LaRose by Louise Erdrich

National Book Award Winner Louise Erdrich begins her new novel, LaRose, with a punch to the gut: a hunting accident involving Landreaux Iron results in the death of his neighbor’s five-year-old son Dusty Ravich.  The two families had been close; the mothers were half-sisters, the five-year-old sons best friends.  Grief works in different ways on the two families and soon the Irons decide to honor an ancient tradition in order to make up for the Ravichs’ loss.  The Iron’s give their five-year-old son LaRose to the Ravich family.  Between a sweeping history of the four previous generations of LaRoses, and the story of Landreaux Iron’s past, Erdrich weaves a tale of loss and love.  LaRose grows to be a bond between the two families, helping them process their grief.  This deeply emotional read is another powerful novel from a talented award-winning author.

Ten Poems to Say Goodbye by Roger Housden

Ten Poems To Say Goodbye is a collection of poems carefully chosen by Roger Housden to help us confront and understand death. This book consists of works by ten different poets, each addressing different aspects of death and grief.  The author accompanies each selection with a personal essay that may help the reader appreciate the poem, but the poems themselves are the heart of this book. The author writes that with most poetry collections he finds “no more than a couple of poems that strike me to the core.” In this collection, he has assembled some of these, each poem a gem that expresses grief, comfort, regret, relief and other emotions associated with life and death.  

Check out Ten Poems to Say Goodbye @ the library!