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
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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...
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
A devastating essay on loss and the people we love from Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, the bestselling author of Americanah and Half of a Yellow Sun. 'Grief is a cruel kind of education. You learn how ungentle mourning can be, how full of anger. You learn how glib condolences can feel. You...
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 wild edge of sorrow : rituals of renewal and the sacred work of grief
Weller, Francis
Paper Book
"It blew me away. I underlined things on nearly every page." -Anderson Cooper, All There Is The Wild Edge of Sorrow offers hope and healing for a profoundly fractured world-and a pathway home to the brightness, pains, and gifts of being alive. ...
The year of magical thinking
Didion, Joan
Paper Book
From one of America's iconic writers, a stunning book of electric honesty and passion. Joan Didion explores an intensely personal yet universal experience: a portrait of a marriage-and a life, in good times and bad-that will speak to anyone who has ever loved a husband or wife or child. Several...

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