Death List

We are doing a Lent Course on the theme of 'Circle of Life' - matters of life and death. So far we've looked at making preparations for our own end and topics to do with end of life care and assisted dying.

The Bishop of Worcester is doing a future session on biblical theology so I won't tread on his toes, yet.

The other day I was preparing for bed. I had discarded my denture, hearing aids and glasses prompting my wife to suggest that there were more interesting bits of me on the bedside table than under the covers. Time to update that will.

Over the years I have found insights on death and dying from unlikely sources beyond the Christian ones you might expect me to list. Here are some of them:

Philip Pullman

The Amber Spyglass
(His Dark Materials III)

The parallel world Pullman invents for these books is occupied by a people who live with a daemon - another creature part of, yet separate to, them representing their personality. When some of these folk travel to yet another world they encounter others, who live not with their daemon but with their death as a companion. This relationship gives the people great confidence and hope - that death can be entered into with a trusted friend and holds no fear. These books are a huge feat of imagination and have some critical points to make about organised religion.

Christopher Hitchens

Mortality

Confronted with a terminal diagnosis, rather suddenly, Hitchens tackles his forthcoming conclusion with eloquence, wit and not a little anger. God remains an enemy,

Philip Gould

When I Die

We often talk about people 'battling with cancer'. I put this book down determined to stop using fighting talk in such circumstances. Maybe it is better understood as a journey together, albeit an unwanted one. This is an honest, personal and well-written biography of Gould's cancer, from which he died
. When I finished it I was moved to send more than the cost of the book to the Royal Marsden Cancer Charity.

Julian Barnes

Nothing to be Frightened Of

One of our greatest contemporary writers muses on life and death. Expect to read philosophy, autobiography, polemic and a few jokes. On Christian faith he is agnostic. 'How can we be sure that we know enough to know?' he asks.

John Humphrys and Sarah Jarvis

The Welcome Visitor

Having experienced his own father's slow and agonising death Humphrys wonders whether we might have accidentally decided to prolong our lives too much. Co-writing with a palliative care specialist he looks at recent history and asks what it might mean to have 'a good death', the 'welcome visitor' of the title.

Rio Ferdinand

Thinking Out Loud

The difference between a good footballer and an elite footballer, explains the former Manchester United and England centre-half, is that good footballers love winning whereas elite footballers hate losing. They expect to win. Every time. Ferdinand takes this analogy and explains how he found it hard to accept his wife's terminal illness. He hated losing. He couldn't imagine accepting its inevitability.