with her parents in Dubuque-by turns turbulent, tragic, and joyful-lead her to reflect on each of their lives and how they shaped her own. Those ruminations are transformed when, in the wake of their deaths, Kate uncovers long-kept secrets that challenge her understanding of the unconventional Irish Catholic household in which she was raised. Breathtaking and powerful, laced with the author's irreverent wit, How to Forget is a considered portrait of a mother and a father, an emotionally powerful memoir that demonstrates how love fuses children and parents, and an honest examination of family, memory, and indelible loss.By Chelsea Handler. 2019
The funny, sad, super-honest, all-true story of Chelsea Handler's year of self-discovery-featuring a nerdily brilliant psychiatrist, a shaman, four Chow…
Chows, some well-placed security cameras, various family members (living and departed), friends, assistants, and a lot of edibles "This will be one of your favorite books of all time."-Amy Schumer In a haze of vape smoke on a rare windy night in L.A. in the fall of 2016, Chelsea Handler daydreams about what life will be like with a woman in the White House. And then Donald Trump happens. In a torpor of despair, she decides that she's had enough of the privileged bubble she's lived in-a bubble within a bubble-and that it's time to make some changes, both in her personal life and in the world at large. At home, she embarks on a year of self-sufficiency-learning how to work the remote, how to pick up dog shit, where to find the toaster. She meets her match in an earnest, brainy psychiatrist and enters into therapy, prepared to do the heavy lifting required to look within and make sense of a childhood marked by love and loss and to figure out why people are afraid of her. She becomes politically active-finding her voice as an advocate for change, having difficult conversations, and energizing her base. In the process, she develops a healthy fixation on Special Counsel Robert Mueller and, through unflinching self-reflection and psychological excavation, unearths some glittering truths that light up the road ahead. Thrillingly honest, insightful, and deeply, darkly funny, Chelsea Handler's memoir keeps readers laughing, even as it inspires us to look within and ask ourselves what really matters in our own lives. Advance praise for Life Will Be the Death of Me "You thought you knew Chelsea Handler-and she thought she knew herself-but in her new book, she discovers that true progress lies in the direction we haven't been."-Gloria Steinem "I always wondered what it would be like to watch Chelsea Handler in session with her therapist. Now I know."-Ellen DeGeneres "I love this book not just because it made me laugh or because I learned that I feel the same way about certain people in politics as Chelsea does. I love this book because I feel like I finally really got to know Chelsea Handler after all these years. Thank you for sharing, Chelsea!"-Tiffany HaddishBy James FitzGerald. 2018
Prize-winning author James FitzGerald explores how the death of an eighteen-year-old girl in the summer of 1968 forever changed his…
life and the life of the other man who loved her. Dreaming Sally is a deeply moving exploration of the weight of a life cut short.Sally will die in Europe this summer. George Orr dreamed that his girlfriend, Sally Wodehouse, would die on the trip she wanted to take, and he begged her not to go. But Sally did not take him seriously--how could she? She left for Europe in July 1968 with twenty-five other private-school kids, on "The Odyssey," a Sixties version of the Grand Tour. In August 1968, only hours after becoming engaged to George via telegram, she died as he had dreamed she would, in a freak accident. Sally was George's first love, but she was also James FitzGerald's. James first met Sally at a family cottage; he was drawn to her energy and warmth, a stunning contrast to the chilly emotional life of his own family. At seventeen, not exactly a hit with the girls, James was delighted when he realized that he'd be spending the summer with his old friend. And soon, even though he knew that Sally had a serious boyfriend back home, they became inseparable, touring the glories of Western culture by day, dancing and drinking the nights away--giddily unshackled from the expectations and requirements of their class and upbringing. To George and James, both sons of parents who knew how to make demands of their children but not how to love them, Sally represented all the optimism and promised freedom of the '60s. Her death has haunted both men for fifty years--arresting their development, miring them in grief and unreasoning guilt. Dreaming Sally is a profound and evocative exploration of the long shadow left by an eighteen-year-old girl, an uncanny story of first love, sudden death and the complexity of trauma and mourning.By Ira Byock, Ira Byock. 1997
A holistic approach to dealing with the physical and emotional pain of terminal illness. Based on his years as a…
hospice physician, the author provides the tools he considers necessary to make the passage from life to death a tranquil experienceBy Allison Lawlor. 2017
One hundred years ago, on December 6, 1917, the French munitions ship Mont Blanc collided with the Belgian relief vessel…
Imo in the Halifax Harbour. At first, a small fire broke out aboard the Mont Blanc, which grew bigger crowds of people and emergency responders linded the shores of Halifax and Dartmouth to get a better look. Suddenly, the Mont Blanc's explosive cargo blew up, flattening homes and businesses, and triggering a tsunami. Amid the confusion and devastation that followed the blast was fourteen-year-old Barbara Orr, who had been walking from her neighbourhood in Richmond to a friend's house. Follow Barbara as she navigates post-explosion Halifax, learning about rescue efforts, the kindness of strangers, and the bravery of heroes like Vincent Coleman along the way. Part of the popular Compass series, this full-colour non-fiction book includes highlighted glossary terms, informative sidebars, over 50 illustrations and historical photographs, a detailed index, and recommended further reading. In commemoration of the tragic event's 100th anniversary, Broken Pieces is a great resource for young readers and educators.By Liz Levine. 2020
A genuinely moving, funny, and inventive account of loss and grief, mental illness and suicide, from film and TV producer…
Liz Levine (Story of a Girl), written in the aftermath of the deaths of her sister and best friend.I feel like I might be a terrible person to be laughing in these moments. But it turns out, I’m not alone. In November of 2016, Liz Levine’s younger sister, Tamara, reached a breaking point after years of living with mental illness. In the dark hours before dawn, she sent a final message to her family then killed herself. In Nobody Ever Talks About Anything But the End, Liz weaves the story of what happened to Tamara with another significant death—that of Liz’s childhood love, Judson, to cancer. She writes about her relationship with Judson, Tamara’s struggles, the conflicts that arise in a family of challenging personalities, and how death casts a long shadow. This memorable account of life and loss is haunting yet filled with dark humor—Tamara emails her family when Trump is elected to check if she’s imagining things again, Liz discovers a banana has been indicted as a whistleblower in an alleged family conspiracy, and a little niece declares Tamara’s funeral the “most fun ever!” With honesty, Liz exposes the raw truths about grief and mourning that we often shy away from—and almost never share with others. And she reveals how, in the midst of death, life—with all its messy complications—must also be celebrated.By Ray Robertson. 2020
“He who would teach men to die would teach them to live,” writes Montaigne in Essais, and in How to…
Die: A Book on Being Alive, Ray Robertson takes up the challenge. Though contemporary society avoids the subject and often values the mere continuation of existence over its quality, Robertson argues that the active and intentional consideration of death is neither morbid nor frivolous, but instead essential to our ability to fully value life. How to Die is both an absorbing excursion through some of Western literature’s most compelling works on the subject of death as well as an anecdote-driven argument for cultivating a better understanding of death in the belief that, if we do, we’ll know more about what it means to live a meaningful life.By Sarah McColl. 2018
From a bracing new voice comes this life-affirming memoir of a daughter making and remaking her life in her mother's…
image. Sifting gingerly through memories of her late mother, brilliant newcomer Sarah McColl has penned an indelible tribute to the joy and pain of loving well. Even as her own marriage splinters, McColl drops everything when her mother is diagnosed with cancer, returning to the family farmhouse and laboring over elaborate meals in the hopes of nourishing her back to health. In a series of vibrant vignettes?lipstick applied, novels read, imperfect cakes baked?McColl reveals a woman of endless charm and infinite love for her unruly brood of children. Mining the dual losses of both her young marriage and her beloved mother, McColl confronts her identity as a woman, walking lightly in the footsteps of the woman who came before her and clinging fast to the joy she left behind. With candor reminiscent of classics like C. S. Lewis's A Grief Observed, Joy Enough offers a story that blooms with life.By Lori Erickson. 2019
After her brother died unexpectedly and her mother moved into a dementia-care facility, spiritual travel writer and Episcopal deacon Lori…
Erickson felt called to a new quest: to face death head-on, with the eye of a tourist and the heart of a pastor. Blending memoir, spirituality, and travel, Near the Exit examines how cultures confront and have confronted death by investigating Egypt's Valley of the Kings, Mayan temples, Colorado cremation pyres, Day of the Dead celebrations, Maori settlements, and tourist-destination graveyards. Erickson reflects on mortality and how life is made more precious by accepting it. Through her personal journey and her travels, Erickson maintains that one of the most life-affirming things we can do is to invite death along for the rideBy Debi Goodwin. 2019
Ever since her childhood on a Niagara farm, Debi has dug in the dirt to find resilience. But when her…
husband, Peter, was diagnosed with cancer in November, it was too late in the season to seek solace in her garden. With idle hands and a fearful mind, Debi sought something to sustain her through the months ahead. She soon came across Victory Gardens-the vegetable gardens cultivated during the world wars that sustained so many. During an anxious winter, Debi researched, drew plans, and ordered seeds. In spring, with Peter in remission, her garden thrived, and life got back on track. But when Peter's cancer returned like a killing frost, the garden became a reminder that everything must come to an end. A Victory Garden for Trying Times is a personal journey of love, loss, and healing through the natural cycles of the earthBy Cheryl Strayed. 2012
This bestselling book from the author of Wild collects the best of The Rumpus's Dear Sugar advice columns plus never-before-published…
pieces. Rich with humor, insight, compassionand absolute honestythis book is a balm for everything life throws our way. Life can be hard: your lover cheats on you; you lose a family member; you can't pay the billsand it can be great: you've had the hottest sex of your life; you get that plum job; you muster the courage to write your novel. Sugarthe once-anonymous online columnist at The Rumpus, now revealed as Cheryl Strayed, author of the bestselling memoir Wildis the person thousands turn to for advice.By Elee Kraljii Gardiner. 2019
Against Death is an anthology of creative non-fiction exploring the psychological shifts that occur when we prematurely or unexpectedly confront death.…
Against Death is a natural outgrowth of the editor's experience of surviving a vertebral artery dissection and stroke and the subsequent writing of a long poem memoir about the event. To be "against" something can mean two different things at the same time. "Against" can mean pressed up close to something, yet it can also signify refusal. These texts deal with the affects of this proximity, taking into account any meaning of the word. Rather than showcase only extreme survival stories or difficult biological situations, the pieces in Against Death consider the ways we make sense of death on a personal level and how we integrate that thinking as we continue forward. Against Death articulates the personal experiences of each author's "near-deathness," utilizing fresh and inventive language to represent what "magical thinking" proposes. These pieces are incisive and articulate, avoiding the usual platitudes, feel-good bromides, and pep talks associated with near-death encounters. The writing moves past the sob story and confronts the tough circumstance of facing death with truth and compassion, no matter how ugly or (in)convenient. Contributors include: angela rawlings, Joe Average, Aislinn Hunter, Jennifer van Evra, Maureen Medved, Fiona Tinwei Lam, Bruce Meyer and many others.With many jurisdictions considering whether or not to implement new assisted-death legislation, Choosing to Live, Choosing to Die is a…
timely look at the subject for teen readers who may not yet have had much experience with death and dying. Readers are introduced to the topic of assisted dying through the author's own story. The issue continues to be hotly debated in families, communities and countries around the world, and there are no easy answers. Choosing to Live, Choosing to Die looks at the issue from multiple perspectives and encourages readers to listen with an open mind and a kind heart and reach their own conclusions.By Sara Seager. 2020
In this luminous memoir, an MIT astrophysicist must reinvent herself in the wake of tragedy and discovers the power of…
connection on this planet, even as she searches our galaxy for another Earth. &“Sara Seager&’s exploration of outer and inner space makes for a stunningly original memoir.&”—Abraham Verghese, author of Cutting for Stone Sara Seager has always been in love with the stars: so many lights in the sky, so much possibility. Now a pioneering planetary scientist, she searches for exoplanets—especially that distant, elusive world that sustains life. But with the unexpected death of Seager&’s husband, the purpose of her own life becomes hard for her to see. Suddenly, at forty, she is a widow and the single mother of two young boys. For the first time, she feels alone in the universe. As she struggles to navigate her life after loss, Seager takes solace in the alien beauty of exoplanets and the technical challenges of exploration. At the same time, she discovers earthbound connections that feel every bit as wondrous, when strangers and loved ones alike reach out to her across the space of her grief. Among them are the Widows of Concord, a group of women offering advice on everything from home maintenance to dating, and her beloved sons, Max and Alex. Most unexpected of all, there is another kind of one-in-a-billion match, not in the stars but here at home. Probing and invigoratingly honest, The Smallest Lights in the Universe is its own kind of light in the darkBy Emma Hansen. 2020
A moving, candid account of one woman's experience with stillbirth. Emma Hansen is 39 weeks and six days pregnant when…
she feels her baby go quiet inside of her. At the hospital, her worst fears are confirmed: doctors explain that her baby has died, and she will need to deliver him, still. Hansen gives birth to her son, Reid, amidst an avalanche of grief. Nine days later, she publishes a candid essay on her website sharing photos from the delivery room. Much to her surprise, her essay goes viral, sparking positive reactions around the world. Still shares what comes next: a struggle with grief and confusion alongside a desire to better understand stillbirth, which is experienced by more than two million women annually, but rarely talked about in public. At once honest, brave, and uplifting, Still is about one woman's search for her own definition of motherhood, even as she faces one of life's greatest challenges: learning to live after lossBy Gretchen Kubacky. 2020
Coping with loss is difficult, but that doesn't mean you have to suffer alone. Based on the proven-effective acceptance and…
commitment therapy (ACT) treatment, this book provides simple and effective techniques to help you get unstuck and start living a rich and fulfilling life again, loss and all