The Grim Reader

Rating:
Summary: A good read in re death, for the dying or the ghoulish
Review: Here you have it: The definitive literary "Many Faces of Death"-From an essay on hospice care, to a Monty Python piece on a dead parrot to a Nabokov piece on time as a prison. Anyone having to deal with death, even if only in daily contemplation (which is what I imagine most readers of the book are) and not immediately up against the dire consequences they know must eventually befall them to those who are gazing over the precipice or have a loved one who is, this book has something for everyone. Passing strange, isn't it, that reading about one's mortality tends to make one more resigned to it?-I have to admit to having a favorite here: Robert Louis Stevenson's "Aes Triplex," perhaps my favorite essay anywhere, although it's only printed in part here. It does contain one of my favorite quotes on the subject of death and mortality, "a good meal and a bottle of wine is an answer to most standard works upon the question."-It's a positive thought on not trying too hard to resolve the unresolvable.-But there are essays here for those who want to do that too.-So, here's a book for the griefstricken and the ghoul, or for those that may be both. Enjoy.

Rating:
Summary: A good read in re death, for the dying or the ghoulish
Review: Here you have it: The definitive literary "Many Faces of Death"-From an essay on hospice care, to a Monty Python piece on a dead parrot to a Nabokov piece on time as a prison. Anyone having to deal with death, even if only in daily contemplation (which is what I imagine most readers of the book are) and not immediately up against the dire consequences they know must eventually befall them to those who are gazing over the precipice or have a loved one who is, this book has something for everyone. Passing strange, isn't it, that reading about one's mortality tends to make one more resigned to it?-I have to admit to having a favorite here: Robert Louis Stevenson's "Aes Triplex," perhaps my favorite essay anywhere, although it's only printed in part here. It does contain one of my favorite quotes on the subject of death and mortality, "a good meal and a bottle of wine is an answer to most standard works upon the question."-It's a positive thought on not trying too hard to resolve the unresolvable.-But there are essays here for those who want to do that too.-So, here's a book for the griefstricken and the ghoul, or for those that may be both. Enjoy.

Rating:
Summary: Death In The Family?
Review: I bought this book out of a dark, morbid, meloncholic, curiousity. But that's just the way I am. Other people should buy this book if they are dealing with someone elses death or their own impending. It's, for the most part, a good read. Near the end it trails off, but the first few sections are amazing. The last chapter is "Hamlet: The Graveyard" so it ends well. There's Monty Python, George Orwell, Samual Clemons, Robert Luis Stephanson, John Keats, and Freud. Also about a hundred others. The Fear of Death and the fear of living after death (Someone elses) Are of the many topics addressed. I recommend it for anyone. This book of Death just might teach you how to live.

Rating:
Summary: Death In The Family?
Review: I bought this book out of a dark, morbid, meloncholic, curiousity. But that's just the way I am. Other people should buy this book if they are dealing with someone elses death or their own impending. It's, for the most part, a good read. Near the end it trails off, but the first few sections are amazing. The last chapter is "Hamlet: The Graveyard" so it ends well. There's Monty Python, George Orwell, Samual Clemons, Robert Luis Stephanson, John Keats, and Freud. Also about a hundred others. The Fear of Death and the fear of living after death (Someone elses) Are of the many topics addressed. I recommend it for anyone. This book of Death just might teach you how to live.