A Year of Reading Dangerously
We begin the year with an exciting honor I could not have imagined. I say “we” because this is one you where you can easily join me. So, there is this renowned hospice physician called Karen Wyatt, MD, who has founded a learning organization known as EOL University, which includes a podcast that many professionals turn to for guidance, several of her own books, and… wait for it… an annual reading group of 1200 worldwide entitled, A Year of Reading Dangerously. She selects 12 books each year, and the group reads each one in its designated month. She has been doing this for a few years now, and the list of books reads like a Who’s Who of End of Life. Dr. Wyatt selected The Hospice Doctor’s Widow: A Journal as the December 2022 book—wah! (I cannot help but think that Bob would be so proud.) The 2022 books are:
January – It’s OK That You’re Not OK by Megan Devine
February – It’s Your Funeral by Kathy Benjamin
March – At Heaven’s Door by William Peters
April – The Language of Loss by Barbara Abercrombie
May – Death and Its Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Beautiful Lessons by Becky Aud-Jennison
June – The Beauty of What Remains by Steve Leder
July – Stiff by Mary Roach
August – Accompanying the Dying by Deanna Cochran, RN
September – When My Time Comes by Diane Rehm
October – Leave Your Light On by Shelley Buck, Ryder Buck & Kathy Curtis
November – Living With Dying by Jahnna Beecham and Katie Ortlip
December – The Hospice Doctor’s Widow: A Journal by Jennifer A. O’Brien
I have already joined the reading group and ordered the books (those I do not already own) from my local, independent bookstore. To support independent bookstores, the books can be accessed through bookshop.org and indiebook.org. They are all available on Amazon as well. Click here if you would like to join EOL University’s Year of Reading Dangerously 2022. Or, read along without joining, if that is more your jam. Thing is, this is not just for EOL professionals. Remember what I call the Triad of Certainty:
At the end of life comes death.
There are no do-overs in end of life.
Changed forever, the loved ones remain and remember.
You don’t need to be an expert in EOL at large, but enhancing your death literacy will inevitably bring you and those you care about comfort; you have my word on it. 😉 As well, we could all use some perspective on grief, either for ourselves or others we want to support – there are a couple of outstanding grief books on this list.