The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion

Sometimes we don't know why or how we cope with life and death; we just do. We think things can't get worse; they can; they do. Still, Joan Didion's The Year of Magical Thinking, a memoir of the year in which both her husband and daughter died, is not a depressing read. Nor is it an inspirational one or a trendy self-help book. Rather, it's a book in which we see that even the rich and famous experience life and grief much the same as the rest of us. I surprisingly found the book to be a quick, easy read. There was no real plot, just a superbly creative woman's struggle to deal with overwhelming loss in not necessarily creative ways but in the only ways she could at the time. She doesn't cry. She doesn't hold her head high. She struggles. Like the rest of us, Didion learns that one way to cope with death -- and sometimes the worst of life -- is simplly not to deal with it. I recommend this book to anyone, but especially to those going through tough times. And who hasn't?