(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . Bookchat: Reading and Grieving [1] ['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.', 'Backgroundurl Avatar_Large', 'Nickname', 'Joined', 'Created_At', 'Story Count', 'N_Stories', 'Comment Count', 'N_Comments', 'Popular Tags'] Date: 2023-04-12 Original fractal art showing the feeling of grief Welcome to bookchat! Where you can talk about anything; books, plays, essays, and audio books. You don’t have to be reading a book to come in, sit down, and chat with us. Even readers lose people they love. And grief changes everything even reading. There are two parts to this article, strategies for reading while grieving and books specifically on grief. It’s hard to do anything when you are knocked to the floor with grief. So even if you are a big reader, you may not be able to read the way you used to at first. Or even at all. That’s OK, whatever you need, however you grieve is OK. As a reader though, there will likely come a time when you want to read. Maybe even a non-reader will want to read during the worst throes of new grief. Because you don't have to people when you read. The question then becomes what to read. It is not likely that your brain is working at the top of its form. Grief reading should be easy to consume as much as possible. Short books, less complex stories, poetry, comfort reads. Comfort reads are especially important because rereading a favorite book takes a lot less intellectual effort. And you can choose something that won't trigger the emotions you don't want to face. You know there won't be any surprise deaths, or a cancer diagnosis, etc. Because you have already read the book. Put that 14 volume Wheel of Time series back on the shelf. Now is not the time to try to follow a complex story. Unless it is one of your comfort reads, and then have it. Just skip all the Perrin/Faile storylines (Not because they will exacerbate your grief, but because ugh, Perrin and Faile). Poetry is good to read because your attention span is short. One or two pages of a poem may be all you can manage. That’s OK. Chose poetry that speaks to something positive. Personally I love Amanda Gorman, Robert Frost, Edna St. Vincent Millay (super short poems!), and Kashiana Singh. But find one who speaks to your heart. Short books are generally less than 250 pages. Romance is a good category for short books, but only if the person you lost was not your romantic partner. Middle grade books can be less complex stories. A lot of them are still wonderful reads. One reading category that has become the comfort read of choice the last few years (starting with the pandemic in 2020) is cosy fantasy. These are works set in fantasy worlds that are gentler in nature. Things like The House In the Cerulean Sea, Legends and Lattes, Miss Percy’s Pocket Guide books. The stakes are low because the one thing many people don't need when life is difficult (and what is more difficult than grief?) is high stakes and lots of dramatic tension. You might also find that you want to read about grief. Especially if this is your first time on this path. You might want something to tell you how to do this or how others got through or even reassurance that it can be gotten through. I had a great deal of difficulty finding books like this that spoke to me when Karl died because most of the books in this category (at the time of Karl’s death 15 years ago) were religious. The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion was the book I found most comforting as it spoke to my own feelings. It's hard to make recommendations in this category as what will speak to you in this time is going to be very different from person to person. Some want only memoirs, some want practical psychological help, some just want to feel less alone, some want spiritual comfort. So instead of recommending specific books, I’m going to link to some reading lists and let you explore what is out there for yourself if you are grieving. 30 Books on Grief 16 Best Books on Grief 26 Best Books on Grief for 2022 Grief Memoirs Fiction Books on Grief Religious Books on Grief As an author, I have explored my feelings about grief in my own work. Maybe you don't expect to encounter that when you are reading a science fiction trilogy, but I wanted to write about aftermath and grief is a huge part of that. I’ve written most directly about grief more recently. I’ve written a book of poetry specifically about the experience of grief. Grief by Judith Moffitt is available on Amazon (the paperback may not be approved by the time this posts, but it will be in a few days. It just takes longer to get a paperback through the process.) Grief - Poetry by Judith Moffitt READERS & BOOK LOVERS SERIES SCHEDULE [END] --- [1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/4/12/1713157/-Bookchat-Reading-and-Grieving Published and (C) by Daily Kos Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/