Book #77 |
Book: Obitchuary: The Big Hot Book of Death | Author: Spencer Henry and Madison Reyes | |
| Source: Library loan Format: Print |
Pages: 224 | Duration: 08/24/25 – 08/25/25 (2 days) | |
| Rating: ★★★★☆ | Genres: nonfiction, humor, death, cultural, science, sociology | ||
| 📕10-word summary: A mostly fun look at the myriad facets of death. 🖌6-word review: Funny, interesting, surprising, educational, well written. |
|||
| 💭A favorite quote: “Apparently, scientist and doctors alike are discovering our brains are thought to continue working for 10 minutes or so after we die, meaning our brains may in some way be aware of our death.” | |||
| 🎓Some new-to-me words: lachrymatories, moirologists, senicide, Thalaikoothal, ubasute, accabadoras, sin-eater, paraphilia, spectrophilia, scaphism, takotsubo cardiomyopathy | |||
| Description:* It’s safe to say everyone thinks about death – whether they want to or not. But have you ever wondered about what sort of keepsakes you can make with your remains, or given any thought to the most scandalous deathbed confessions throughout history? Well Madison Reyes and Spencer Henry have, and they’ve spent countless hours scouring the darkest corners of the internet, digging through newspaper archives, devouring documents, and picking the brains of death industry experts to bring you Obitchuary, a darkly funny and deeply poignant exploration of all things death.*From goodreads.com’s synopsis. | |||
| Thoughts: I saw this book back in February when my friend Jen and I took our after-lunch stroll through Barnes & Noble. I love a good obituary, so the title of this book had me at “bitch.” I didn’t pay much attention to the rest of the title, “The Big Hot Book of Death,” which is what the book is mostly about — the many facets of death, not just the obituary. With chapters like “Coffin Confessions,” “Executions to Die For,” “The Last Word,” and “If These Dolls Could Speak,” the authors cover several of the colorful history, traditions, and contemporary practices surrounding death. The authors of this book have a podcast called Obitchuary, which presumably was why that was part of the title — to entice podcast subscribers to read their book. “The Last Word” chapter reminded me of Famous Last Words by Laura Ward, which I read back in 2015. | |||
See the rest of the books I’ve read in 2025 and previous years: 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019.
