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Book Reviews

Posts in Library

Love Notes To Grievers

Love Notes To Grievers

Let go of expectations and timelines.

Book, Book Group Selection, Book Review, Farewell Library, Library, WisdomCaren MartineauJanuary 22, 2024Author, Memoir, Self Help, Family, Grief, Healing, Grief Workers, love, Loss, Non Fiction, Poetry, philosophy, Relationships, Essay, Teacher

The Invisible Hour

The Invisible Hour

Time travel, love, and scent of autumn.

Book Review, Farewell Library, Library, Book Group Selection, BookCaren MartineauOctober 25, 2023Fiction, Memoir, Cancer, Magical Realism, Historical Fiction

The Cancer Journals

The Cancer Journals

Challenging and relatable.

Library, Book Review, Book Group Selection, BookCaren MartineauApril 27, 2023Non Fiction, Memoir, Feminism, Essay, Queer, LGBTQ, Lesbian, Cancer, Medical Memoir, Black Culture, Black Feminism, Women's Health, Breast Cancer

Time is a Mother

Time is a Mother

Stunning and innovative

Library, Book Review, Book Group Selection, BookCaren MartineauApril 27, 2023Poetry, Contemporary, LGBT, Grief, Award Winning, Best Seller, NYTimes bestseller, Literary

The Immortalists

The Immortalists

You’ve been notified, now what?

Library, Book Review, Book Group Selection, BookCaren MartineauApril 27, 2023Novel, Historical Fiction, Fiction, Best Seller, Culture Change, Fantasy, Magical, Death, Grief, Family, Coming of Age, Fortune Teller

Last Rites

Last Rites

A fascinating and candid primer

Book, Book Review, Library, WisdomCaren MartineauFebruary 23, 2023Non Fiction, History, Culture, Rituals, Funeral Directors, Funeral, Midwife, Burial Practices, Funerary Rites, Traditions

My Father's Wake

My Father's Wake

Where sorrow meets celebration

Book Review, Library, Wisdom, Book, Book Group SelectionCaren MartineauFebruary 23, 2023Non Fiction, Irish, History, Memoir, Dying, Wake, Mortality, Ancestral, Rituals, TED Talk

All About Love: New Visions

All About Love: New Visions

Love is an action

Library, Book Review, Book, WisdomCaren MartineauFebruary 23, 2023Non Fiction, philosophy, love, Best Seller, Toni Morrison, Thomas Merton, Grief, Death, Culture, Author

Giovanni's Room

Giovanni's Room

Powerful, consuming love

Book Review, Library, Wisdom, BookCaren MartineauFebruary 23, 2023Fiction, LGBTQ, Classic, Black Culture, Grief

Sing, Unburied, Sing

Sing, Unburied, Sing

Epic tale of hope and struggle.

Book, Book Group Selection, Book Review, Library, Wisdom, Farewell LibraryCaren MartineauFebruary 1, 2023Literary Fiction, African American, Southern Culture, Magical Realism

How To Die

How To Die

New translation of a timeless classic

Library, Book Review, Book, WisdomCaren MartineauFebruary 1, 2023philosophy, Classic, Princeton University Press, Stoic, James Romm, Non Fiction

Dava Shastri's Last Day

Dava Shastri's Last Day

Securing her legacy

Wisdom, Library, Book, Book ReviewCaren MartineauJanuary 6, 2023Farewell Library, Contemporary Fiction, Fiction, Medical Aid In Dying, Legacy, Grief, Obituary, Terminal Illness, Compassion and Choices, Physician Assisted Death

This Party's Dead

This Party's Dead

Grief, joy and spiced rum.

Wisdom, Library, Book Review, BookCaren MartineauJanuary 6, 2023Non Fiction, Travel, Memoir, Culture, Rituals, Grief, Grief Workers, Dying, New Orleans, Big Easy, Indigenous Cultures, History, Green Burial, Comedy

Left on Tenth

Left on Tenth

From fine to awfulness to love to hope

Wisdom, Library, Book Review, BookCaren MartineauJanuary 6, 2023Biography, Memoir, Medical Memoir, Author, Best Seller, Caregiver, Dying, Death, Farewell Library, Grief, Loss, Non Fiction, NYTimes bestseller, Romance, Relationships, Transformation

The Dead Romantics

The Dead Romantics

A quirky complicated romantic comedy

Wisdom, Library, BookCaren MartineauNovember 10, 2022Romance, Comedy, Afterlife, Ghosts, North Carolina, Death, Funeral, Relationships, Grief, Funeral Directors, Father, Family

Everything Left to Remember

Everything Left to Remember

An expedition into uncharted territory

Book, Library, WisdomCaren MartineauNovember 8, 2022Caregiver, Anticipatory Grief, Grief, Mother, Daughter, Memoir, Alzheimer's, Memory Loss

When Breath Becomes Air

When Breath Becomes Air

Living in the face of death

Book, LibraryCaren MartineauNovember 8, 2022Memoir, Science, Death, Father, Author, Dying, Medical, Best Seller, NYTimes bestseller

Tell the Wolves I'm Home

Tell the Wolves I'm Home

A literary gut punch in the very best way

Wisdom, Library, BookCaren MartineauNovember 8, 2022Author, Death, Caregiver, 1980s, AIDs, Young Adult, Historical Fiction, LGBTQ, Parents, Economics, Career, Taxes

The Smell of Rain on Dust

The Smell of Rain on Dust

Shaman elder looks at grief as “a spiritual enzyme”

Wisdom, Library, BookCaren MartineauNovember 8, 2022Indigenous Cultures, Native American, Shaman, Tribes, Elders, Teacher, Author, Ancestral, Grief, Rituals, Celebration, Death, Grief Workers

Atlas of the Heart

Atlas of the Heart

Defining our emotional landscape

Book, Library, WisdomCaren MartineauNovember 8, 2022Self Help, Psychology, Relationships, TED Talk, Author, Best Seller, NYTimes bestseller