pickLow pick; the narrator Greg was almost insufferable but I was definitely Team Earl! Read for the Banned Book category of #AsheCoNCReadingChallenge #Aug2023 Book77
pickI just loved this. The initial humor makes room for more depth than I was expecting. Bud is an obituary writer. And after a botched blind date he drunkenly pens his own obituary and manages to publish it. Put on leave from his job, Bud has some time to spend with friends, start a funeral attendance habit, and examine his own life. The question: in light of your own mortality, how does one make a meaningful life?
But whatever we can offer, our interventions, and the risks and sacrifices they entail, are justified only if they serve the larger aims if a person‘s life. When we forget that, the suffering we inflict can be barbaric. When we remember it the good we do can be breathtaking.
panI lost my brother 10 days ago, on August 10th, from Glioblastoma. Since I knew he wouldn't be here much longer, I got this book, thinking it would help me. The book needed to be edited better. There were sentences that were missing words, sentences that were half duplicated. There was info that I found beneficial in my early days of grief. Even though we had grown apart as adults, we still were brother and sister. That sibling ⬇️
2⭐️
pickThis was an incredibly interesting, sometimes sad, sometimes even humorous look into working in the mortuary and cremation business. I think the author makes a great point that in many ways our society has become too separated from the realities of death. I appreciate her writing to share more with the rest of us.
I‘ve seen many interesting reviews of this book, but it took a #StudentRecommendation to make me pick it up.
#audiobook #Nonfiction
Reading this for a banned book category and it is not going to be fun read from the 20 pages I‘ve read. But it‘ll count and I will power through AND defend anyone‘s rights to find it in their library. #BannedBook #AsheCoNCReadingChallenge
📸 Pear 🍐 Pie 🥧
so-soI wish there was a word, and there probably is –when you really enjoy a book, it could be five stars and then something happens to bump down your enjoyment. The something happens here is rather spoiler-y and although I guessed it, I didn‘t like how the other characters just… let the heartbreak happen.
There is still something missing from her books that stop me from loving them (ala Sarah Dessen) and I‘m not sure what it is.
pickWhat a lovely and poignant reflection on love, loss and grief. Three years after suddenly losing her husband, Geraldine Brooks retreated to an isolated island to “properly” mourn him in a way she couldn‘t in the days, weeks and months afterward because of all of the tasks that have to be done after a death. Beautifully written.
pickBrooks is a beautiful writer and this account of losing her husband very unexpectedly as well as four years later when she finally has the time to truly grieve this massive loss is a masterfully written memoir. Full review at https://booknaround.blogspot.com/2025/06/memorial-days-by-geraldine-brooks.html?...
pickI had no idea what this mysterious book was about, but I wanted to know about the dog. When the main character‘s wife dies in a fall from an unusually tall apple tree, only the family dog, Lorelei, is witness…right? He becomes obsessed with teaching Lorelei to talk, revealing the truth of his wife‘s death. Themes: death, grief and all the ways we navigate it, bodily autonomy (choice!), and mental health. TW/CW.
