Books that Offer Solace and Support
When we lose someone we love, we first look to family and friends for the comfort, warmth and reaffirmation of life that helps carry us through the first torturous hours and days. Then, when we somehow make it through the initial period following loss—and friends and family have gone back to their own lives—we often turn to books for help in understanding and coping loss.
There are any number of books, some long-standing sources of understanding and support and others new additions to the literature of grief, which could prove helpful at this time. Here’s a look at just a few.
Traditional Sources of Support
Elisabeth Kubler-Ross was one of the most dedicated authors and researchers in the area of death and grief the world has ever known. Beginning in 1969 with the groundbreaking On Death and Dying, she wrote 23 books that virtually transformed the way Western culture looks at the process of death and the grief that follows.
Kubler-Ross’s five stages of dying and grief—denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance—now serve as the foundation for most grief counseling. Her works range from practical workshop guides (Working It Through: An Elisabeth Kubler-Ross Workshop on Life, Death and Transition) to journeys of the heart into the hereafter (The Tunnel and the Light and Remember the Secret). She wrote books focusing on the death of a child (The Doughy Letter -A Letter to a Dying Child), a child’s experience of grief upon losing a loved one (On Children and Death) and two that dealt with the unique challenge of living and dying with AIDS (AIDS: The Ultimate Challenge and AIDS & Love, The Conference in Barcelona).
For more information about Kubler-Ross’s books and life, go to http://www.elisabethkublerross.com.
Another book that has for decades provided support and solace during a time of almost unimaginable loss is The Bereaved Parent by Harriet Sarnoff Schiff. In this volume, written in 1977, Schiff provides support for parents struggling to survive—and inevitably rebuild their lives—after the loss of a child.
And, in 1982, Harold S. Kushner, a Jewish rabbi whose son died two days after his fourteenth birthday, wrote When Bad Things Happen to Good People. This book has proven a wonderful source of comfort and validation for anyone who has asked the question “Why me?”
Newer Additions to the Literature
Of course, scores of books have been added to the literature on death and grief since Kubler-Ross, Sarnoff Schiff and Kushner wrote their classics decades ago. One great source for up-to-date titles—for both people dealing with grief and caregivers—is http://www.compassionbooks.com.
