A moving, valuable account of a journey in grieving. A beneficial read for anyone.
346076
This is a gripping book. I found it to be rich, deep and moving.  It was especially helpful to me in light of a recent loss in our family.  Debbie's experience provides me with insight into how other people may be dealing with loss of many kinds and equips me to be a help to those who are grieving.  I appreciated Debbie's honesty and her God glorifying approach.  After the Crash is well written, easy to read and hard to put down.  A valuable book for anyone's library.
837641
This book was released a week prior to a painful tragedy in my life. I am glad I was able to read it because it prepared me for the emotional distress I was forced to face. It also helped me to be appropriately supportive to those who needed me. "A New Normal" outlines the grief process and how it is a personal, unique journey for each individual. I highly recommend reading it.
1441589
Recommended reading to anyone who has dealt with loss in their life.  Eye opening with respect to how the ways we are taught to manage grief don't make sense and don't allow for full healing over time. Asked to examine what truly equates a loss, beyond the usual events of death or divorce. Exercises and "homework" abound in this book and taking the time to study as it suggests makes for a much more peaceful state, and ability to move forward.
2374155
Subtitled: New Understandings of Loss

Striking a tone that is neither clinical nor maudlin, author Tom Ellis does a good job of explaining grief in his book, This Thing Called Grief. With factual information about the grieving process, poetry and some personal examples of individuals and families taking this journey, Ellis draws the reader in without bringing them down.

As a grief counselor myself, I know that when people are deep in the grieving process they are highly sensitive. Using this awareness Ellis has fashioned a book that sketches individual profiles without resorting to graphic descriptions that might be painful to readers.

With one of the main components of grief being an inability to concentrate for extended periods, Ellis has also shown his sensitivity to readers by writing a book less than one hundred pages long. The author gives enough information to be helpful without giving so much that it feels either overwhelming or discouraging. While the book in itself is short, Ellis has compiled an amazingly comprehensive list of resources for the reader that includes many books not only addressing grief and loss, but trauma and miscarriage, as well as books for children dealing with these same issues.

However, two factors set this book apart. The first is that while many books see grief as a burdensome part of life meant to be endured, This Thing Called Grief paints a portrait of grief that includes coming out on the other side of grief and being transformed and healed by the process. Although hope is in scarce supply during periods of grief, Ellis presents this view so gently it's bound to be gratefully received by many readers.

The second factor is that this book gives the reader permission to feel what they feel no matter what loss they are suffering. In our American culture, where you bury your father on Tuesday and are expected to be back at work and over it on Wednesday, this message is good news indeed.

Armchair Interviews says: A good book to give to someone grieving, even if you just gift yourself.
498507
"A Time to Grieve" is the first in a series of four books designed to provide comfort, support, and encouragement to those working through the process of grief.

The book is based on the premise that grief is normal, natural, and necessary.  Each short chapter is accompanied with an inspirational thought or Scripture promise. Haugk points out that the shock of loss, and the turmoil that follow are all a part of the grief experience.

Kenneth skillfully shares from his own experience, how he handled his own grief after the loss of his wife.  He offers practical easy to understand counsel and comfort as he reminds the reader that each of us are unique in how we deal with grief. He also points out how circumstances around the loss of a loved one will affect how we grieve.

The book is made up of twelve short chapters filled with insights that can be read and assimilated in one sitting or over a period of days.  It was given to me by a caring friend. shortly after the death of my young adult grandson. It is the kind of thoughtful gift book that will be long be cherished, providing ongoing insight, encouragement, and comfort.

Dr. Kenneth C. Haugh is a pastor and clinical psychologist.  He writes from the heart, drawing from both his professional work, and his own personal experiences, and what he has learned from others that are grieving.
4016904
Claudia Noble writes an engaging story of how coping with disease and death seems unbearable until the light of Jesus heals and restores day by day, month by month. The author's transparent style allows the reader to learn and feel the heartache and immobility of depression and grieving. However, she doesn't leave us in despair but instead shows us personal stories of finding joy where her feet are planted. Noble gives herself permission to smile again and becomes aware of God's beauty using her gift of photography as her tool. The reader gains a new understanding of the long and painful process of grieving a lost child as well as the debilitating disease, HAE. Noble's book demonstrates humility and her gentle soul. Grieving is interspersed with warm personal family stories revealing the love of a mother's heart. As a first time author, she writes an impelling story that compels the reader to speedily read until color returns to Noble's gray world.
2277214
Grief is universal and unfortunately something we all experience in our lives at some point. No Time for Tears: Surviving Grief in America (by Judy Heath) is a MUST READ for a multitude of audiences.  Often when a book is described as hard to categorize, that usually indicates a weakness, but for this book, it is just one of its countless strengths. Some may see this book as a self-help guide, others as a textbook for counselors/therapists in training, yet another as a resource for their mental health practice.  As a college professor myself, I can tell you that I believe this book would be an incredible teaching instrument. It could serve as an ideal text for an upper-level course on bereavement, or a supplemental text in a more general survey course on counseling. It provides an in-depth analysis of a topic that is largely misunderstood even by those who have lived through it.  The author has numerous years of experience as a psychotherapist that includes helping so many of those that suffered the losses of 911 when her practice was located in NY. She not only has the professional insight and knowledge necessary for a narrative on such a sensitive, important issue, but she bears the wisdom of her own loss. If you are a mental health practitioner, or an academic teaching those that will practice in the field of counseling, psychology, or social work, you will not regret adding this book to your arsenal of information on a complicated subject. However, to leave the description of this work at a textbook, or even a self-improvement manual, would discount the other wonderful elements of the book such as the powerful, poignant vignettes that offer meaningful, moving, real-life illustrations of the many ways one can struggle through grief, not to mention the inclusion of the original poetry, much of it by the author, that is clearly born of her own sorrow, trials, and eventual joy.  As someone who continues to endure my own battle with grief, I can share with you that reading this book has comforted me, touched me, offered me understanding, and finally, hope. If you or someone you know has experienced a loss, this book will provide the company of others walking through the same darkness, a light at the end of the tunnel, some practical tools to help you navigate your own journey, and the feeling of a warm, consoling conversation during those moments when you have to face the pain alone.
1035298
This book was notable for several reasons. First, it presents grieving over loss as a normal, therapeutic process. It covers a wide range of possible occasions of loss from the loss of an ideal to the more recognizeable losses such as the death of a loved one. The authors acquaint the reader with the phenomenon they term "anticipatory grief," the feelings that emerge when one  is dealing with losses that will occur due to the lengthy process of a terminal illness, a phenomenon Kubler-Ross also went through herself. It is its compassionate voice, though, that I think sets this book apart. Clearly, the authors have a lot of experience counseling others through bereavement, and they honor their contributors as well as the insights their contributors have shared with them. I recommend this book to anyone who has experienced loss or knows a friend in this situation. It is sensitive and enlightening.
4061756
Written by a mother and counselor, Iris Bolton is also a survivor and triumphant veteran of the most unimaginable grief there could be.  Her son died of suicide.  She used what she learned in her own grief to help others, especially in the case of the child of a suicide death.  The book is an eloquent and well-rounded combination both of the sharing of a broken and questioning heart and the helpful information and resources for others trying to find any light of hope in the tunnel-vision of grief.  Packed full of straight-forward honesty and truths, here are a few jewels from the author's troves of wisdom on the subject.

An experienced grief counselor tells Ms. Bolton after her son's death, "There is a gift for you in your son's death.  You may not believe it at this bitter moment, but it is authentic and it can be yours if you are willing to search for it.  To other eyes it may remain hidden.  The gift is real and precious and you can find it if you choose."

Reference to the insensitivity of others at a time of a mourner's greatest sensitivity:  "To my amazement, I jerked my arms free. `I'm not ready yet!'  Such assertiveness was foreign to my nature but now it was the product of a growing awareness that many others were assuming that they knew what was best for me."  And this:  "Many loving people who want to help will be giving you advice about what to do.  Some will say snap out of it; some will urge you to take it easy; some will say it's God's will.  At a time like this, everybody becomes an instant expert.  But you do what you want to do.  You do what feels right for you.  Even if nobody else approves and you still decide for it, you do it."

Regarding the usage of pills and the detrimental effects of numbing the pain that must ultimately be gone through to get through to the other side:  "Normal grief is not an emotional illness.  It is a process that must be experienced.  Sorrow must be accepted and allowed to mature and then, hopefully, be laid aside."

A sample of instructions for ultimate healing:  "Cry wherever you are.  It is natural and healing.  Grief is not something you can bottle up and screw on the cap.  That way guarantees future pain and disaster.  Instead, throw the cap away, and one day your bottle of pain will be emptied and you may know peace.  You will never be the same, you will be different, but you can know joy again."

For those whose beloved died in any way, this book is an excellent help.
2261796
A beautifully written, sincere account of personal loss and survival. The author shares her own personal losses in a way that draws you in to what it is like to lose someone you love dearly at this time of year; yet you do not feel overwhelmed by her personal grief. It has a balance of understanding and practical survival steps that help you to identify where you are, and help you move through the grieving process.

The author has been through so many personal losses and yet found the strength to write about it to help others. This book is a wonderful gift that must be shared.
3421298
"A Long Walk with Sally" is the personal revelation of an inconsolably grief-stricken father who lost his beloved daughter and her best friend in a terrible car accident. It is the worst kind of grief. No parent should lose a child, especially one who was on the cusp of spreading her wings into the life of her own choosing. The person who caused the accident was drunk. He was injured, but survived. Only a small part of the story is about anger and retribution.

It is also a story of faith, both Sally's deep Christian faith and her family's (especially David, her father) faith in a forgiving, loving God.

David tells his story in a very matter-of-fact way. It is a sequence from just after the accident through several years of slow and painful healing, of watching his own scar tissue form to protect him from the pain.

It is also a book about golf and it's unique requirement of unhurried focus. This is where the "long walk" comes in. To assuage his grief, David embarks upon a journey that ultimately leads him through nearly 300 courses throughout the British Isles, from Ireland, to Wales, England, and Scotland. He and his family are affluent, which made this incredible walk through golfing history possible. But that very affluence serves to frame the fact that grief doesn't care about a person's station in life, how rich or poor a person is. Grief is universal. The Clark family's economic fortunes may be of a certain ease, but their journey through grief was a terribly hard row to hoe.

My hat is doffed to David Clark, Jr. and his family for allowing us a glimpse into the loss of a cherished loved one and the road that followed, from despair, to hope, to forgiveness, and finally, to a sustainable peace.
2889435
This is a lovely memoir and a well written account of her mother's death.  It is written with accurate descriptions of the proceedings.  Ms. Hill is an excellent and insightful observer of the situation despite being in the midst of it.  Ms. Hill, her siblings and their mother shared a great spiritual experience.  Ms. Hill has the courage and heart to write the book. It speaks to the Hospice movement and the use of medication.  It speaks to our fears of death and alleviates some of them.  It is faith renewing.  It recommend it to any who may be facing the loss of loved one in the near future or have fears about their own life ending.  I speak to this after years of medical practice with involvement in the dying process numerous times.  It is an enjoyable and uplifting book.
1934710
The Grief Diaries Anthology provides a glimpse into the hearts of those on the darkest journeys of their lives.  The candid, sometimes painful, responses are incredibly authentic, and provide a glimpse into a shattered heart and its healing process.  This insight is a valuable resource, whether you are just beginning this journey or are a seasoned veteran on this road to healing or are a family member or professional attempting to provide loving support to a soul wounded by grief.  The contributors bravery in sharing their stories is heart-warming and a loving gift to those grieving loss on any level.
1393858
In "Finding Your Way Through Grief," author/bereavement counselor Marty Tousely has created the essential handbook for those who are trying to regain their physical, spiritual and psychological footing after the death of someone close to them. In her clear, compassionate, approachable style, she offers invaluable insight on every aspect of the grieving process, both immediately after the loss and through that first critical year of adjustment. Being an animal chaplain myself, I was particularly pleased to see that she included a section on pet loss, thereby validating an experience too many in our society dismiss.

Tousely obviously calls upon her training in grief counseling and her work at Hospice of the Valley in plumbing the depths of all aspects of grieving and/or mourning, even including a section to help those of us who want to be of support to a friend or relative who has experienced the death of someone close to him or her but who don't know what to do. "Finding Your Way Through Grief," as its cover suggests, really does act as a compass for its readers, providing direction to those who themselves feel lost after a loss.

Sid Korpi, author of "Good Grief: Finding Peace After Pet Loss"
1252479
Susan Unger shares her experiences and feelings as she faces the nightmare of almost losing her son to a drug overdoes and her familys' difficult road towards recovery, both emotionally and physically.  This is an honest account of one mother's journey through the challenges, emotions and the miracles that she and her family encountered along the way.  This book is not only about the overdose and near death of her son, it is also, as the title states, the changes that were brought about from growth of the body, mind and spirit during this journey.  Very moving and insightful.

I would also highly recomment Miracles of the Body, Mind & Spirit for a young adult/pre-teen. It would give them some insight of not only the dangers of taking drugs but the impact that this decision could have on themselves and others around them in the format of a story, rather than a lecture.  Would also be a good book for schools/educators to include in their reading assignments.
3518154
moving and meaningful.  The author provides wonderful insight and encouraging support for those that are walking, have walked or may soon be walking the path; the path of seemingly emptiness and loneliness. We all, mankind/humans, must walk the path in our time.  It is not a journey that we are the only ones traveling upon it.  We simply need to know that as dreary and as lonely as it seems, there is a commonness that we look upon. We are unique in that our circumstances are ours specifically, but so many have traveled a similar {not the same} path, be confident that there truly glorious light at the end of the proverbial tunnel.  wonderful read, wonderful edification, she has a knack of support and empathy.
780378
"Life's Journey" is a valuable book for those searching for understanding and healing from severe childhood abuse resulting in low self-worth and the desire to die.  It is the life journey of the author who shares painful life experiences with insight, clarity, and transparency.  Her experiences and recommendations are an aid in self-examination, healing, and restoration through faith in God.

Chaplain Carole Larson