Books About Death or Grieving: Nonfiction

True stories of loss and recovery, plus science and support

Updated June 7, 2023
LINCC (Libraries in Clackamas County) Milwaukie Ledding Library
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
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * OPRAH'S BOOK CLUB PICK * The author of the bestselling phenomenon Quiet explores the power of the bittersweet personality, revealing a misunderstood side of mental health and creativity while offering a roadmap to facing heartbreak in order to...
Blue nights
Didion, Joan.
Paper Book
A Kirkus Reviews Best Nonfiction Book of the Century 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...
The elements : a widowhood
Lister, Kat
Paper Book
What does it mean to become a widow at 35?In her mid-thirties Kat Lister lost her husband to brain cancer. After five years of being a wife and one of being a carer, in love and in and out of hospitals, she became a widow.In the year following his death Kat seeks refuge in stories of grief and...
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
Amy Bloom began to notice changes in her husband, Brian: He retired early from a new job he loved; he withdrew from close friendships; he talked mostly about the past. Suddenly, it seemed there was a glass wall between them, and their long walks and talks stopped. Their world was altered forever...
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...
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
An Amazon Best Book of the MonthAn Amazon Best Book of the MonthFor readers of Atul Gawande, Andrew Solomon, and Anne Lamott, a profoundly moving, exquisitely observed memoir by a young neurosurgeon faced with a terminal cancer diagnosis who attempts to answer the question What makes a life worth...
The year of magical thinking
Didion, Joan.
Paper Book
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * NATIONAL BOOK AWARD WINNER * A landmark work about grief, love, and survival from one of America's most iconic writers One of The New York Times's 100 Best Books of the 21st Century * One of The Guardian's 100 Best Books of the...

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