When I lost my mom at 13 I used fantasy and romance books to escape and I never looked back. I normally read 70-100 books a year, many 2 stars (in a good way). In January, at 31 I’ve lost a friend to mental illness. I’ve only been able to read one book since then.
One. Book. Since. January.
I think my brain is telling me to stop trying to escape and look it directly in the eye soooo I’m asking for recs that deal in grief. I hate self help – I can’t do the edited down snark and “humor”.
It can be nonfiction. It can be funny. it can take place in space. it can be about two hamsters who fall in love. it can be straight up sad. All recs welcome.
Thanks ❤️
by Traditional-Cry-8406
24 Comments
Where reasons end??
I did the audiobook – *Promise Me Sunshine* by Cara Bastone is a deeply emotional, 2025 slow-burn romance centering on Lenny, a woman shattered by the death of her best friend, who is brought back to life by a grumpy, patient man named Miles.
I cried.. a lot.
After my grandmother died, I loved the Discovery of Witches series. So sorry for your loss.
Monstrilio is about a family dealing with the death of their son and the mom tries to resurrect him, told from 4 perspectives
One’s Company is about a woman that loses her entire family to a tragedy and locks herself alone in a fake town because she can’t cope with the grief.
Have you read The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion?
All the Colors Came Out by Kate Fagan
I want to eat your pancreas. It’s a manga about a teen who is terminal and another who befriends them. It made me ugly cry but because it’s a very bittersweet ending.
Maybe try How To Keep House While Drowning? It’s more about functioning through grief but absolutely 0 cliches.
Under the Whispering Door by TJ Klune
Life of Pi
I’m so sorry for your loss. Try Nora McInerny, It’s Okay to Laugh (Crying is Cool Too). She talks about grief in the straightest of straight talk, in a way that is both supportive, darkly funny, and practical.
Looking for Alaska had a unique and realistic presentation. Definitely not the predictable routes I was expecting.
The Archeology of Loss by Sarah Tarlow
Memorial Days by Geraldine Brooks
Sorry for your loss ❤️
The Midnight Library…..
Our Wives Under the Sea. It’s styled as cosmic horror, but is a devastating exploration of grief, guilt, anticipatory loss, and struggling with the invisible nature of mental illness in a loved one
When Things Fall Apart by Pema Chodron. It’s gotten me through some rough shit.
As Long as You Need by JS Park
Who is a hospital chaplain
The smallest lights in the universe, these silent woods, bewilderment, migrations, pack up the moon, mostly dead things, the initial insult, holding up the universe, from here to eternity
“When You’re Ready, This Is How You Heal” by Brianna Wiest
The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying You can get a used book
Grief in the fourth dimension by jennifer yu, a manual for heartache by Cathy rentzenbrink, as long as you need by js park, man’s search for meaning by viktor frankl
I lost both of my parents within a few months of each other and found a book called “the orphaned adult” that had some good stuff in it – I remember skimming through some parts but overall it was helpful. And an adjacent topic was in “the farewell chronicles” by Anneli Rufus that was comforting without being so personal.
Grief is the Thing with Feathers by Max Porter. Different, unique, somehow calming
I read Tamora Pierce books when I was going through stuff. All of them. Start with the Alanna books