Here are 100 books that Living When a Loved One Has Died fans have personally recommended if you like
Living When a Loved One Has Died.
Shepherd is a community of 12,000+ authors and super readers sharing their favorite books with the world.
Allen Klein is a former hospice volunteer and the former director of The Life-Death Transitions Institute in San Francisco. He has also spoken at over 100 hospice events around the world. In addition, several of his books have dealt with death, dying, and grief. Among them are, The Healing Power of Humor, The Courage to Laugh, and Embracing Life after Loss. Klein’s interest in the connection between humor and death and dying came out of the death of his wife, who had a wonderful sense of humor. He saw how humor helped her, and those around her, cope with this challenging circumstance.
Experiencing a loss may feel overwhelming. That is why you need to read this comforting book; it can ease that feeling. Written by a Gestalt therapist, this book feels like the author is in the room with you helping you deal with your sorrow, guilt, loneliness, resentment, confusion, and encouraging you to take part in life again after your loss.
Profound loss and disappointment are emotions that each of us will experience at some point in our lives. Loss is one of the most difficult experiences to come to terms with. The Courage to Grieve explores how we can deal with every kind of grief, revealing:
- How grief manifests itself in many ways, ranging from anguish, exhaustion, emptiness, resentment, longing, tension, confusion, sleeplessness and sometimes the temporary loss of the will to live. - How we can help ourselves and others to cope with the immediate experience of death and the grief and mourning period that follows. - How…
I have been working with grieving individuals for over 30 years. Early in my career, I realized that my purpose in life was to help people who were grieving the loss of a loved one. I wrote my first book about grief over 25 years ago. It has been my mission to help people find light in the darkness. One way to do this is to have a broader perspective, to realize that there is more going on than we can see or understand. When you have a higher, broader perspective on your grief, you’re able to make meaning out of loss and find beauty in the brokenness.
I read this book again and again when I want to remember that death is not something to be terrified of. In fact, when I read this book, death feels more like a natural process that can be welcomed. I feel a kind of calmness towards the whole human race as we all seek to live, knowing that we will eventually die. To truly understand death, you also have to understand life.
The first book that explains how to open to the immensity of living with death—and how participating fully in life is the perfect preparation for whatever may come next.
In Who Dies?, the Levines provide calm compassion rather than the frightening melodrama of death.
Allen Klein is a former hospice volunteer and the former director of The Life-Death Transitions Institute in San Francisco. He has also spoken at over 100 hospice events around the world. In addition, several of his books have dealt with death, dying, and grief. Among them are, The Healing Power of Humor, The Courage to Laugh, and Embracing Life after Loss. Klein’s interest in the connection between humor and death and dying came out of the death of his wife, who had a wonderful sense of humor. He saw how humor helped her, and those around her, cope with this challenging circumstance.
This meditation teacher shows those who have experienced a loss new ways to embrace the pain so that they can feel joy again. Written for all types of loss, Welshons shows readers how grief can provide a unique opportunity to live a fuller and richer life in spite of our losses.
In this remarkable book, Welshons weaves together his own personal awakening with those of others he's counseled to bestow a deeply felt and exquisitely expressed primer on dealing with grief. We learn new ways to embrace our pain so that our hearts can open to feel joy. We discover how grieving gives us the unique opportunity to develop deeper and fuller life experiences. Written for people who have experienced any type of loss—whether through death, divorce, or disappointment—this compelling and memorable guide will take its place among the insightful works of grief management.
As a journalist, author and screenwriter, my work has always pondered loss and grief. I think this has something to do with the fact that of my mother’s religion; she was a convert to Hinduism and started conversations about the inevitability of death and how the soul and the body aren’t the same when us children were at a very young age. It probably also has something to do with the constant presence of death within my family and communities as a Black and queer person in a violently anti-Black and queerantagonistic world. I currently volunteer at a hospice, and provide community-building programming to death workers from diverse communities.
A quintessential text of death and dying research, this incredibly insightful and compassionate exploration shines a blaring light on all of the hidden contours of a topic we often shy away from.
You’ll almost certainly come away from these pages with a new understanding of the stages of grief (they probably don’t refer to what you were taught they refer) and the importance of honesty and connection when facing mortality. It's an invaluable resource for anyone seeking to better comprehend the human experience.
Denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance. The five stages of grief, first formulated in this hugely influential work forty years ago, are now part of our common understanding of bereavement. The five stages were first identified by Elisabeth Kubler-Ross in her work with dying patients at the University of Chicago and were considered phases that all or most people went through, when faced with the prospect of their own death. They are now often accepted as a response to any major life change.
However, in spite of these terms being in general use, the subject of death is still surrounded…
Navigating life with grief has been a lifelong journey for me ever since I was a young child. At 8 years old, I was in a car accident which took the lives of my parents and four of my siblings. Since then, I’ve faced a huge mountain in front of me – How do you move forward in life when you have lost everything? This journey led me to now share my story of childhood loss and healing in hopes of helping others. As a counselor, I’m a huge mental health advocate and love books which tackle hard emotions that help readers of all ages feel more understood and equipped for their journey ahead.
This book is a must read for anyone who has either experienced loss and grief or knows someone who is experiencing grief.
It equips all readers with everything they need to know to come alongside their grieving friend or loved one. I appreciated this book so much because in my story of loss, I’ve experienced exactly what Guthrie says that really helps and also all the things she mentions that really hurt.
Can’t recommend this “grief guide” enough. It’s not only practical, but it also comes from a rich biblical lens.
I’m a certified life coach—well-versed in all nature of human experiences and how to deal with them—but when my husband died unexpectedly, suddenly the challenges became extremely personal, requiring me to broaden my understanding and skills as well as figuring out how to incorporate them into my life, instead of my clients’ lives. I did what I always do: I turned to books to help me figure out how to “put Humpty Dumpty together again.” My list includes some of the books I found most helpful as I learned a new way to live within altered circumstances.
Hickman’s book kept me going immediately following my unforeseen staggering loss. It is a treasure: a little book of readings, one page for each day of the year containing a quote from literature, the Bible, or wisdom traditions, followed by a brief meditation and ending with an affirmation. Each entry seemed to speak directly to me, to where I was in that moment, reassuring me, coaxing me to keep on keeping on, helping me to believe that in time, I would feel more able to cope with my new reality.
It was designed as a daybook, so it would never end until I decided I didn’t need it anymore. Just turn to the appropriate day of the year and start again...
When I sold the manuscript that became The Way Back from Broken, my editor asked why I wrote it. I said, “I wrote a book about the two things I’m an expert in: grief and canoeing.” It took me ten years to find my own way back from being broken after the death of my daughter. Along that difficult and heartbreaking trail, I came to loathe people who said things like “Time heals all wounds” or “It was meant to be.” I craved those brave few who spoke and wrote with deep authenticity about how grief and loss force us to reconsider everything we’ve ever known about the world.
After my daughter died, I wrote her hundreds and hundreds of letters. Sometimes it felt like she was the only one who could understand me. Other times, as I struggled to put one foot in front of the other, living up to what my dead daughter might have wanted for me was what kept me going. I was still deep in my grief when I first read Song for Sarah, a memoir composed of D’Arcy’s letters to her own lost child. A dear friend asked me how I could possibly read about another mother’s grief when I was so lost in my own. The answer, simply, was that D’Arcy made me feel seen.
More a diary than a manual on handling grief, D'Arcy's collection of letters written before and after the loss of her daughter reflects upon her search for strength and hope through years of anguish. With a combination of profound reflection and sincere stories, these letters express how the deepest sorrow can be transformed into a unique sense of comfort and peace. Filled with practical yet literary writing, this collection reveals the discovery of healing is available to anyone enduring the sorrow of a lost loved one. Written in a tender, personal tone and drawing from direct experience, it is an…
Realizing I had made a complete mess of my life—being the farthest from my life’s hopes and dreams ever, I cried out to the God I learned about as a little girl. On that very dark night, with complete abandon, I sought God, desperately hoping He was real. I learned He, in fact, is real and everything and more, the Sunday School teacher explained. I was transformed in an instant. I have never come close to the despair and hopelessness of that night ever since. Now, I live my life helping others discover and live in the same life-giving Truth, leading people to balance rational thought with spiritual realities.
I read this book during the longest and most painful time in my life.
I’d been a faithful Christian, even volunteering about 30 hours each week for 9 months each year for several years, serving as the teacher for a local women’s Bible study. I couldn’t understand why I was experiencing so much pain and devastation.
This book was the one that helped me understand, tribulation is a tool of God that prepares Christians to be used by Him. And now some 30 years later, I can look back and see that very painful, extended time, was used by God for my good and all His glory as I now reach an international audience with my books and podcast.
Like a roller coaster ride, life is filled with stomach-wrenching drops, dips, and sudden curves. But there is an upside to being down: God, who works in and through our troubles and never abandons us to disaster, provides a well-engineered superstructure and a carefully planned set of tracks and guardrails. Even when the ride is too hectic, unsettling, and twisted for us to sense His support and guidance, He is still there. This book is about learning to trust in God's work and provisions as the divine superstructure underneath every trial. When we understand the ultimate purpose behind our suffering,…
I believe the Bible is God’s Word, that Jesus Christ is the Savior of the world, and that he loves us. But after enduring years of physical, mental, and emotional pain, special needs in one of our children, two job losses, and a degenerative ankle, I’ve struggled to understand why he’s allowed it. Over the years, God has been teaching me that there is more to our suffering than meets the eye. And what we see as pointless, God promises to redeem and use for his good purposes. As I’ve grown to trust Jesus, he’s changed me, and given me comfort, hope, and joy in the midst of my sorrows.
Over the past 15 years, I’ve walked through layers and layers of trials – including chronic illness in myself and all four of my children, special needs in one of our kids, a degenerative ankle that has led to six ankle surgeries, depression, and several seasons of financial struggle. During times when I haven’t had much capacity to read in large chunks, I have found Beside Still Waters to be a comfort and encouragement. Charles Spurgeon writes with profound insight and eloquence, but in a down-to-earth way.
I’ve sat in many grief circles and listened to fellow grievers share their pain at being abandoned or misunderstood by their friends and families as they grieve. Often we suffer the secondary loss of community because our culture has not taught us how to grieve or how to be a friend to those in grief. My wife and I found some invaluable tools that helped us communicate our needs to our community, and keep them close on our grief journey. One of those tools is grief books. I’ve read dozens of them, and while everyone responds to grief books differently, I think these five books are the very best.
This book is a wonderful practical guide to grieving that is accompanied by charming illustrations from the author. This might make it sound child-like or cutsie, but it’s not at all.
It’s an honest and fierce guide that doesn’t use any cheesy aphorisms or simplistic clichés about grief. It tells it like it is, but with kindness and hope. It helped me feel not so alone.
Welcome to the Grief Club--a place where one human who experienced a terrible loss, Janine Kwoh, is at the door to welcome other humans who are grieving. It is not an instruction manual, or a step-by-step playbook, or a memoir. It is, rather, a fresh, empathetic approach to all of the surprising, confusing, brutal, funny, and downright bizarre parts of grief. Combining her own experiences with grief--the author's partner died when both were in their late 20s--with what she learned from others in her "grief club," Kwoh uses brief writings and observations, hand-drawn illustrations, and diagrams to explore all the…
