Death Literacy Reading Room

Getting comfortable with our own mortality can come from exploring and learning from the experiences of others. Here are some of the books I’ve made room for on my (figurative and literal) bookshelf. They’re all linked to their GoodReads reviews. I hope you find something here that will help you on your Death Literacy journey.

Practical and How To Books

I’m all about the doing of things versus the thinking about the doing of things. I like how-to books that are simply laid out and easy to put into practice. This list is meant to give you some good hands-on Death DIY guidance!

Talking about Death Won’t Kill You: The Essential Guide to End-Of-Life Conversations | Kathy Kortes-Miller
Your Digital Undertaker: Exploring Death in the Digital Age in Canada | Sharon Hartung
Before I Go: The Essential Guide to Creating a Good End of Life Plan | Jane Duncan Rogers
A Beginner’s Guide to the End: Practical Advice for Living Life and Facing Death | B.J. Miller, Shoshana Berger
The Art of Dying Well: A Practical Guide to a Good End of LIfe | Katy Butler
Letting Go: how to plan for a good death | Charlie Corke
The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning: How to Free Yourself and Your Family from a Lifetime of Clutter | Margareta Magnusson
The Green Burial Guidebook: Everything You Need to Plan an Affordable, Environmentally Friendly Burial | Elizabeth Fournier
Let’s Talk about Death (over Dinner): An Invitation and Guide to Life’s Most Important Conversation | Michael Hebb
The Needs of the Dying: A Guide for Bringing Hope, Comfort, and Love to Life’s Final Chapter | David Kessler
Resilient Grieving: A Guide to Positive, Purposeful Action to Regain Control After Profound Loss | Lucy Hone
Breaking Sad: What to Say After Loss, What Not to Say, and When to Just Show Up | Shelly Fisher, Jennifer Jones

Mortality in the Sciences

I’ve chosen these books because they provide easy access to various medical, scientific, anthropological, and psychological aspects of mortality.

Dying and Death in Canada | Herbert Northcott and Donna Wilson
With the End in Mind: Dying, Death, and Wisdom in an Age of Denial | Kathryn Mannix
Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End | Atul Gawande
Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers | Mary Roach
All That Remains: A Life in Death | Sue Black
The Worm at the Core: On the Role of Death in Life | Sheldon Solomon, Jeff Greenburg, Tom Pyszczynski
Death’s Summer Coat: What the History of Death and Dying Teaches us About Life and Living | Brandy Schillace
The Buried Soul: How Humans Invented Death | Timothy Taylor
From Here to Eternity: Traveling the World to Find the Good Death | Caitlin Doughty
In Shock: My Journey from Death to Recovery and the Redemptive Power of Hope | Rana Awdish
Staring at The Sun: overcoming the terror of death | Irvin D. Yalom

Existential Reading

Who doesn’t love books that explore the meaning of life…and death! You kinda can’t have one without the other.

Tuesdays With Morrie | Mitch Albom
A Well-Lived Life: Live With Purpose and Be Remembered | Lyndsay Green
The Five Invitations: Discovering What Death Can Teach us About Living Fully | Frank Ostaseski
Die Wise: A Manifesto for Sanity & Soul | Stephen Jenkinson

Death Themes in Fiction

Every death-themed list of fiction I looked at included the titles: Thirteen Reasons Why, The Fault in Our Stars, and The Lovely Bones, so I’ve left them out. Instead, I’ve added alternatives that I’ve read and enjoyed. There are many more, but these are the ones that really stuck with me.

The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle | Stuart Turton
The Midnight Library | Matt Haig
A Dirty Job | Christopher Moore
Catching the Last Tram | Susan Holt

Suitable for starting a conversation with kids about death & dying

The Book Thief | Marcus Zusak
His Dark Materials | Philip Pullman
Harry Potter Series and The Tales of Beedle the Bard | J.K. Rowling
Bridge to Terabithia | Katherine Paterson

Memoirs, Grief, and Loss

I like memoirs because they provide unique and individual perspectives. I especially like memoirs of people who work in the death industry. Go figure. Grief and loss are also something we experience uniquely. Here are some perspectives I found interesting.

In the Land of Long Fingernails: A gravedigger’s Memoir | Charles Wilkins
Smoke Gets in Your Eyes: And Other Lessons from the Crematory | Caitlin Doughty
The Suitcase and the Jar: Travels with a Daughter’s Ashes | Becky Livingston
In The Slender Margin: the intimate strangeness of death and dying | Eve Joseph
In Shock: My Journey from Death to Recovery and the Redemptive Power of Hope | Rana Awdish
Dear Life: A Doctor’s Story of Love and Loss | Rachel Clarke

Grief Reading Lists

Here’s a list from New York Magazine (MAY 2019) of the 16 best books about dealing with grief, according to psychologists.

This Washington Post article from Zibby Owens (OCT 2020) contains a list of 15 books that helped her cope with loss during COVID-19.