Grief memoirs and chronic illness

Speed reading sad tales, whispering "thank you" for the feelings, and finally writing something about my mom's rheumatoid disease

From January 2nd to January 5th—before I returned to the real world’s regular cadence after New Year’s—I finished a book a day. Three of these reads were “grief memoirs” for lack of a less cringey distinction.

Between Two Kingdoms by Suleika Jaouad about her leukemia diagnosis in her early twenties, the collapse of her long-term relationship as she entered remission, and an emotional-atop-physical journey to find herself traveling the country. (Dog in tow, of course.)

You Could Make This Place Beautiful by poet Maggie Smith about her divorce—or less about her divorce, I should say, and more about how she responded to it, armed with (cushioned by?) words.

And My Wife Said You May Want to Marry Me by Jason Rosenthal, a chronological reflection on life with his late partner Amy Krouse Rosenthal and his growth since she died from ovarian cancer.