Memorial Days by Geraldine Brooks:
One of those books that is both wonderful and gutting at the same time. To read Brooks’ recent release documenting the loss of her husband of thirty-five years at the age of sixty was like a cannonball to the stomach. I am fortunate to be in a long marriage and approaching the age of sixty, and this very concise memoir drove home the message to not take tomorrow for granted, to prepare for death and to get one’s story down in whatever form has meaning for you. It is a beautiful tale of loss while chronicling a true and deep love. I am grateful for Brooks wisdom in capturing what our society shuns – death and a permission to grieve. So much for a culture that expects mourners to “get over it and get on with it,” Brooks allows herself time and space to wallow and in so doing offers the reader the same opportunity. For lovers of The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion….