Let's not call them sad books though. Let's just call them life-free-ality relationship books.

With the right purpose.

Hey readers, I'm Ann Bogall and this is What Should I Read Next Episode 137.

Welcome to the show that's dedicated to answering the question that plagues every reader.

What Should I Read Next? We don't get bossy on the show. What we will do here is give you the information you need

to choose your next read. Every week we'll talk all things books and reading and do a little literary matchmaking with one guest.

Readers, today's guest Lee Kramer is a longtime friend, a blogger, a formal medical social worker,

and the author of a brand new novel about life, love, and loss called a storied life.

Today, Lee and I are focusing on a tough nuanced topic. We're talking about grief.

I love this conversation and thank you, Will, too, but you should know that some of the books we discussed grapple with things like cancer, death, miscarriage, and other kinds of trauma.

If you know these topics are triggering for you or if you are currently recovering from a loss, please take care of yourself by listening with caution

or simply putting this episode aside for a later time.

Like Lee and I discussed today, grief is an essential underpinning in so many of our favorite stories.

And today we talk about why that is. I assure you though that not everything we talk about today will be a bummer, but we're definitely not avoiding the hard stuff.

So if you're sticking with us, let's take a deep breath and dive into some big-time bibliotherapy.

Lee, welcome to the show. It's so great to be back.

We last talked for what should I read next in episode nine.

And you note back then I recommended a book that I've seen you talk about a lot since then, which is tell me three things by Julie Bucksbaum, which is very fitting given the content of today's show.

I talked to Roxanne Cody, the bookseller at RJ Julius in Connecticut back in episode 126, so 10 episodes ago.

And we talked about books that appeal to your head and your heart. She talked about a book called grief works and we discussed how grief is not a topic that you see covered as much as it should be in literature.

And then you sent me a message that said, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, no, no, no, are you sure? And here we are. Here we are to talk about it.

I think I'm, I'm naturally drawn to the topic just because my personal experience and professional background, but when she was mentioning that it was hard to find that I was like, I can give you a huge list just south of my head.

...