WidowSphere: A Circle of Hope: Resources for Widows and Widowers

Please note: If you're in the Ocala, Florida area, I'll be on the Larry and Robin show on WOCA around 11:00.

BOOKS AND MORE BOOKS:

WIDOWS’/WIDOWERS/ PERSONAL STORIES:

Auchard, Betty. Dancing in My Nightgown: Stephens Press, 2005

Brothers, Joyce. Widowed: Ballantine Books, 1992.

Caine, Lynn. Being a Widow. Penguin, 1990.

Didion, Joan. The Year of Magical Thinking: Alfred A. Knopf, 2005. Considered the classic memoir of the first year of widowhood.

Ericsson, Stephanie. Companion Through the Darkness: Harper Paperbacks, 1993. Lyrical musings about widowhood.

Greene, Phyliss. It Must Have Been Moonglow: Villard, 2003 I loved this book. Warm and gentle look at widowhood.

Hall, Donald. Without: Mariner Books, 1999. The poet’s unflinching poems about the death of his wife, Jane Kenyon

Hertzler, Janelle Shantz. Seasons of Solace: Synergy Books, 2010.

Logelin, Matt. Two Kisses for Maddy: Grand Central Publishing. 2011.

Oates, Joyce Carol. A Widow’s Story: Ecco. 2011.

Radziwill, Carolyn. What Remains: A Story of Fate, Friendship and Love: Scribner, 2007.

Roiphe, Ann. Epilogue: Harper Perennial, 2009. My favorite.

Sittser, Jerry. A Grace Disguised: Zondervan, 2004.

Silvera, Jennifer. Believe: A Young Widow’s Journey Through Darkness and Back: Kregel Publications, 2009.

Trillin, Calvin. About Alice: Random House, 2006. The writer’s tribute to his late wife.

Zirkelbach, Thelma. Mazo Publishing, 2013. Stumbling Through the Dark

Zirkelbach, Thelma, Haigler, Becky, Robbins, Barbara, Conley, Robyn. Silver Boomer Books, 2012. On Our Own: Widowhood for Smarties. Anthology of prose and poetry about the widowhood experience.

ADVICE TO WIDOWS/WIDOWERS

Blair, Pamela and Noel, Brook. I Wasn’t Ready to Say Goodbye: Surviving, Coping and Healing After the Sudden Death of a Loved One: Sourcebooks, Inc., 2008. Also has a related workbook. Unfortunately, the appendix omits the URL of many websites it recommends.

Ames, Ed. A Handbook for Widowers: Centering Corporation, 2004

Boyanton Janet. Alone and Alive: Shafer Publishing, 2011.

Bridges, William. The Way of Transition: Embracing Life’s Most Difficult Moments: Perseus Publishing, 2001.

Estlund, Annie. For Widows Only: Universe, 2003. Warm, uplifting book filled with helpful information.

Fine, Carla. No Time to Say Goodbye: Surviving the Suicide of a Loved One: Main Street Books, 1999.

Goshen-Gottstein, Esther. Surviving Widowhood: Gefen Publishing House, 2002. Worth reading for the chapter “Climbing Alone” about the everyday issues widows/widowers face.

Greenberg, Genevieve Davis: Widow to Widow: Da Capo Press, 1995. The first book I read on widowhood and one of the best: thorough and filled with practical advice.

Immerman, Marion. Immy's Book: A Guide to Death and Living. PublishAmerica, 2004.

Neeld, Elizabeth Harper. Seven Choices: Finding Daylight After Loss Shatters Your World: Grand Central Publishing, 2003.

Novak, Pat. The ABC’s of Widowhood: First Books Library, 2003. Entries for every letter of the alphabet, each with a brief paragraph. Sketchy material, but any book with an entry for Ice cream under “I” is worth a look.

White, Jerry. I Will Not Be Broken: 5 Steps to Overcoming a Life Crisis: St. Martin’s Press, 2008. This young man lost a leg when he stepped on a landmine. How he got through this tragedy is relevant to any life crisis.

Lost My Partner, What’ll I Do?: Ruth Spector Webster, M.S.W. McCormick Press, 1999. Not one of my favorites.

ON GRIEF

Attig, Thomas. How We Grieve: Oxford University Press, 2010 (2^nd edition) Addresses the complexity of grief and change with great insight.

Berger. Susan. The Five Ways We Grieve: Trumpeter, 2009. A new way to look at grief, this book presents five different profiles of grievers. Which one are you?

Hickman, Martha. Healing After Loss: Daily Meditations for Working Through Grief: Harper Paperbacks, 1994.

Jozefowski, Joanne. The Phoenix Phenomenon: Rising from the Ashes of Grief: Jason Aronson, 1999.

Konigsberg, Ruth Davis. The Truth About Grief: The Myth of its Five Stages and the New Science of Loss: Simon and Schuster, 2011.

Kushner, , Rabbi Harold. When Bad Things Happen to Good People: Anchor, 2004. A classic. You don’t have to be Jewish to learn from this book.

Kubler-Ross, Elisabeth and Kessler, David. On Grief and Grieving: Finding the Meaning of Grief Through the 5 Stages of Loss: Scribner, 2007.

Kubler-Ross, Elisabeth. On Death and Dying. Scribner, 1997.

Housden, Roger. Harmont Books, 2012. Ten Poems to Say Goodbye

Viorst, Judith. Necessary Losses: Simon and Schuster, 1986. See the chapter on love and mourning.

TO READ FOR INSPIRATION:

Bridges, William. Transitions: Making Sense of Life’s Changes. Addison Wesley, 1980. Bridges works with corporations, but this book also apply to personal life changes.

Bridges, William. “Getting Them Through the Wilderness” Compares

transition (personal and organizational) to the Exodus from Egypt. www.wmbridges.com

Chodron, Pema. Getting Unstuck: Sounds True (audio), 2006.

Chodron, Pema. When Things Fall Apart: Shambhala, 2000.

Remen, Rachel Naomi Kitchen Table Wisdom: Riverhead Trade Books, 2001. Inspirational book for anyone, not just widows/widowers.

Remen, Rachel Naomi. My Grandfather’s Blessings: Riverhead Trade Books, 2006

END OF LIFE ISSUES

Nuland, Sherwin. How We Die: Vintage, 1995. One of my favorites. Written with insight and compassion. See also, How We Live.

Hablitzel, William. Dying is the Best Thing That Ever Happened to Me: Sunshine Ridge Publishing, 2006. Written by a doctor, stories of courage in the face of death. See also, 12 Secrets for Healing and It was Only a Moment Ago

Lieberman, Susan. Death, Dying and Dessert. To be released in May 2013

Markova, Dawna. I Will Not Die an Unlived Life: Conari Press, 2000.

Jenkins, Margie. You Only Die Once: 2002.

Williams-Murphy, Monica and Murphy, Kris. It’s Okay to Die. Available from www.oktodie.com Their newsletter can also be sent to your email.

www.engagewithgrace.org Questions about your end-of-life wishes to discuss with your loved ones.

www.agingwithdignity.org Five wishes about end-of-life to discuss with your loved ones. Highly recommended.

HELPFUL WEBSITES:

www.aarp.org

www.ElderWeb.org Membership gets you computer help (Of course, if your computer isn’t working, you can’t get to the site!)

www.eons.com Networking, discussions, etc. for people 50 and over

www.seniorsonline Links to all kinds of useful websites

www.widowedvillage.com Chats, information and yearly meeting at Camp Widow