Books about Death

I'm looking for books on the subject of death. Actually, not just books. Poems, songs, etc. are welcome as well.

I read the play "Wit" about the professor who contracts cancer, and I thought it was very interesting.

I'm putting together a presentation on death and I'm planning on using "Wit" but I also need a few other sources.

More specifically, I want books that talk about how death is a natural part of life, how it's not something depressing but maybe even beautiful, and certainly unavoidable. Perhaps a story about someone who lives their whole life avoiding death but in the end they're faced with it?

Any suggestions are much appreciated. Thanks!

On Death and Dying is the standard. You might also try the "Chicken Soup" books. I'm sure there must be one covering this area. Those are compilations of personal stories.

I'm doing a mythology course at the moment, so the first thing that came to mind is The Epic of Gilgamesh.It's about a king who, after the death of his closest friend, starts to fear his own death and goes on a search for immortality. He fails, and thus comes to terms with the fact that he has to die.

The Household Guide to Dying by Debra Adelaide

>1 manndaw11: I saw this on tv, if it is the monologue one ... with Emma Thompson reflecting on metaphysical poetry/John Donne and terminal cancer.

John Donne
Anne Donne
Undone.
RIP

A Brief History Of the Dead has dying as a major theme. Not really uplifting though.

The last chapter in Preludes and Nocturnes, graphic novel by Neil Gaiman, chapter titled The Sound of her Wings, introduces a refreshing take on Death. Light treatment of serious ideas about the true nature of life and death. Death also got her own books, Death: The High Cost of Living and Death: The Time of your Life.

How We Die: Reflections on Life's Final Chapter- Sherwin B. Nuland

Stiff: the Curious Life of Human Cadavers is an excellent and absorbing book on what happens to us afterwards ...

I actually found the dying part of A Brief History of the Dead very uplifting. Ie, how it dealt with death. It's what was happening to the living that wasn't too cheery.

And you can actually read the entire first chapter, which outlines the author's version of what happens when we die (apparently based on African myths) here : http://www.newyorker.com/archive/2003/09/08/030908fi_fiction?currentPage=all

There's always The Book Thief by Markus Zusak, which is narrated by Death, who (understandably) has some insights into the whole thing.

And about the industry and culture, there's The American Way of Death.

The Hour of Our Death is a classic historical work on death and our reactions to it.

For a more recent psychological take, try The Denial of Death by Becker.

For something more artistic and literary (16th century), try Holbein's The Dance of Death in the Dover edition.

Elsewhere by Gabrielle Zevin and Passage by Connie Willis have interesting takes on death and the afterlife.

Samuel Johnson's Essay in The Idler - #41 Serious Reflections on the Death of a Friend

Well worth the read (as is all of Johnson, incidentally) even if you don't use it in your presentation.

Boswell also recorded Johnson as saying: "It matters not how a man dies, but how he lives. The act of dying is not of importance, it lasts so short a time."

As far as poetry - throw a stick. You'll hit something.

For another take on Death's feelings (she's a female here) on the whole thing, I recommend Jose Saramago's Death With Interruptions.

> 16

Ha! I was just going to suggest that one!

And Thomas Lynch, undertaker and philosopher, writes some interesting stuff on this. The Undertaking and Bodies in Motion and at Rest come to mind.

ETA-fix touchstones

My wife loved Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers by Mary Roach.

You might look for a current (September, 2010) issue of Scientific American. It's a special issue on endings, and has a couple articles on human death, as well as the end of time and the universe.

Final Exits: The Illustrated Encyclopedia of How We Die

The Bridge of San Luis Rey hits death hard from religious/philosophical angles.

Tolstoy hits death hard from those angles, also. Check out The Death of Ivan Ilyich or even Master and Man.

Wow. Thanks for the help, everyone! I will definitely look over these later today.

More ideas are always welcome. : )

Just remembered three different books about regular people suddenly drafted to serve as the Grim Reaper or at least one of his agents. Light fantasy for all.

A Dirty Job by Christopher Moore is set in contemporary San Francisco.

On a Pale Horse by Piers Anthony was read so long ago that I can't tell you anything useful but the Wikipedia entry makes it sound like it's also set basically in our world and time.

Mort by Terry Pratchett is part of the Discworld series. It does work on its own; you don't have to have read any prior Discworld books.

Dirty Job and Mort are both also comedy. Pale Horse is drama.

Joan Didion's The Year of Magical Thinking is supposed to be excellent, but I haven't been able to bring myself to read it.

How about Tuesdays with Morrie: An Old Man, a Young Man and Life's Greatest Lesson by Mitch Albom?

26 reminds me of The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch, which I didn't read but it was wildly successful last year.

There's also the pretty new Making the Rounds with Oscar about the nursing home cat who can tell when a patient is near death.

#24
Great book, A Dirty Job. 'Reminded me a bit of, Shaun of the Dead

#27
The ol' cranky dawg doesn't want to sound to maudlin. However, The Last Lecture was really good. I don't have the links but you can view it on youtube or perhaps on the Carnegie-Mellen website.

I agree with #4, and possibly also Before I Die, though that might not fit your purposes very well.

The theology graduate in me says that you must somehow shoehorn Dante's Inferno in there too.

I remember reading The Fall of Freddie the Leaf as a child.

Hi Manndaw11. I just joined LibraryThing, searched "dying" and found your post. I just completed "Embrace the Angel," a book about my daughter, Amber's, journey with cancer and her death, which was miraculous and beautiful. (Elisabeth Kubler-Ross read it and urged me to publish.) Departing from the "societal norm" of dreading death and reluctantly accepting it, I propose that we learn to embrace it, as I did with Amber's dying/death. With the help of Bernie Siegel, Amber's surgeon, we were able to savor each moment and help her cross over the threshold. A few days before she died, she called me to her side and gave me the best gift: The secret to what happens after we die. "Mom, when I did, I'll still be Amber, I'll just be DIFFERENT." So, I didn't lose a child... she didn't "pass away." She changed.

I'm currently reading The Australian Pen Pal by Michelle Linn-Gust, which is about a woman learning to live her life again after her husband dies of cancer.

I would try looking at the "Chicken Soup" books. It would be necessary to choose a "Chicken Soup" book that targets the appropriate age-range of your audience to ensure that the topic of death was discussed in a suitable manner. These books are great for discussing serious and sometimes painful life situations because the stories are easily relatable to the situations we face in our own lives. The stories, although sad at times, normally leave the reader with feelings of hope and reflection.

I thought Being Dead by Jim Crace was an unusual look at death in a beautifully written way.