Books About Death or Grieving: Nonfiction

True stories of loss and recovery, plus science and support

Updated June 7, 2023
Drag items up and down to your preferred order then select the "Save Order" button.
Bittersweet : how sorrow and longing make us whole
Cain, Susan
Paper Book
AN OPRAH BOOK CLUB PICK THE #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER -- FROM THE AUTHOR OF THE INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER QUIET: THE POWER OF INTROVERTS IN A WORLD THAT CAN'T STOP TALKING In her inspiring new masterpiece, the author of the bestselling...
Blue nights
Didion, Joan.
Paper Book
From one of our most powerful writers, a work of stunning frankness about losing a daughter. Richly textured with bits of her own childhood and married life with her husband, John Gregory Dunne, and daughter, Quintana Roo, this new book by Joan Didion examines her thoughts, fears, and doubts...
The elements : a widowhood
Lister, Kat
Paper Book
'Powerful, humane and deeply affecting, Lister's wise and truthful writing makes this essential reading for anyone touched, and utterly confused, by grief.' Sali Hughes 'The must-read memoir' Red What does it mean to become a widow at 35?
Hello grief : I'll be right with you
Olanow, Alessandra
Paper Book
The author of the bestselling I Used to Have a Plan is back with more balm for the soul, offering advice, inspiration, and solace for everyone who has lost something or someone special. After losing her mother to cancer, Alessandra Olanow was overwhelmed by the sadness and...
In love : a memoir of love and loss
Bloom, Amy
Paper Book
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * A powerful memoir of a love that leads two people to find a courageous way to part--and a woman's struggle to go forward in the face of loss--that "enriches the reader's life with urgency and gratitude" (The Washington Post) "A pleasure to...
It's ok that you're not ok : meeting grief and loss in a culture that doesn't understand
Devine, Megan
Paper Book
As seen in THE NEW YORK TIMES * READER'S DIGEST * SPIRITUALITY & HEALTH * HUFFPOST   Featured on NPR's RADIO TIMES and WISCONSIN PUBLIC RADIO When a painful loss or life-shattering event upends your...
Notes on grief
Adichie, Chimamanda Ngozi
Paper Book
From the globally acclaimed, best-selling novelist and author of We Should All Be Feminists, a timely and deeply personal account of the loss of her father: "With raw eloquence, Notes on Grief ... captures the bewildering messiness of loss in a society that requires serenity,...
The truth about grief : the myth of its five stages and the new science of loss
Konigsberg, Ruth Davis.
Paper Book
The five stages of grief are so deeply imbedded in our culture that no American can escape them. Every time we experience loss--a personal or national one--we hear them recited: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. The stages are invoked to explain everything from how we will...
When breath becomes air
Kalanithi, Paul
Paper Book
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * PULITZER PRIZE FINALIST * This inspiring, exquisitely observed memoir finds hope and beauty in the face of insurmountable odds as an idealistic young neurosurgeon attempts to answer the question, What makes a life worth living? ...
The year of magical thinking
Didion, Joan.
Paper Book
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * NATIONAL BOOK AWARD WINNER * From one of America's iconic writers, a stunning book of electric honesty and passion that explores an intensely personal yet universal experience: a portrait of a marriage--and a life, in good times and bad--that will speak to...

Library staff! You can create and contribute to lists. Contact your catalog administrator or log in here.