Facing the Last Enemy: Death and the Christian by Guy Prentiss Waters

Hello my lovely readers! Death and religion? You know I immediately started reading this book! Let's get into it.

SYNOPSIS
When we’re standing at the gravesite, death gives little closure and leaves many questions unanswered. Despite the common claim that “dying is just a natural part of life,“ people seem to avoid this unsettling subject more than ever. Yet the Bible doesn’t shy away from the reality of death. God’s Word has the answers we need to face the grave with confidence in our risen Redeemer. In this book, Dr. Guy Waters provides the Bible’s answers to essential questions about death, dying, and what comes after this life. Here is balm for the grieving, counsel for caretakers, and guidance to help God’s people rest in Christ’s victory as we come to life’s final battle.

"Promise Me You'll Shoot Yourself": The Mass Suicide of Ordinary Germans in 1945 by Florian Huber

Hello my lovely readers!

If you can't tell...I'm in my death and dying era. Let's get into it.

SYNOPSIS

By the end of April 1945 in Germany, the Third Reich had fallen and invasion was inevitable. As the Russian army advanced, horrifying stories spread about the depravity of Red Army soldiers. For many German people, there seemed to be nothing left but shame, guilt, and fear. For tens of thousands of them, the only option was to choose death for themselves, and for their children. Promise Me You'll Shoot Yourself recounts this little known mass event.
Using diaries, letters, and memoirs, historian and film-maker Florian Huber traces the euphoria of many ordinary Germans as Hitler restored national pride; their indifference as the Führer's political enemies, Jews, and other minorities began to suffer; and the descent into despair as the war took its terrible toll, especially after the invasion of the Soviet Union. Above all, he investigates how suicide became a contagious epidemic as the country collapsed.
Drawing on eyewitness accounts and other primary sources, Promise Me You'll Shoot Yourself presents a riveting portrait of a nation in crisis, and sheds light on a dramatic yet largely unknown episode of postwar Germany.

Death in the Theatre and Famous Last Words by Chris Wood

 Hello my lovely readers! 

We have a double header today as I recently finished these two books by the same author. Let's get into it.

SYNPOSIS
Britain’s theatrical wonderland has been a cornerstone of culture for centuries, delighting and thrilling audiences with an assemblage of exhilarating spectacles. Beyond the trodden boards, and tucked neatly behind the curtain however, lies a catalogue of real life destruction and grisly murder that our greatest tragedians would surely be proud to have presided over. Tread the bloodied boards of Britain’s theaters and witness the deathly dramas that have played out so dramatically within them.

Death in the Theatre collects an astonishing selection of startling tragedies from Britain’s throng of theaters. There is something especially staggering when the player exits life on their adorned stage, and yet, with this by no means an infrequent occurrence, death has made many a fearful cameo appearance – stalking the stalls and grimly reaping the galleries in its macabre and relentless fashion.

I Don't Think They Heard Me: Suicide Notes and Letters by the Renowned and Infamous by Brian Whitney

Hello my lovely readers!

This book came across my my "similar books" when I was about to purchase a separate book on death/dying. The topic seemed right up my alley, so I decided to give it a shot. Let's get into it!

SYNOPSIS
Sometimes people are ready to leave.

When they do, many write down their last thoughts in an attempt to gain understanding, revenge, or sympathy.

Others simply want to explain their actions.

What follows is a collection of suicide notes and letters written by authors, actors, artists, musicians, athletes, and murderers. Written by Aaron Hernandez, Jerry Kasinski, Hunter S, Thompson, Virginia Woolf, Kurt Cobain, O.J. Simpson, Charles Whitman, Sid Vicious, Ernest Hemingway, Jim Jones and many more.

199 Cemeteries to See Before You Die by Loren Rhoads

Hello my lovely readers! Two of my interests are combined into one book. Let's get into it!

SYNOPSIS

More than 3.5 million tourists flock to Paris's Père Lachaise cemetery each year. They are lured there, and to many cemeteries around the world, by a combination of natural beauty, ornate tombstones and crypts, notable residents, vivid history, and even wildlife. Many also visit Mount Koya cemetery in Japan, where 10,000 lanterns illuminate the forest setting, or graveside in Oaxaca, Mexico to witness Day of the Dead fiestas. Savannah's Bonaventure Cemetery has gorgeous night tours of the Southern Gothic tombstones under moss-covered trees that is one of the most popular draws of the city.

199 Cemeteries to See Before You Die features these unforgettable cemeteries, along with 196 more, seen in more than 300 photographs. In this bucket list of travel musts, author Loren Rhoads, who hosts the popular Cemetery Travel blog, details the history and features that make each destination unique. Throughout will be profiles of famous people buried there, striking memorials by noted artists, and unusual elements, such as the hand carved wood grave markers in the Merry Cemetery in Romania.

Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers by Mary Roach

 

Hello my lovely readers!

This was a Libby find. This book was right up my alley, but I just wasn't in the right mind space to finish it. It honestly reminded me a lot of All The Living and The Dead, but I actually liked what I read. Let's get into it.

SUMMARY

Cadavers have been involved in science's boldest strides and weirdest undertakings from France's first guillotines to helping solve the mystery of TWA Flight 800.

For every new surgical procedure, cadavers have helped make history. Stiff investigates the strange lives of our bodies postmortem and answers the question: What should we do after we die?

Rest in Pieces: The Curious Fates of Famous Corpses by Bess Lovejoy

 

Hello my lovely readers!

For my second career, I want to be a funeral director. Death has always fascinated me and I was really excited to read this book. I was holding my breath though, because the last book that I read on death was AWFUL. (I'm looking at you, All the Living and the Dead) But this book? It was amazing. Let's get into it!

SUMMARY

Everyone dies. No one can escape that. But for some of the most influential figures in history, death marked the start of a new adventure.

Some of these famous corpses have been stolen, sold, frozen, impersonated, stuffed and even stored in a lawyer's office. Their body parts have gone on voyages that crisscross the globe and stretch the imagination.

Counterfeiters tried to steal Lincoln's corpse. Einstein's brain went on an cross-country road trip. And after Lord Horatio Nelson died, his sailors submerged him in brandy...and drank it. Rest in Pieces by Bess Lovejoy connects the lives of the famous dead to the hilarious and horrifying adventures of their corpses and traces the evolution of cultural attitudes toward death.

All The Living and the Dead by Hayley Campbell

 

Hello my lovely readers!

Greetings from Ireland! My husband and I are having a fantastic time here and it feels good to be back in this country after 13 YEARS of having last been here. Here's just a few photos of the beautiful Ireland from when I was here in 2010 and now...

Can you tell in which photos I was a 21-year-old college student? 

Anyway, I brought this book All The Living and the Dead by Hayley Campbell after hearing about it on NPR. I am very interested in all things death, death related, mourning....everything. So when I heard the interview with the author, I couldn't wait to get my hands on it.

Sadly, I was very disappointed in this book. Let's get into it.