Caregiving can be an emotional, financial, medical, and legal rollercoaster. This list focuses on caregiving for adults – our parents, family members and friends. Annotations from Kirkus Reviews, unless otherwise noted. Created by The Seattle Public Library Older Adults Program Manager and Readers Services librarians. (Created September 2020)
Dear Alzheimer's
A poet's chronology of caregiving for her spouse who struggled with Alzheimer's. An intimate recording of how the disease acts as a slow moving wedge to separate us from the ones we love. A powerful testament to all who love, care give and ultimately say goodbye. (Publisher description)
Format: Book
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View Dear Alzheimer'sAARP Meditations for Caregivers
Family care giving has its challenges: emotional overload, time constraints, anxiety, burnout, missed work, adult sibling conflicts, and marital issues. AARP Meditations for Caregivers blends emotional and spiritual motivation to minimize the strains while helping caregivers view their work as a mission from the heart. (Publisher description)
Format: Book
Availability: Available
View AARP Meditations for CaregiversMr. Flood's Last Resort
The award-winning author of Himself presents the tale of a lonely caregiver and a cranky hoarder who tackle respective notions of forgiveness, independence, sainthood, duty and connections before dark family secrets are brought to light, revealing the sinister fate of a missing local schoolgirl. (NoveList)
Format: Book
Availability: Available
View Mr. Flood's Last ResortThe Soul of Care
When Dr. Arthur Kleinman, an eminent Harvard psychiatrist and social anthropologist, began caring for his wife, Joan, after she was diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer's disease, he found just how far the act of caregiving extended beyond the boundaries of medicine. (NoveList)
Format: Book
Availability: Available
View The Soul of CareThe Caregivers
A tribute to the more than 43 million Americans who serve as caregivers to ill and aging family members traces the author's support-group experiences with individuals who have worked through personal and financial hardships to provide for loved ones. (NoveList)
Format: Book
Availability: Available
View The CaregiversHolding the Net
Written for people who have cared for a parent, are currently facing that challenge, or are aging parents themselves, Holding the Net offers practical details about the effects of aging on the body and mind, living arrangements for older people, health care decisions, and surviving rehab. It also challenges the notion that anyone can be an expert when it comes to caring for an aging parent, and encourages us to simply do our best. (NoveList)
Format: Book
Availability: Available
View Holding the NetMe Before You
Taking a job as an assistant to extreme sports enthusiast Will, who is wheelchair bound after a motorcycle accident, Louisa struggles with her employer's acerbic moods and learns of his shocking plans before demonstrating to him that life is still worth living. (NoveList)
Format: Book
Availability: Available
View Me Before YouLate Migrations
The widely followed New York Times opinion writer presents a collection of brief essays on the natural world, her Alabama childhood, her complicated parents and her transition to the role of a caregiver. (NoveList)
Format: Book
Availability: Available
View Late MigrationsSay Say Say
Working as a caregiver in the home of a retired carpenter and his accident-disabled wife, an aspiring artist is deeply moved by the couple's devotion, which unconsciously impacts her relationship with her girlfriend. (NoveList)
Format: Book
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View Say Say SayThe Upside
The former pickpocket and charismatic scam artist whose friendship with a disabled French aristocrat inspired a popular motion picture recalls his youth as an Algerian immigrant in Paris and the famous friendship that would change his life. (NoveList) This was made into an award-winning film French film titled "The intouchables"
Format: Book
Availability: Available
View The Upside