In Lieu Of Flowers

“An elegant book” (Wall Street Journal) that opens us up to our own experiences, and encourages us to accept and honor the “divine intersections” where the living meet the dying. “Grieving is as natural as breathing, for if we have lived and loved, surely we will grieve. . . .” Nancy Cobb meets death in the most vital of places—in the lives of everyday people—and in doing so has found a way to infuse this darkest subject with light. Her candor and refreshing perspective make the deaths of those she has loved—and death itself—a subject to explore rather than to avoid. Cobb’s personal experiences become a point of departure for what amounts to a poignant conversation about loss.

There are over 300,000 gravesites in Evergreen Cemetery, and all of the occupants are resting in peace. Except for two. One with a warning to give. The other who the warning is about. Following in the influential footsteps of dark classics such as Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, The Island of Dr. Moreau, and The Exorcist, multi-award winning author Keith Steinbaum brings you In Lieu of Flowers, where death is only the beginning. The beginning of the end…

In this surreal series of dreamscapes, bears roam the subway, and fathers become fish. But for all of the fantastic imagery in this stunning debut poetry collection, there are equally memorable explorations of more familiar terrain: the landscapes of our lives and relationships.

Floral expert Chelsea Fuss shows you how to make beautiful, natural arrangements with foraged and seasonal greenery, branches, and flowers Based on her extraordinarily popular flower-arranging workshops, Chelsea Fuss’s first book combines an alluring sense of place with everything readers need to know to forage, gather, and arrange fresh and dried botanicals. Each arrangement is addictively easy to make, and the featured centerpieces, wreaths, garlands, and bouquets are designed to bring the perfect amount of scent, color, and atmosphere to a room. The book features 28 eco-friendly floral projects, all using natural materials in lieu of floral foam and wire. Each arrangement is accompanied by foraging tips that can be applied to different locales. Photographed in the author’s small village in Portugal, the book overflows with atmospheric images of flowers and foliage in the landscape to inspire readers to walk local trails (even if that just means the stalls of a city market) and gather ingredients in a pastime that is as much self-care and meditation as it is a practical pursuit.

In Lieu of Flowers by Peter Hrastovec is a First Lines collection about the poet's familial experiences. It cleverly and comedically reflects on what it is to be a son, brother, husband and father, and, on a more serious note, how the little things in life really are what matters most."

Following the critical acclaim of his first book, The MiradorsaDescensions of a Man, we arrive at Toolkit in Paradise, a decade of the best in American seriocomic reportage. Finally, we have athe last thing we thought wead ever need in the last place we thought wead ever need it.a Fine-tune your wit and wisdom, laugh until it hurts, and cry until it hurts less as you travel through these painfully funny passageways to our most intimate inner selvesafrom the domestic front to the world stageaand beyond. And, yesayou CAN take them with you when you go.

“A gentle, knowledgeable guide to a fate we all share” (The Washington Post): the first and only all-encompassing action plan for the end of life. “There is nothing wrong with you for dying,” hospice physician B.J. Miller and journalist and caregiver Shoshana Berger write in A Beginner’s Guide to the End. “Our ultimate purpose here isn’t so much to help you die as it is to free up as much life as possible until you do.” Theirs is a clear-eyed and big-hearted action plan for approaching the end of life, written to help readers feel more in control of an experience that so often seems anything but controllable. Their book offers everything from step-by-step instructions for how to do your paperwork and navigate the healthcare system to answers to questions you might be afraid to ask your doctor, like whether or not sex is still okay when you’re sick. Get advice for how to break the news to your employer, whether to share old secrets with your family, how to face friends who might not be as empathetic as you’d hoped, and how to talk to your children about your will. (Don’t worry: if anyone gets snippy, it’ll likely be their spouses, not them.) There are also lessons for survivors, like how to shut down a loved one’s social media accounts, clean out the house, and write a great eulogy. An honest, surprising, and detail-oriented guide to the most universal of all experiences, A Beginner’s Guide to the End is “a book that every family should have, the equivalent of Dr. Spock but for this other phase of life” (New York Times bestselling author Dr. Abraham Verghese).