Bernie Walsh asked Will Schwalbe:

I was gifted your book over three years ago as a gift from a book lover. It was just as my Step Father was coming out of a 7 1/2 year remission from lung cancer and was given the news that it was back with a vengeance. When read your book he had passed on, I felt his presence in your memories of your mothers zest for life. My mother was devistated and gave up reading. Book suggestions to share with survivors?

Will Schwalbe Thank you so much for writing. I love that it was a book lover who gave you a copy of my book -- that means a huge amount to me. And I'm really touched that you shared something of your life with me. It must have been a terrible blow to learn that your Step Father's cancer had come back after that 7 1/2 year remission. And then so very sad to lose him. My thoughts are with you and your whole family. I'm touched that you felt his presence is my memories of my mother.

As for books to share with survivors, that's such an important and difficult question. I'm wondering if she might like to read books that he loved or about topics that interested him as a way of keeping him present. But I can also see how that could be too painful. For people who like poetry, that can be a great way back in. I'm thinking in particular of Mary Oliver, who writes with such beautiful reverence for the natural world, and whose poetry often speaks of loss, but in a way that provides me with great comfort and solace. Short stories can be wonderful -- whether Somerset Maugham or Alice Munro. For something directly on subject, there's Joan Didion's extraordinary THE YEAR OF MAGICAL THINKING. That is if you think she might want to engage with grief and what she's experiencing. But it may be that something different might be in order -- a recent page-turner like THE GIRL ON THE TRAIN?

Sometimes I don't know what I want to read until I'm a few pages in. So taking out different books from the library and just leaving them lying around might help.

Again, thinking of you all. And if none of this seems right, do right me back and I'll think and suggest some more.

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