Death is a frequently fraught topic, deeply tied to cultural and religious customs, philosophy, and fear. And so, walking around a cemetery can tell you a lot about a place and a people. What a treat, then, to find four recent books that invite us into the lives of final resting places around the world.
Somebody Is Walking on Your Grave by Mariana Enriquez, translated by Megan McDowell
Argentinian horror writer Enriquez gathers together reflections on twenty years visiting cemeteries, from Europe (Italy, Germany, France, Czechia, the UK, the Basque Country and Spain) to Australia, and the Americas (Argentina, Chile, Mexico, Peru, the United States). She relates unique architecture, history, tales of the people interred, and stories of the caretakers who maintain it all.
The Secret Life of a Cemetery by Benoît Gallot, translated by Arielle Aaronson
Gallot takes a sustained, focused look at just one cemetery: Paris’s large, famous Père-Lachaise Cemetery. Born into a family of funerary stonemasons, since 2018 Gallot has been the curator of Père-Lachaise. Here, he digs into the history of the cemetery, the daily operations, and observations on the robust life in and around the grounds – from flocks of tourists, to a robust ecosystem for local flora and fauna.
To Die For: A Cookbook of Gravestone Recipes by Rosie Grant
One joy of walking around cemeteries is observing the variety of headstone inscriptions. Here, Grant tells the stories of a specific subset – graves where the departed chose to include a recipe as part of the inscription. Starting with a secret family recipe for spritz cookies on a headstone in Brooklyn, and progressing through 40 more final resting place recipes, Grant cooks them all, interviews remaining family, and includes photos of the grave sites.
Graveyards: A History of Living with the Dead by Roger Luckhurst
In this wide-ranging narrative, Luckhurst takes an historical and philosophical approach to looking at many ways different cultures, in different time periods as far back as prehistory, have interred their dead. From snappy trivia, to a sobering account of how memorials can be politicized, Luckhurst takes an expansive look at the cultures of death.
~ posted by Andrea G.