Here to Help: Death and Grieving

For life’s big and small moments Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh staff have created Here to Help booklists. Here to Help booklists provide information and support in navigating life experiences. Librarians at your neighborhood library are here to help too and can offer suggestions for these or other topics of interest, as well as community information and resources. Through these booklists you can create opportunities to find connection, solace, comfort, or information for action. 

The books in this list provide information and resources for adults about death and grieving 

Not every book is available at all locations, but any title can be requested. Feel free to suggest some titles to us. New books are always being added to the collection.

For more resources see the CLP Social Services Guide.


You can sign up for a free library card here 

If you are new to our eResources, check out these tutorial videos on how to get started.     

If you’re looking for more book suggestions, we’re happy to recommend them to you! Use this Book Recommendation form to send us some information about what you like to read and we’ll curate a list just for you.    

If you have any additional questions, you can contact a librarian through FacebookInstagram or XYou can also call us at 412-622-3114 or email us at info@carnegielibrary.org 


Finding the Words: Working Through Profound Loss with Hope and Purpose

Full of practical advice on how to survive in the aftermath of loss, Finding the Words teaches readers how to actively reach out to their community, perform mourning rituals, and find ways to express their grief, so they can live more fully while also holding their loved ones close.


Giving Hope: Conversations with Children About Illness, Death, and Loss

Just as death is inevitable, talking about death is an inevitable part of parenting. Dr. Elena Lister and Dr. Michael Schwartzman offer us the way to have conversations with children that are as much about life as they are about death—conversations that anyone who parents, teaches, or counsels children can have.


Good Grief: On Loving Pets, Here and Hereafter

An unexpected, poignant, and personal account of loving and losing pets, exploring the singular bonds we have with our companion animals, and how to grieve them once they’ve passed. You can also check out this title as always availableeBook or eAudio on Hoopla. 


I Had a Miscarriage: A Memoir, a Movement

Jessica Zucker weaves her own experience and other women’s stories into a compassionate and compelling exploration of grief as a necessary, nuanced personal and communal process. She inspires her readers to speak their truth and, in turn, to ignite transformative change within themselves and in our culture. You can also check out this title as always availableeBook on Hoopla. 


I Understand: Pain, Love, and Healing After Suicide

This is the story of how love transformed Vonnie’s brokenness into hope—not only for herself and her family, but for anyone struggling to emerge from the darkness of suicide. You can also check out this title as always availableeBook on Hoopla. 


I'm Not a Mourning Person: Braving Loss, Grief, and the Big Messy Emotions that Happen when Life Falls Apart

If your life has been turned upside down-whether it be the dissolving of a relationship or marriage, the end of a job or career, any other number of significant unexpected transitions. . . or, like Kris, you are wrestling with the pain that comes from an illness or the death of a loved one, this book is filled with real-life experiences, practices, and insights that can help you feel better-not cured-but better.





When Things Fall Apart: Heart Advice for Difficult Times

Pema Chödrön channels Buddhist wisdom to address the seemingly endless stream of suffering, fear, anxiety and pain that our daily life presents. Techniques and transformative tools fill this bestselling guide. You can also check out this title as eBook on Libby. 




A Hole in the World: Finding Hope in Rituals of Grief and Healing

In this raw and authentic memoir of bereavement, Opelt explores the history of human grief practices and how previous generations have journeyed through periods of suffering. As Opelt explores each bereavement practice, it gives her a framework for processing her own pain.