“Creatures of a Day: and Other Tales of Psychotherapy”

The Farewell Library Virtual Death & Grief Bookclub meets tonight to chat about Dr. Irvin D. Yalom’s “Creatures of a Day: and Other Tales of Psychotherapy. DM for a link if you’d like to join.

This short but dense little book is a quick read that you can immerse yourself in for a day or a weekend. Dr. Yalom draws on his years of psychotherapy to retell stories of his patients grappling with their own mortality and sometimes his. At 81 years, Dr. Yalom shares his accumulated wisdom on aging, his own inner negotiations with death and his very articulate experience of grief and loss. He also shares the journeys he’s witnessed as a guide for those considering these same subjects.

These little vignettes are haunting, eloquent, funny and at every turn, deeply touching. If you like succinct reads with a nod to philosophy, this book is for you. If you love brutal honesty about the anguishing business of being human, all too human, this book is definitely for you. If you begin to make sense of your own mind by considering the stories of others, this one is for you too. Perhaps you’re all three of these, like me, in which case, you’re in for a delightful treat.