Monday, March 30, 2009

The Household Guide to Dying - Review



The Household Guide to Dying is a moving, witty, and uplifting novel about Delia, who writes an acerbic and wildly popular household advice column. When Delia realizes that she will lose her long battle with cancer, she decides to organize her remaining months—and her husband and children’s future lives without her—the same way she has always ordered their household, and she knows just what to do. She will leave a list for her daughter’s future wedding; fill the freezer with homemade sausages, stews, and sauces; and even (maddeningly) offer her husband suggestions for a new wife. She’ll compile a lifetime’s worth of advice for her children, and she’ll even write the ultimate “Household Guide to Dying” for her fans. There is one item on her list, however, that proves too much even for “Dear Delia,” and it is the single greatest task she had set for herself. Yet just as Delia is coming to terms with this, an unexpected visitor helps her believe in her life’s worth in a way that no list ever could.

Imbued with Delia’s love for food, Jane Austen, clucking hens, and fragrant gardens, and interspersed with her secrets to making a pot of tea, removing wine stains from lace, and the ingredients to the perfect wedding cake, this is a gorgeously crafted novel that captures the reader—heart and mind—and expands our understanding of a meaningful life.



I found this book to be easy to read word wise, but hard to read topic wise. I’m very emotional and cry over Hallmark commercials, so this topic hit me pretty hard. Don’t worry, the book is filled with plenty of humor so it isn’t all doom and gloom, but like Darly pointed out … funny pictures of cats with captions
see more Lolcats and funny pictures :D

If you have a box of tissues and don’t mind a good cry then check out The Household Guide to Dying by Debra Adelaide.


Thanks www.mother-talk.com for another great book!

7 comments:

  1. i like that cat picture! :) for some reason i'm not a big fan of "they die at the end" books. i feel like i invested time for nothing. :) how very selfish of me...

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  2. I cry easily too...so I'll make sure to have enough tissues around the house in case I read this book, it's a sad issue but it is about life, after all...

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  3. That sounds like a good one! I admire people who can die well, I hope I do when the time comes. Or that I get bitten by a vampire in the meantime and don't have to worry about it...

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  4. Sounds like a good book to read...and I'll have time to read it...after my surgery : )

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  5. Virginia: I was glad to know at the beginning of the book that she dies and how.

    Mar: yup, it is about life.

    Jen: I hope you get bit by a vampire too. ;)

    Lynn: this would be a good book to read after your surgery...with a box of tissues and a nice cup of tea!

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  6. Sounds good. Where do you find these books? You always read good books.

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  7. Hey Mom
    That was the typo she was pointing at and I said "I don't care, I like it"
    XOXO Chrissa Marie

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