Download or read book Funerals for Friends and Other Stories written by Michael Martin and published by Lulu.com. This book was released on 2008-08-01 with total page 176 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A gritty collection of 35 stories, written with raw emotion and cool melancholy, told in a compelling narrative voice that will make you smile as it breaks your heart, FUNERALS FOR FRIENDS explores the extraordinary details of ordinary lives. A sobering downhill ride throughlove and loss, these exciting stories take place in the home, in the office, on the street corner, and within the often disturbing relationships between men and women. But more important, these stories come from a place within the heart that is familiar to all. From the author of Burning In The Heat and Other Stories.

Download or read book My Best Friend s Funeral written by Roger W Thompson and published by Thomas Nelson. This book was released on 2014-11-11 with total page 288 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: There’s a certain kind of lost a boy feels in this world without a father. Tim felt it. I felt it. And we realized our only way out would be together. In an openhearted memoir of faith on the fringe, Roger Thompson meditates on the life and premature death of his best friend and business partner, Tim Garrety, cofounder of Skate Street Ventura. Roger and Tim’s twenty-year friendship was forged in the surf and on the streets of 1980s California. Together they hazarded countless waves and every rite of passage—from guitars to girls to God—and influenced the lives of thousands of skateboarders, musicians, surfers, and otherwise disconnected youth in the process. With unrestrained honesty and a punk-rock soundtrack, My Best Friend’s Funeral is a memoir of friendship, doubt, surfing, and the complex relationships between fathers and sons. If life has ever left you feeling abandoned—or if you simply prefer a rock show to a sermon—My Best Friend’s Funeral is a memoir you won’t want to miss, and a confirmation that you are never alone.

Download or read book The Joy of Funerals written by Alix Strauss and published by St. Martin's Press. This book was released on 2014-03-25 with total page 276 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A young widow who lusts, a daughter who aches, a shopaholic who hungers...The Joy of Funerals is a riveting collection that explores the lives of nine young women, each willing to take drastic measures to fill the voids created by longing and loneliness. The first eight face death differently, while the ninth woman Nina ties them all together by attending funerals in her search to connect with others. Written with raw wit, mordant humor and a uniquely penetrating voice, Strauss turns the spotlight on loss and grief. In the vein of Six Feet Under, this is a provocative look into the inner world of those left behind, and those still holding on. "The desire for human connection runs throughout Alix Strauss's dark and spirited novel, The Joy of Funerals." - Vanity Fair

Download or read book Death s Summer Coat written by Brandy Schillace and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2016-01-15 with total page 267 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Death is something we all confront—it touches our families, our homes, our hearts. And yet we have grown used to denying its existence, treating it as an enemy to be beaten back with medical advances.We are living at a unique point in human history. People are living longer than ever, yet the longer we live, the more taboo and alien our mortality becomes. Yet we, and our loved ones, still remain mortal. People today still struggle with this fact, as we have done throughout our entire history. What led us to this point? What drove us to sanitize death and make it foreign and unfamiliar?Schillace shows how talking about death, and the rituals associated with it, can help provide answers. It also brings us closer together—conversation and community are just as important for living as for dying. Some of the stories are strikingly unfamiliar; others are far more familiar than you might suppose. But all reveal much about the present—and about ourselves.

Download or read book Confessions of a Funeral Director written by Caleb Wilde and published by HarperCollins. This book was released on 2017-09-26 with total page 164 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The blogger behind Confessions of a Funeral Director—what Time magazine called a "must read"—reflects on mortality and the powerful lessons death holds for every one of us in this compassionate and thoughtful spiritual memoir that combines the humor and insight of Smoke Gets in Your Eyes with the poignancy and brevity of When Breath Becomes Air. We are a people who deeply fear death. While humans are biologically wired to evade death for as long as possible, we have become too adept at hiding from it, vilifying it, and—when it can be avoided no longer—letting the professionals take over. Sixth-generation funeral director Caleb Wilde understands this reticence and fear. He had planned to get as far away from the family business as possible. He wanted to make a difference in the world, and how could he do that if all the people he worked with were . . . dead? Slowly, he discovered that caring for the deceased and their loved ones was making a difference—in other people’s lives to be sure, but it also seemed to be saving his own. A spirituality of death began to emerge as he observed: The family who lovingly dressed their deceased father for his burial The act of embalming a little girl that offered a gift back to her grieving family The nursing home that honored a woman’s life by standing in procession as her body was taken away The funeral that united a conflicted community Through stories like these, told with equal parts humor and poignancy, Wilde offers an intimate look into the business and a new perspective on living and dying

Download or read book After the Funeral and Other Stories written by Tessa Hadley and published by Random House. This book was released on 2024-07-02 with total page 241 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A masterful collection of stories that plumb the depths of everyday life to reveal the shifting tides and hidden undercurrents of ordinary relationships—"a revelation for aficionados of the form, as vibrant and knowing as the best of Hadley's celebrated career." —Washington Post “Hadley is pure magic and After the Funeral is a triumph.”—Lily King, New York Times best-selling author of Writers & Lovers and Euphoria “Hadley brings her eloquent prose and her psychological acuity to the relationships—between siblings, friends, lovers, parents, and children—that shape us and change us, that call into question our view of ourselves and our place in the world.” —The New Yorker In each of these twelve stories, small events have huge consequences. Heloise’s father died in a car crash when she was a little girl; at a dinner party in her forties, she meets someone connected to that long-ago tragedy. Two estranged sisters cross paths at a posh hotel and pretend not to recognize each other. Janie’s bohemian mother plans to marry a man close to Janie’s own age—everything changes when an accident interrupts the wedding party. A daughter caring for her elderly mother during the pandemic becomes obsessed with the woman next door; in the wake of his best friend’s death, a man must reassess his affair with the friend’s wife. Cecilia, a teenager, wakes one morning in Florence on vacation with her parents and sees them for the first time through disenchanted eyes. As psychologically astute as they are emotionally rich, these stories illuminate the enduring conflicts between responsibility and freedom, power and desire, convention and subversion, reality and dreams. A vital addition to Tessa Hadley’s celebrated body of work, After the Funeral and Other Stories showcases what Colm Tóibín describes as "Tessa Hadley's extraordinary skill at making both surface life and deep interiors come fully alive."

Download or read book Funerals to Die For written by Kathy Benjamin and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2013-03-18 with total page 256 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: True stories that put the, er, "fun" back into funerals! The hereafter may still be part of the great unknown, but with Funerals to Die For you can unearth the rich--and often, dark--history of funeral rites. From getting a portrait painted with a loved one's ashes to purchasing a safety coffin complete with bells and breathing tubes, this book takes you on a whirlwind tour of funeral customs and trivia from all over the globe. Inside, you'll find more than 100 unbelievable traditions, practices, and facts, such as: The remains of a loved one can be launched into deep space for only $1,000. In Taiwan, strippers are hired to entertain funeral guests throughout the ceremony. Undertakers for the Tongan royal family weren't allowed to use their hands for 100 days after preparing a king's body. In the late 1800s, New Englanders would gulp down a cocktail of water and their family member's ashes in order to keep them from returning as vampires. Whether you fear being buried alive or just have a morbid curiosity of the other side, Funerals to Die For examines what may happen when another person dies.

Download or read book Funeral for a Stranger written by Becca Stevens and published by Abingdon Press. This book was released on 2010-09-01 with total page 97 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: I have seen water move rocks. I have seen thistles break through boulders. If water and flowers can move stones, surely love can. Becca Stevens, from Funeral for a Stranger In this meditation on living and dying, Becca Stevens shares moving and hilarious stories about her life, love, friends, and our many families. This delicately formed narrative is also a window into the soul of a priest. I loved it and will hold it in my heart with gratitude for years to come. -Phyllis Tickle, author of The Great Emergence: How Christianity Is Changing and Why Loneliness finds connections, depair meets celebration, and fear discovers faith. Join Becca on her journey to a funeral for a stranger. God will be there. -Don Schlitz, Hall of Fame songwriter of The Gambler With elegant simplicity Becca Stevens escorts the reader to the banks of the deepest spiritual wellspring. Surely she ranks among our most gifted teachers on the things that matter most of all. -Stephen Bauman, author of Simple Truths: On Values, Civility, and Our Common Good

Download or read book Annie Freeman s Fabulous Traveling Funeral written by Kris Radish and published by Listening Library. This book was released on 2006 with total page 570 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Annie Freeman, left one final request, a traveling funeral, and she wants the most important women in her life as pallbearers. From Sonoma to Manhattan, Katherine, Laura, Rebecca, Jill, and Marie will carry Annie's ashes to the special places in her life. At every stop there's a surprise encounter and a small miracle waiting, and as they whoop it up across the country, attracting interest wherever they go, they share their deepest secrets--tales of broken hearts and second chances, missed opportunities and new beginnings. And as they grieve over what they've lost, they discover how much is still possible if only they can unravel the secret Annie left them.

Download or read book The Son of My Friend And Other Stories written by Timothy Shay Arthur and published by BoD – Books on Demand. This book was released on 2023-09-07 with total page 109 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Kiss Me Kate and Other Stories written by Jim Farrell and published by iUniverse. This book was released on 2014-03 with total page 301 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Phil discovers that Kate, the voice in his Garmin GPS, is a lot more than a disembodied voice. She’s in trouble, and she needs his help! When a couple arrives from cold Rhode Island to their rented condo in Florida, all they can think about is warm temperatures and sunshine. But then the husband walks into a moral dilemma that almost ruins his week in the sun. Betsy decides to memorialize her deceased parents….in a most unusual way. Young, innocent Cheryl shocks her mother by opening the conversation at the family’s Sunday dinner with “I almost got involved in a bar fight yesterday.” Larry Hawkins is a widower, MIT physics professor, and believer in time travel who is anxious to test his inventions and fulfill every old man’s fantasy. Roberto Villarreal has no idea a life-changing adventure is about to begin when he picks up a stranger and his granddaughter at a rest stop in Mexico. Mark Tuttle and Sandy Roberts wonder if you can love all your children equally and yet love one more than the others. In the process they discover that Love is infinite. Kiss Me, Kate and Other Stories is a collection of short tales set in a variety of locations and illustrating the depth of the human spirit, the importance of laughter, and the miracle of love.

Download or read book An Act of God and Other Stories written by Stanley Hart and published by AuthorHouse. This book was released on 2012-03-23 with total page 128 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: If the characters in this collection of short stories seem familiar, they should because they're either you now, you at a later date or someone you know. "An Act Of God and Other Stories' is Hart's attempt to show that growing old has its advantages, although it is often quite difficult to discover what they are. While waiting for senility, this slim volume might help keep you smiling.

Download or read book Saturday Is for Funerals written by Unity Dow and published by Harvard University Press. This book was released on 2010-05-03 with total page 236 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Dow and Essex tell the true story of lives in Botswana ravaged by AIDS. Witness the actions of community leaders, medical professionals, research scientists, and educators of all types to see how an unprecedented epidemic of death and destruction is being stopped in its tracks.

Download or read book Invitation To A Funeral written by Molly Brown and published by Macmillan. This book was released on 2013-12-10 with total page 314 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: APHRA BEHN is an unusual woman by any standard, especially those of 1676 London. A popular playwright and former spy, she does not bow to convention, does not always have the fortitude to turn a charming, but alcoholic attorney from her bed, and currently, does not have the funds to pay the rent on her London home. But a long-shot bet--that the Earl of Rochester's doltish young mistress can improve her painfully poor acting enough to play the lead in Aphra's latest play--could have her in the clear again. Until she's indebted to pay for the funerals of two brothers whose kindness helped her years ago. And the debt goes further than that--both deaths smack of murder, and Aphra is determined to find a killer and uncover a deadly secret...one that could engage all of England in a bloody civil war. From the squalid streets of London to the grand chambers of Whitehall Palace, author Molly Brown vividly recreates Restoration England at its most uproarious, while crafting a brilliant novel of history, humor, and heart-pounding intrigue.

Download or read book Gothic Alaskan and Other Stories written by E. F. Shelby and published by iUniverse. This book was released on 2000-07-20 with total page 227 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The seething, thrashing jungles of Alaska are the lair of many secret species. To see them is to disappear. There are life forms here so horrible the sight of them would make a Kodiak bear jump off a cliff, or send a one-ton moose up a tree, or drive a pack of wolves into a rabbit hole. Every summer unknowing tourists anchor a boat off the wrong island and become dinner. Or they drive down some unmarked dirt road and are slaughtered. Every year they trustingly stop over at some strangely-empty campground or wander down an unmarked trail and meet a horrible end. [Author bio]Eugene Shelby has lived in Alaska for twenty-two years, including Anchorage, Barrow, Prudhoe Bay, Shemya and Valdez. He has a BA in journalism from USC.

Download or read book In Bad Coompany and Other Stories written by Rolf Boldrewood and published by BoD – Books on Demand. This book was released on 2020-08-03 with total page 434 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Reproduction of the original: In Bad Coompany and Other Stories by Rolf Boldrewood

Download or read book Funeral Arranging and End of Life Decisions written by Sarah Chapman and published by Book Guild Publishing. This book was released on 2022-06-28 with total page 139 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This must-have guide will holistically support you from the moment someone dies to their funeral, while also empowering you to plan your own end-of-life care and ceremony.