The most recommended loss books

Who picked these books? Meet our 191 experts.

191 authors created a book list connected to loss, and here are their favorite loss books.
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What type of loss book?

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Book cover of The Obituary Writer

G. Elizabeth Kretchmer Author Of Bear Medicine

From my list on bad ass women in historical fiction.

Why am I passionate about this?

Landscape is always important in my writing, and Yellowstone, which Iā€™ve visited numerous times, is such a special place, rich with geodiversity and teeming with danger, that it kind of demanded to be a setting for my novel. Iā€™ve also always been kind of obsessed with bears, and Yellowstone is grizzly country. But I didnā€™t want to write the stereotypical ā€œman against natureā€ book. Iā€™m too much of a feminist for that. 

G.'s book list on bad ass women in historical fiction

G. Elizabeth Kretchmer Why did G. love this book?

I love how, as with my novel, the writer weaves together the stories of two women who lived in entirely different eras. I also appreciate how she brought real-world people and events, like JFK and the 1906 earthquake, into her fictional world. But what I found most evocative about The Obituary Writer were the authorā€™s portrayal of the institution of marriage and how her ā€œolderā€ protagonistā€”the one dating further back in historyā€”dedicated her life to helping others deal with grief and loss. This altruistic passion was similar to one that my historical protagonist discovered on her journey of personal growth.

By Ann Hood,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Obituary Writer as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

On the day John F. Kennedy is inaugurated, Claire, obsessed with the glamour of Jackie O, struggles over the decision of whether to stay in a loveless marriage or follow the man she loves and whose baby she may be carrying. Decades earlier, in 1919, Vivien Lowe, an obituary writer, is searching for her lover who disappeared in the San Francisco Earthquake of 1906. By telling the stories of the dead, Vivien not only helps others cope with their grief but also begins to understand the devastation of her own terrible loss. The surprising connection between Claire and Vivien willā€¦


Book cover of Brood

Jane Hamilton Author Of The Excellent Lombards

From my list on sad but funny bummer literature.

Why am I passionate about this?

Iā€™m no particular expert on anything, but I know what I love in a book, and Iā€™ve read approximately a million books, plus or minus. Iā€™ve written novels with the hope that they will be funny and poignant in about equal measure, I value humor in books more than just about anything, and here I have listed books that I cherish.  

Jane's book list on sad but funny bummer literature

Jane Hamilton Why did Jane love this book?

This beautiful short novel about various matters, including chickens, house cleaning, idiosyncratic neighbors and parents, is funnyā€”really, how can you not laugh at a hen named Miss Hennepin Country.  (Her owners live in Minnesota.)

Also, the novel goes to the heart of the grief of infertility. At the same time, Jackie Polzin is very, very funny in a remarkably quiet way. Her writing is spare, eloquent, and precise. She is, as we say in the biz, The Real Deal. I can open this book at any page and marvel and be filled with happiness.  

By Jackie Polzin,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Brood as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

An exquisite new literary voiceā€”wryly funny, nakedly honest, beautifully observational, in the vein of Jenny Offill and Elizabeth Stroutā€”depicts one woman's attempt to keep her four chickens alive while reflecting on a recent loss.
 
ā€œFull of nuance and humor and strangenessā€¦[Polzin] writes beautifully about everything.ā€ ā€”The New York Times

Over the course of a single year, our nameless narrator heroically tries to keep her small brood of four chickens alive despite the seemingly endless challenges that caring for another creature entails. From the forty-below nights of a brutal Minnesota winter to a sweltering summer which brings a surprise tornado, sheā€¦


Book cover of Flea Circus: A Brief Bestiary of Grief

Ann Nocenti Author Of The Seeds

From my list on books that sweep you into another personā€™s delightful mind.

Why am I passionate about this?

Iā€™m a storyteller. Iā€™ve told stories through journalism, theater, film, and comics. When I was the editor of a film magazine, Scenario: ā€œThe Magazine of the Art of Screenwritingā€ I interviewed filmmakers about the craft of telling a great story. As a journalist, I love original sources and voices, for the way they tell a personal version of history. They say history is told by the winners. I prefer the reverse angleā€”history told, not by the ā€œlosersā€ but by true, strong, authentic voices. I somehow want to read, reveal, recommend, and illuminate marginalized voices.

Ann's book list on books that sweep you into another personā€™s delightful mind

Ann Nocenti Why did Ann love this book?

Mandy Keifetzā€™s book is about grief over a loverā€™s suicide, but her voice is so wise and amusing that her story didnā€™t make me sad.

Iā€™ve lost humans; we all have. I lost my best friend and my best dog. How can we grasp what was there and now is gone? I instantly related to this storyā€”the author is a fellow New Jersey girl living at the misfit margins and drifting along, gig by gig. Sheā€™s scrappy and willing to do what it takes to survive. I love being swept into a curious mind through a book.

I enjoyed the bookā€™s spiral narrative, which drills down on loss with the sense of a dog chasing its own tail in fury and glee. And then, yes, there is Pascalā€™s Wager. Why not keep one foot on the side of belief in an afterlife or soulā€™s lingering on? What do you haveā€¦

By Mandy Keifetz,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Flea Circus as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Pascal's Wager and performing fleas. The Haunted Mansion of Long Branch and an old dockside bar. Raceway Park and a pristine 1971 Plymouth Road Runner. A cat named Altamont. These are all that stand between a young mathematician and madness as she attempts to make sense of her lover's suicide. Narrow margins, you say? Not much to place between a slip of a broken-hearted Jersey Girl and the Abyss? Indeed, it is a treacherous twelve seconds on the quarter mile, hilarious and harrowing by turn. Blink and you'll miss it.


Book cover of Open House

Regina Buttner Author Of Absolution

From my list on women taking back their power from controlling men.

Why am I passionate about this?

I was raised in a loving but strict Catholic family in the 1970s, when girls like me were still expected to grow up to become traditional wives and mothers, rather than go to college and pursue a career. In a Pre-Cana class intended to prepare me and my fiancĆ© for marriage (it didnā€™t work so well, as evidenced by our rancorous divorce twelve years later), I learned the concept of ā€œfamily of origin,ā€ and the profound impact a personā€™s upbringing has on them as an adult. I became fascinated by the psychic baggage each of us carries around, and how it affects our personal relationships and life choices.

Regina's book list on women taking back their power from controlling men

Regina Buttner Why did Regina love this book?

Samantha is the woman I used to beā€”a devoted and eager-to-please wife who is an expert at turning a blind eye to the cracks in the facade of her marriage. Getting to know Sam in the pages of this novel was a lifeline for me at a very difficult time in my personal life. I was delighted to see how she opens both her home and her heart to unconventional friends and experiences, and in the process, discovers a surprisingly joyous new life for herself.

By Elizabeth Berg,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Open House as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

BONUS: This edition contains an excerpt from Elizabeth Berg's Once Upon a Time, There Was You.

In this superb novel by the beloved author of Talk Before Sleep, The Pull of the Moon, and Until the Real Thing Comes Along, a woman re-creates her life after divorce by opening up her house and her heart.

Samantha's husband has left her, and after a spree of overcharging at Tiffany's, she settles down to reconstruct a life for herself and her eleven-year-old son. Her eccentric mother tries to help by fixing her up with dates, but a more pressing problem is money.ā€¦


Book cover of The Jane Austen Society

Vicky Earle Author Of What Happened to Frank?

From Vicky's 3 favorite reads in 2024.

Why am I passionate about this?

Author

Vicky's 3 favorite reads in 2024

Vicky Earle Why did Vicky love this book?

Beautiful, thoughtful writing and a fascinating story.

By Natalie Jenner,

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked The Jane Austen Society as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

THE INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER

'A wonderful book, a wonderful read' Karen Joy Fowler, bestselling author of The Jane Austen Book Club

Only a few months after the end of the Second World War, a new battle is beginning in the little village of Chawton. Once the final home of Jane Austen, the Chawton estate is dwindling, and the last piece of Austen's heritage is at risk of being sold to the highest bidder...

Drawn together by their love of her novels, eight very different people - from a local farmer to a glamorous film star - must unite to attempt somethingā€¦


Book cover of The One-In-A-Million Boy

Lenny Wen Author Of Wolfgang in the Meadow

From Lenny's 3 favorite reads in 2023.

Why am I passionate about this?

Author Daydreamer Storyteller Trinkets collector Reader Bear lover

Lenny's 3 favorite reads in 2023

Lenny Wen Why did Lenny love this book?

Reading this book gives me a comforting and nostalgic feeling. Monica masterfully told the story of all the characters through the death of a boy; how a dead boy turned all the charactersā€™ livesā€”especially Ona and the boyā€™s fatherā€”upside down interestingly.

This book made me contemplate how the loss of someone can make your life connected with strangers and give you a new ā€˜familyā€™ in exchange. It broke and warmed my heart at the same time.

By Monica Wood,

Why should I read it?

3 authors picked The One-In-A-Million Boy as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

She may be 104 years old, but Ona Vitkus is on a mission and it's all because of THE ONE-IN-A-MILLION-BOY...

Monica Wood's unforgettable novel about a boy in a million and the 104-year-old woman who saves his family is not to be missed by readers who loved THE UNLIKELY PILGRIMAGE OF HAROLD FRY, ELIZABETH IS MISSING or THE SHOCK OF THE FALL.

'A lovely, quirky novel about misfits across generations' Daily Mail

'A bittersweet story about finding friendship in the most unlikely of places' Good Housekeeping.

The story of your life never starts at the beginning. Don't they teach youā€¦


Book cover of Fresh Water for Flowers

Kymberly Dakin-Neal Author Of Head, Heart, and Hands Listening in Coach Practice: The Listening Coach

From Kymberly's 3 favorite reads in 2024.

Why am I passionate about this?

Author

Kymberly's 3 favorite reads in 2024

Kymberly Dakin-Neal Why did Kymberly love this book?

Perrin' creates a world that is lyrical, emotionally taut and surprisingly suspenseful. It gained momentum for me after the first few chapters. One of the best books I've read in a very long time!

By ValƩrie Perrin, Hildegarde Serle (translator),

Why should I read it?

5 authors picked Fresh Water for Flowers as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

A WALL STREET JOURNAL BEST BOOK OF SUMMER 2021
A 2020 INDIES INTRODUCE & INDIE NEXT LIST PICK

A #1 international best-seller, Fresh Water for Flowers is an intimately told story about a woman who defiantly believes in happiness, despite it all.

Violette Toussaint is the caretaker at a cemetery in a small town in Bourgogne. Her life is lived to the predictable rhythms of the often funny, always moving confidences that casual mourners, regular visitors, and sundry colleagues share with her. Violetteā€™s routine is disrupted one day by the arrival of Julien Soleā€”local police chiefā€”who has come to scatterā€¦


Book cover of The Choices We Make

Jen Craven Author Of Best Years of Your Life

From my list on complicated female characters and a good plot twist.

Why am I passionate about this?

As an avid reader and author myself, I love books that keep me on the edge of my seat and thrust me into a world of secrets and lies. Thereā€™s nothing better than seeing trouble coming for a character and wondering how in the world theyā€™re going to make things right. I read and write these types of storiesā€”ones that are relatable, emotionally charged, and twisty. To me, theyā€™re the most fun! 

Jen's book list on complicated female characters and a good plot twist

Jen Craven Why did Jen love this book?

This book is the perfect blend of real-life, emotional situations, and twisty suspense. I love stories about the choices people have to make, and the fallout from those decisions (both bad and good). The author does an amazing job at putting the reader in the characterā€™s shoes: I found myself asking what I would do in the situation. And even if you would do the opposite, you still get why the characters do what they do to achieve the one thing they want more than anythingā€”to be a parent. Who canā€™t relate to that??

By Karma Brown,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Choices We Make as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

The Choices We Make was inspired by my younger cousins, it's letting them know to love the skin that they were born in. It's also about getting to know someone for the heart that's on the inside. It's not about looking at the color of their skin that is on the outside. It's about knowing what color is and really seeing it. But choosing to be friends with someone because of their character and not judging them because of their skin color, not letting that be the first thing you see. Don't let the skin color of the person stopā€¦


Book cover of The Obituary Writer
Book cover of Brood
Book cover of Flea Circus: A Brief Bestiary of Grief

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