Not fiction but Tuesdays With Morrie and The Last Lecture are very good
Same_Hope_0719 on
When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi, which is a nonfiction. Paul quite literally wrote it while he was dying of cancer when he was only 36. It is an incredibly beautiful and sad memoir. I read it in one sitting. If you read it, keep tissues handy because it’s a tearjerker.
vhs_sold_blank on
2666 by Roberto Bolaño comes to mind.
Indifferent_Jackdaw on
Bad Blood – Lorna Sage – I quite liked that she was bitter and angry, made a change.
unknowncatman on
Maybe most works by the Brontë sisters? I’m not clear that they felt their own impending ends, if that is what you are thinking of, but they were surrounded by death, and dies relatively young g.
Former-Chocolate-793 on
As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner
Candid-Math5098 on
**Until I Say Goodbye** by Susan Spencer-Wendel, written after her ALS diagnosis.
YakSlothLemon on
The Denial of Death by Ernest Becker was written as he was battling cancer, and won the Pulitzer Prize posthumously (for good reason). We had to read it in college and I’ve never forgotten it because it explains *everything* – it will teach you why people are the way they are, and why we do the things we do.
hotheadnchickn on
Dying by Cory Taylor
TinyRedGuy on
On Death- Hitchens
Mysterious_Sky_85 on
You don’t say that the book has to be *about* dying, although it seems like that’s what most people are suggesting.
Titus Alone, by Mervyn Peake. It’s categorized as the third book in a trilogy but had nothing to do with the first two books except for the main character. Peake intended it as the beginning of a new series but died before he could continue.
Kesse84 on
“Invictus” is a short poem by the English poet William Ernest Henley. He had one leg amputated and underwent several surgeries on his other leg to save it. It was 1888, and he wasn’t sure he would survive.
It’s not a book, but a poem. I repeated it to myself while I was having a C-section that was going wrong. Everything was going wrong, and I sent my husband away with the baby while the anesthesia was spreading and starting to affect my heart.
Like a mantra.
It’s not a book, but for me it’s a banner of courage.
It’s worth reading.
JustMeLurkingAround- on
One of my favourite writers, Italian journalist, foreign correspondent, and author Tiziano Terzani, wrote a book after being diagnosed with stomach cancer about his last journeys in search of a cure.
[**One More Ride on the Merry-Go-Round**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/33396875).
His very last book, published posthumously and mostly told to and written down by his son Folco is a long conversation in his final days where he told his son the important things in his life and how he prepares to leave this life. It’s one of my favourite books ever. Unfortunately it seems to be available in a number of european languages, but not in english.
The italian original is called [**La fine è il mio inizio**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/5217896-la-fine-il-mio-inizio) (The End is my beginning).
If you speak Italian, German, French, Spanish, Dutch, Polish, Portuguese, Croatian or Bulgarian please check it out, because its a really wonderful book.
Mysterious_Sky_85 on
1984 by George Orwell — Written while Orwell was suffering severely from tuberculosis, which killed him shortly after publication.
sagittariums on
Landbridge by Y-Dang Troeung is more like a family history/memoir but it was quite touching
allegmon on
A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness – the idea for the book, about a young boy coming to terms with his mother’s terminal illness, was conceived by Siobhan Dowd but she died of cancer before she could write it. Her publisher contracted Ness to write it.
NomDePlume007 on
Technically, the Millenium trilogy by Steig Larsson were all written by a dying man. He delivered the manuscripts to his publisher, then died of a heart attack in 2004, all of the books were published after his death.
* The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2005)
* The Girl Who Played with Fire (2006)
* The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets’ Nest (2007)
Minimum-Round5097 on
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly – written by a man suffering from locked-in syndrome. Communicated by blinking his left eye.
Timely_Egg_6827 on
“The Shepherd’s Crown” by Terry Pratchett but you probably should read the other Tiffany Aching books first.
“I Will Fear No Evil” by Heinlein.
“A Monster Calls” by Patrick Ness, inspired by Siobhan Dowd
Additional-Fail7760 on
Graham Greene’s The End of the Affair might be a bit of a stretch, but it addresses death in a haunting way.
fairystepgodbrother on
Still Alice – Lisa Genova
Novel about a woman’s descent into Alzheimer’s disease written by a neuroscientist.
25 Comments
Too soon to say goodbye by Art Buchwarld was good
The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch
Not fiction but Tuesdays With Morrie and The Last Lecture are very good
When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi, which is a nonfiction. Paul quite literally wrote it while he was dying of cancer when he was only 36. It is an incredibly beautiful and sad memoir. I read it in one sitting. If you read it, keep tissues handy because it’s a tearjerker.
2666 by Roberto Bolaño comes to mind.
Bad Blood – Lorna Sage – I quite liked that she was bitter and angry, made a change.
Maybe most works by the Brontë sisters? I’m not clear that they felt their own impending ends, if that is what you are thinking of, but they were surrounded by death, and dies relatively young g.
As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner
**Until I Say Goodbye** by Susan Spencer-Wendel, written after her ALS diagnosis.
The Denial of Death by Ernest Becker was written as he was battling cancer, and won the Pulitzer Prize posthumously (for good reason). We had to read it in college and I’ve never forgotten it because it explains *everything* – it will teach you why people are the way they are, and why we do the things we do.
Dying by Cory Taylor
On Death- Hitchens
You don’t say that the book has to be *about* dying, although it seems like that’s what most people are suggesting.
Titus Alone, by Mervyn Peake. It’s categorized as the third book in a trilogy but had nothing to do with the first two books except for the main character. Peake intended it as the beginning of a new series but died before he could continue.
“Invictus” is a short poem by the English poet William Ernest Henley. He had one leg amputated and underwent several surgeries on his other leg to save it. It was 1888, and he wasn’t sure he would survive.
It’s not a book, but a poem. I repeated it to myself while I was having a C-section that was going wrong. Everything was going wrong, and I sent my husband away with the baby while the anesthesia was spreading and starting to affect my heart.
Like a mantra.
It’s not a book, but for me it’s a banner of courage.
It’s worth reading.
One of my favourite writers, Italian journalist, foreign correspondent, and author Tiziano Terzani, wrote a book after being diagnosed with stomach cancer about his last journeys in search of a cure.
[**One More Ride on the Merry-Go-Round**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/33396875).
His very last book, published posthumously and mostly told to and written down by his son Folco is a long conversation in his final days where he told his son the important things in his life and how he prepares to leave this life. It’s one of my favourite books ever. Unfortunately it seems to be available in a number of european languages, but not in english.
The italian original is called [**La fine è il mio inizio**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/5217896-la-fine-il-mio-inizio) (The End is my beginning).
If you speak Italian, German, French, Spanish, Dutch, Polish, Portuguese, Croatian or Bulgarian please check it out, because its a really wonderful book.
1984 by George Orwell — Written while Orwell was suffering severely from tuberculosis, which killed him shortly after publication.
Landbridge by Y-Dang Troeung is more like a family history/memoir but it was quite touching
A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness – the idea for the book, about a young boy coming to terms with his mother’s terminal illness, was conceived by Siobhan Dowd but she died of cancer before she could write it. Her publisher contracted Ness to write it.
Technically, the Millenium trilogy by Steig Larsson were all written by a dying man. He delivered the manuscripts to his publisher, then died of a heart attack in 2004, all of the books were published after his death.
* The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2005)
* The Girl Who Played with Fire (2006)
* The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets’ Nest (2007)
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly – written by a man suffering from locked-in syndrome. Communicated by blinking his left eye.
“The Shepherd’s Crown” by Terry Pratchett but you probably should read the other Tiffany Aching books first.
“I Will Fear No Evil” by Heinlein.
“A Monster Calls” by Patrick Ness, inspired by Siobhan Dowd
Graham Greene’s The End of the Affair might be a bit of a stretch, but it addresses death in a haunting way.
Still Alice – Lisa Genova
Novel about a woman’s descent into Alzheimer’s disease written by a neuroscientist.
On death and dying. Was popular in the 70s
Cold Sassy Tree by Olive Ann Burns.