Braving the Fire Revisited Recommended Books

By Louise Julig

By Louise Julig
Braving the Fire

Braving the Fire

Jessica Handler

$17.99 $16.73

Jessica Handler gently and courageously guides the writer through writing about grief and loss. Includes writing exercises and stories from her own work.

Invisible Sisters: A Memoir

Invisible Sisters: A Memoir

Jessica Handler

$21.95 $20.41

Handler's beautifully written memoir of being the surviving sister of three is told with honesty and resilience.

It's Ok That You're Not Ok: Meeting Grief and Loss in a Culture That Doesn't Understand

It's Ok That You're Not Ok: Meeting Grief and Loss in a Culture That Doesn't Understand

Megan Devine

$17.99 $16.73

JH: recommended book by writer of Refuge in Grief blog

Blow Your House Down: A Story of Family, Feminism, and Treason

Blow Your House Down: A Story of Family, Feminism, and Treason

Gina Frangello

$16.95 $15.76

This searing memoir unflinchingly examines the author's life as her marriage implodes, while at the same time situating herself in the greater context of women's place in contemporary society. Beautifully written and riveting.

Companion to an Untold Story

Companion to an Untold Story

Marcia Aldrich

$28.95 $26.92

JH: An example of a non-linear form, the book is written as an old-fashioned reader's companion, essentially a dictionary

Between Panic and Desire

Between Panic and Desire

Dinty W. Moore

$14.95 $13.90

JH: contains the essay "Son of Mister Green Jeans" about fatherhood

Body Work: The Radical Power of Personal Narrative

Body Work: The Radical Power of Personal Narrative

Melissa Febos

$16.95 $15.76

After reading her essay "Mind Fuck: Writing Better Sex," included in this collection, I knew I would be pre-ordering anything Febos writes on craft.

Memorial Drive: A Daughter's Memoir

Memorial Drive: A Daughter's Memoir

Natasha Trethewey

$27.99 $26.03

JH: Trethway's wonderful book about her mother's murder and coming to terms with it

Can't We Talk about Something More Pleasant?: A Memoir

Can't We Talk about Something More Pleasant?: A Memoir

Roz Chast

$19.00 $17.67

JH: Graphic memoir by humorist Roe Chast about aging parents

Writing Hard Stories: Celebrated Memoirists Who Shaped Art from Trauma

Writing Hard Stories: Celebrated Memoirists Who Shaped Art from Trauma

Melanie Brooks

$17.95 $16.69

JH: Anthology with lots of writers about how they wrote difficult stories

The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma

The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma

Bessel Van Der Kolk

$19.00 $17.67

JH: How trauma affects the body

How We Fight for Our Lives: A Memoir

How We Fight for Our Lives: A Memoir

Saeed Jones

$17.99 $16.73

JH: Was teaching this book about the death of Saad's mother and also growing up

Good Talk: A Memoir in Conversations

Good Talk: A Memoir in Conversations

Mira Jacob

$22.00 $20.46

A graphic memoir that examines the messy bonds of family through the lens of growing up as a child of Indian immigrants in New Mexico in the '80s and as the mother of a biracial child in New York City in the 2010s. Could not put it down.

Postcolonial Love Poem: Poems

Postcolonial Love Poem: Poems

Natalie Diaz

$17.00 $15.81

Diaz uses the vehicle of the body to explore themes of desire, erasure, and what it means to be Indigenous in America in this Pulitzer Prize-winning collection.

The Sentence

The Sentence

Louise Erdrich

$28.99 $26.96

Louise Erdrich's novel, set in 2019-20, captures in the story of Native bookseller Tookie all the humor, poignancy, grief, and love of a family living in these times in Minneapolis. It's hard to describe and a bit of a slow burn, but these characters stayed with me long after the last sentence.