Why am I passionate about this?

As a licensed therapist with a master’s degree in clinical psychology, I’ve helped individuals traverse grief and loss for over thirty years. But when my father passed away last year, I found myself feeling untethered, adrift in a barrage of emotions. In grief, I became more affected by even the smallest glimpse of beauty. The poem that perfectly voiced my heart. The spotted fawn appearing on the edge of the lawn. The purple of the eggplant flowering. Grief slowed me down, opening my eyes to the wonder of this achingly beautiful world we live in. It has become part of my story to endeavor to help others do the same. 


I wrote

The Honey Field

By Laura Boggess,

Book cover of The Honey Field

What is my book about?

When spring comes, the bees need tending, but their keeper is gone, mercilessly taken away by illness last year. Left…

When you buy books, we may earn a commission that helps keep our lights on (or join the rebellion as a member).

The books I picked & why

Book cover of All the Honey

Laura Boggess Why did I love this book?

I found this book of poems on the one-year anniversary of my father’s death. The author wrote this collection following the deaths of her son and her father. She writes with such aching precision of the pain of losing someone you love.

I read many of these poems through tears, but they were cleansing tears—sorrow accompanied by a feeling of being seen, of not being alone. It is a gorgeous collection.

By Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer,

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked All the Honey as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

In All the Honey, Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer holds both fine, honest sensuality and slow explorations of soul. What is shared here is a way forward in life, a fierce openness that refuses nothing—that knows damage and healing, darkness and radiance, sorrow and winged resurgence, reflection and laughter and learning.


Book cover of The Wild Edge of Sorrow: Rituals of Renewal and the Sacred Work of Grief

Laura Boggess Why did I love this book?

I carried this book with me everywhere in the months following my father’s death. It is filled with wisdom and tenderness. This book gave me new language to help explain some of what I was going through, as well as introduce me to some actions/rituals I could try to help heal my hurting heart as I missed my dad. It is a beautiful book.

By Francis Weller,

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked The Wild Edge of Sorrow as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

"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.

Introducing the 5 gates of grief, psychotherapist Francis Weller explores how we move through the waters of grief and loss in a culture so fundamentally detached from the needs of the soul.

• The first gate recognizes—and invites us to accept—the painful truth that everything we love, we will lose. With this acceptance comes beauty and responsibility—and an…


Book cover of Bittersweet: How Sorrow and Longing Make Us Whole

Laura Boggess Why did I love this book?

This book gave me a new framework from which to view my grief—one that encouraged me to embrace all the new places inside of me the sorrow seemed to create.

Cain’s research reveals how people who fully allow themselves to experience sorrow often unlock a door to increased creativity, wisdom, and inner peace. Truly a paradigm shifter.

By Susan Cain,

Why should I read it?

6 authors picked Bittersweet as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

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 phenomenon Quiet describes her powerful quest to understand how love, loss and sorrow make us whole - revealing the power of a bittersweet outlook on life.

Bittersweetness is a tendency towards states of longing, poignancy and sorrow; an acute awareness of passing time; and a curiously piercing joy at the beauty of the world. It recognizes that light and…


Book cover of One Long River of Song: Notes on Wonder

Laura Boggess Why did I love this book?

This collection of essays took me outside of my grief and reminded me that we live in a world filled with wonder.

Brain Doyle is a masterful storyteller, and the way he sees the world, with such curiosity and attention to detail, prompted me to walk outside, to study the smallest of wildflowers, to listen to the song of the wood thrush, to let my sadness and loss be part of something so much bigger than myself.  

By Brian Doyle,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked One Long River of Song as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

When Brian Doyle passed away at the age of sixty after a bout with brain cancer, he left behind a cult-like following of devoted readers who regard his writing as one of the best-kept secrets of the twenty- first century. Doyle writes with a delightful sense of wonder about the sanctity of everyday things, and about love and connection in all their forms: spiritual love, brotherly love, romantic love, and even the love of a nine-foot sturgeon.

At a moment when the world can sometimes feel darker than ever, Doyle's writing, which constantly evokes the humor and even bliss that…


Book cover of Sidewalk Flowers

Laura Boggess Why did I love this book?

For a book with no words, this gorgeous picture book tells its story better than a 50,000-word novel.

Beautifully illustrated, we watch a little girl collect flowers growing up through the cracks in the sidewalk as she walks through the city streets with her father. When they come upon a dead sparrow and she gently places a bouquet on his breast, I cry every time.

Grief speaks a simple language and this children’s book reminded me how powerful one act of kindness can be. 

By Jonarno Lawson, Sydney Smith (illustrator),

Why should I read it?

3 authors picked Sidewalk Flowers as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it. This book is for kids age 4, 5, 6, and 7.

What is this book about?

Winner of the Governor General's Literary Award for Children's Illustrated Book

A New York Times Best Illustrated Children's Book of the Year

In this wordless picture book, a little girl collects wildflowers while her distracted father pays her little attention. Each flower becomes a gift, and whether the gift is noticed or ignored, both giver and recipient are transformed by their encounter.

“Written” by award-winning poet JonArno Lawson and brought to life by illustrator Sydney Smith, Sidewalk Flowers is an ode to the importance of small things, small people and small gestures.


Correlates to the Common Core State Standards in…


Explore my book 😀

The Honey Field

By Laura Boggess,

Book cover of The Honey Field

What is my book about?

When spring comes, the bees need tending, but their keeper is gone, mercilessly taken away by illness last year. Left behind to grieve in the bittersweet is the one who loved the keeper most, and she knows nothing about caring for honeybees. When an unexpected friendship walks through her door, she slowly begins to remember what it is to experience joy. Between the making of peach tarts and days when she simply can’t get out of bed, love comes quietly to heal. But not in the way you might expect.

This is a story of how friendship, poetry, and connecting with nature help a broken heart keep beating and find the courage to love a world that is fraught with loss and beauty. 

Book cover of All the Honey
Book cover of The Wild Edge of Sorrow: Rituals of Renewal and the Sacred Work of Grief
Book cover of Bittersweet: How Sorrow and Longing Make Us Whole

Share your top 3 reads of 2024!

And get a beautiful page showing off your 3 favorite reads.

1,187

readers submitted
so far, will you?

You might also like...

All They Need to Know

By Eileen Goudge,

Book cover of All They Need to Know

Eileen Goudge Author Of All They Need to Know

New book alert!

Why am I passionate about this?

Author Baker

Eileen's 3 favorite reads in 2023

What is my book about?

On the run from her abusive husband, Kyra Smith hits the road. Destination unknown. With a dog she rescued in tow, she lands in the peaceful California mountain town of Gold Creek and is immediately befriended by an openhearted group of women who call themselves the Tattooed Ladies. They’re there for Kyra—and for each other.

The maternal Frannie is a tattoo artist struggling with a troubled daughter. Suzy is a self-described fashionista grandma bearing a painful estrangement from her son. Then there’s Jo, whose storybook marriage is shadowed by a grim medical diagnosis. And bookstore owner Marisol. She longs for…

All They Need to Know

By Eileen Goudge,

What is this book about?

A woman escaping a violent past finds new friendships, romance, and tenuous sanctuary in an emotionally gripping novel by New York Times bestselling author Eileen Goudge.

On the run from her abusive husband, Kyra Smith hits the road. Destination unknown. With a neglected dog she rescued in tow, she lands in the peaceful California town of Gold Creek and is immediately befriended by an openhearted group of women called the Tattooed Ladies Club. They're there for Kyra-and for each other.

The maternal Frannie is a tattoo artist struggling with a troubled daughter. Suzy is a self-described fashionista grandma bearing a…


5 book lists we think you will like!

Interested in grief, extraversion and introversion, and spirituality?

Grief 90 books
Spirituality 316 books