Here are 100 books that Long Goodbye fans have personally recommended if you like Long Goodbye. Book DNA is a community of 12,000+ authors and super readers sharing their favorite books with the world.

When you buy books, we may earn a commission that helps keep our lights on (or join the rebellion as a member).

Book cover of Dinner at God's House

Leila Summers Author Of It Rains in February

From my list on death from a different perspective.

Why am I passionate about this?

I’ve always been interested in the bigger questions of life, spirituality, and the way our minds work, but it wasn’t until I came up close and personal with grief that I really delved into reading more about death and the afterlife. After my husband died, I read just about every book I could find on the topic, especially those that taught me more about the greater mysteries of love, loss, mental illness, and myself.

Leila's book list on death from a different perspective

Leila Summers Why Leila loves this book

This book made me laugh, shed a tear, and, most importantly, think deeply about the meaning of life and my own life choices. It isn’t about God in the religious sense but rather takes place in a fictionalized afterlife.

I enjoyed the author's authentic, personal voice, quirky ideas, and overall message about learning to love yourself.

By Todd B. Lieman ,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Dinner at God's House as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

What kind of life is possible when you finally learn to forgive, trust, and love yourself?

Erik Bernstein wasn’t afraid of death. He was afraid of life. He battled with inadequacy and the feeling that he never belonged. He became an expert at deflecting intimacy to mask his shame, lies, self-doubt, and bad choices. From the time he was eleven years old, or even younger, death was never far from his mind. Needless to say, death was front of mind as he sat in the back corner of the synagogue, watching his own funeral.

Long confused by religion and the…


If you love Long Goodbye...

Ad

Book cover of Aggressor

Aggressor by FX Holden,

It is April 1st, 2038. Day 60 of China's blockade of the rebel island of Taiwan.

The US government has agreed to provide Taiwan with a weapons system so advanced that it can disrupt the balance of power in the region. But what pilot would be crazy enough to run…

Book cover of The Truth about Butterflies

Leila Summers Author Of It Rains in February

From my list on death from a different perspective.

Why am I passionate about this?

I’ve always been interested in the bigger questions of life, spirituality, and the way our minds work, but it wasn’t until I came up close and personal with grief that I really delved into reading more about death and the afterlife. After my husband died, I read just about every book I could find on the topic, especially those that taught me more about the greater mysteries of love, loss, mental illness, and myself.

Leila's book list on death from a different perspective

Leila Summers Why Leila loves this book

There is something so warm and real about this incredible memoir as if I was sitting down with the author, Nancy, and she was telling me her story over tea, and even as the daylight faded, more tea was poured, and the story continued because I wanted to hear more about her late daughter Nicole.

This story is told with such grace that, even for those with different or no spiritual beliefs, the author’s faith in God is simply part of the story and is endearing rather than offensive.

By Nancy Stephan ,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Truth about Butterflies as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

They belong to each other, Nancy and Nicole—mother and daughter. They’re two halves of a whole, two facets of the same breath—until the day Nicole exhales. . . and never inhales again.

After the death of her daughter, and quickly losing her own battle with grief, Nancy moves from the house she can no longer bear to live in. While packing, she finds a box in the attic. Inside she uncovers treasures she didn’t know existed and evidence that her and her daughter’s lives had been more divinely entwined than she could’ve imagined.

The Truth About Butterflies is a true…


Book cover of An Uncommon Friendship

Leila Summers Author Of It Rains in February

From my list on death from a different perspective.

Why am I passionate about this?

I’ve always been interested in the bigger questions of life, spirituality, and the way our minds work, but it wasn’t until I came up close and personal with grief that I really delved into reading more about death and the afterlife. After my husband died, I read just about every book I could find on the topic, especially those that taught me more about the greater mysteries of love, loss, mental illness, and myself.

Leila's book list on death from a different perspective

Leila Summers Why Leila loves this book

I found this memoir to be truly fascinating, perhaps because I am so interested in the way the mind works, as well as relationships between people.

I was particularly intrigued by the unusual glimpse into the world of mental illness described in great detail from two very different perspectives: the narrator, wife, friend, and caregiver, Monique, and her mentally ill husband, Stewart shared by way of interspersed emails and stories. Even after they divorced, Monique continued to care for Stewart through his mental illness and cancer diagnosis.

If you love William H. Colby...

Ad

Book cover of The Year Mrs. Cooper Got Out More: A Great Wharf Novel

The Year Mrs. Cooper Got Out More by Meredith Marple,

The coastal tourist town of Great Wharf, Maine, boasts a crime rate so low you might suspect someone’s lying.

Nevertheless, jobless empty nester Mallory Cooper has become increasingly reclusive and fearful. Careful to keep the red wine handy and loath to leave the house, Mallory misses her happier self—and so…

Book cover of Life on the Other Side

Leila Summers Author Of It Rains in February

From my list on death from a different perspective.

Why am I passionate about this?

I’ve always been interested in the bigger questions of life, spirituality, and the way our minds work, but it wasn’t until I came up close and personal with grief that I really delved into reading more about death and the afterlife. After my husband died, I read just about every book I could find on the topic, especially those that taught me more about the greater mysteries of love, loss, mental illness, and myself.

Leila's book list on death from a different perspective

Leila Summers Why Leila loves this book

I read this book as fiction, being that it is written by a psychic, and I’m still not convinced that anyone knows what exists on the other side. As such, I was fascinated by the wonders and possibilities that are put forth and it was extremely encouraging to me during my time of grief.

My young daughters also loved the “book about heaven” and would insist on me reading parts of it to them at bedtime after their dad died.  

By Lindsay Harrison , Sylvia Browne ,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Life on the Other Side as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Renowned psychic, spiritual teacher, and #1 New York Times bestselling author of End of Days Sylvia Browne has changed millions of lives with her unique gifts. Now, she leads readers on an adventure of the spirit: a surprising glimpse into the next world, where their loved ones patiently await them.

Take a journey you will never forget and discover the answer to life’s greatest question:

“What’s on The Other Side?”

In this extraordinary and inspirational book, Sylvia reflects upon her past experiences, hypnosis sessions, and research to tell the truth about The Other Side. She explains the process of leaving…


Book cover of When My Time Comes: Conversations about Whether Those Who Are Dying Should Have the Right to Determine When Life Should End

Barbara Coombs Lee Author Of Finish Strong: Putting Your Priorities First at Life's End

From my list on opening to death to live your most joyful life.

Why am I passionate about this?

I first started tending patients at age 15, as a candy striper at St. Joseph Hospital. That was a long time ago, and since then I’ve learned much at patients’ bedsides, in Congress, statehouses and courtrooms. Through sequential careers in nursing, medicine, law, and advocacy, I learned that end-of-life experiences have the most to teach us about being truly present to our lives, about learning to love well and growing in wisdom. Personal autonomy, individual empowerment, and guided planning are all key to moving past our fear of death. In the end, as Seneca observed, “The art of living well and dying well are one.”

Barbara's book list on opening to death to live your most joyful life

Barbara Coombs Lee Why Barbara loves this book

Diane is the curious and savvy public radio journalist who educated even as she entertained so many Americans, presenting conversations on every aspect of life in arts, science, and politics. I came to know Diane when I appeared on her show and was transfixed by watching her expertly navigate advanced broadcast technology even as she sized up her guests, crafted questions from her own astute observations, and coaxed her guests to reveal things they perhaps did not intend. In this book, she shares her most personal side as she considers options at the end of a life well-lived. Her wisdom is gleaned from personal history plus thousands of interviews, and she generously shares it with us. 

By Diane Rehm ,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked When My Time Comes as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

The renowned radio host and one of the most trusted voices in the nation candidly and compassionately addresses the hotly contested right-to-die movement, of which she is one of our most inspiring champions. The basis for the acclaimed PBS series.

Through interviews with terminally ill patients and their relatives, as well as physicians, ethicists, religious leaders, and representatives of both those who support and vigorously oppose this urgent movement, Rehm gives voice to a broad range of people personally linked to the realities of medical aid in dying. With characteristic evenhandedness, she provides the full context for this highly divisive…


Book cover of Finish Strong: Putting Your Priorities First at Life's End

Haider Warraich Author Of Modern Death: How Medicine Changed the End of Life

From my list on death, medicine, and end of life care.

Why am I passionate about this?

As a physician, I have been in innumerable situations where people and their loved ones were facing off a serious illness but felt like they were completely lost. The reality of the end of life is nothing like how we have experienced it throughout our history. I have written about end-of-life care for the New York Times, Washington Post, and The Atlantic amongst others, but felt that this was such an important and vast issue that it deserved a deeper dive. My research also focuses on end-of-life care and I was able to weave a story presented through stories, historical texts, and research papers in a way that readers will feel like they have a map of just how life and death have evolved with scientific advances and a changing society. It doesn’t hurt that I trained at Harvard Medical School and Duke University, providing me the best environments to shape my views and perspective.

Haider's book list on death, medicine, and end of life care

Haider Warraich Why Haider loves this book

Barbara Coombs Lee is a nurse, lawyer, and leader of the movement to promote assisted death in the United States and around the world for people with terminal illnesses. Lee is a patient advocate at heart, a position she embodied given her work as a nurse. In this book, she provides a humane, eye witness view of what she saw as a nurse that inspired her to spark a movement that strives to give patients control over their bodies and medical decisions.

By Barbara Coombs Lee ,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Finish Strong as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

From the President Emerita/Senior of Compassion & Choices, THE guide to achieving the positive end-of-life experience you want and deserve.It’s hard to talk about death in America. But even though the topic has been taboo, life’s end is an eventual reality. So why not shape it to our values? FINISH STRONG is for those of us who want an end-of-life experience to match the life we’ve enjoyed. We know we should prepare, but are unsure how to think and talk about it, how to live true to our values and priorities, and how to make our wishes stick.The usual advice…


If you love Long Goodbye...

Ad

Book cover of That First Heady Burn

That First Heady Burn by George Bixley,

Don’t mess with the hothead—or he might just mess with you. Slater Ibáñez is only interested in two kinds of guys: the ones he wants to punch, and the ones he sleeps with. Things get interesting when they start to overlap. A freelance investigator, Slater trolls the dark side of…

Book cover of Death of a Hero

Andrew Scott Author Of Fake History: Ten Great Lies and How They Shaped the World

From my list on to fight fake history.

Why am I passionate about this?

I am not a historian but a journalist, and in writing the book I wanted to do what I have done in my political writing. Namely to cut through the lies, to bring accuracy to the distortions, and to point a finger at the politicians and pundits who would prefer that we wallowed in the phony nostalgia of our imagined past. Tackling fake history is like tackling fake news. You need not only to seek out the truth that lies underneath but also discover in whose interests myth-making works in the first place. That's why fighting fake history matters and that is why I wrote the book.

Andrew's book list on to fight fake history

Andrew Scott Why Andrew loves this book

Perhaps the finest and least well-known novel to come out of the First World War. Imagist poet Richard Aldington takes his own experiences of the home and Western Fronts and turns both barrels on the sanctimony of Edwardian society and its parade of sycophants, socialites, and fools. Unusually, it is a book by a poet that resists turning war into poetry. Unafraid to use realistically coarse military language, it divided the critics at the time and has divided readers ever since. It is a howl of rage that speaks across the century, a timeless reminder that there is no romance in the needless carnage of war.

By Richard Aldington ,

Why should I read it?

3 authors picked Death of a Hero as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

One of the great World War I antiwar novels - honest, chilling, and brilliantly satirical

Based on the author's experiences on the Western Front, Richard Aldington's first novel, Death of a Hero, finally joins the ranks of Penguin Classics. Our hero is George Winterbourne, who enlists in the British Expeditionary Army during the Great War and gets sent to France. After a rash of casualties leads to his promotion through the ranks, he grows increasingly cynical about the war and disillusioned by the hypocrisies of British society. Aldington's writing about Britain's ignorance of the tribulations of its soldiers is among…


Book cover of Files: Law and Media Technology

Colin Koopman Author Of How We Became Our Data: A Genealogy of the Informational Person

From my list on data ethics (and data politics).

Why am I passionate about this?

Colin Koopman researches and teaches about technology ethics at the University of Oregon, where he is a Professor of Philosophy and Director of the interdisciplinary certificate program in New Media & Culture.  His research pursuits have spanned from the history of efforts in the early twentieth century to standardize birth certificates to our understanding of ourselves as effects of the code inscribed into our genes.  Koopman is currently at work on a book that will develop our understanding of what it takes to achieve equality and fairness in data systems, tentatively titled Data Equals.

Colin's book list on data ethics (and data politics)

Colin Koopman Why Colin loves this book

This book dazzles me every time I read it. It will change the way you think about files and how such humble little documents can help rule our lives. Vismann’s Files is not the easiest going, but it is filled with enough history and detail that one can just join for the ride and follow along. The late Cornelia Vismann died too young but she still managed to leave us with this truly transformative account of the relation between law and the data systems upon which all law always relies. Through a careful history that stretches from parchment scrolls to mid-twentieth-century secret intelligence files to the desktop computer, Vismann excavates the way in which the ethics, politics, and legality of social systems are highly dependent upon data designs.

By Cornelia Vismann , Geoffrey Winthrop-Young (translator) ,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Files as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Quod non est in actis, non est in mundo. (What is not on file is not in the world.) Once files are reduced to the status of stylized icons on computer screens, the reign of paper files appears to be over. With the epoch of files coming to an end, we are free to examine its fundamental influence on Western institutions. From a media-theoretical point of view, subject, state, and law reveal themselves to be effects of specific record-keeping and filing practices. Files are not simply administrative tools; they mediate and process legal systems. The genealogy of the law described…


Book cover of The Keeper: Soccer, Me, and the Law That Changed Women's Lives

Haley Weaver Author Of Give Me Space but Don't Go Far: My Unlikely Friendship with Anxiety

From my list on graphic memoirs to make you feel seen.

Why am I passionate about this?

As a child, I was always drawn to stories told through both words and illustrations. Why should that have to end in adulthood? Spoiler: it doesn’t, because there are SO many incredible graphic memoirs and novels written with adult audiences in mind. As a graphic memoirist myself, I love to see how other artists explore the form. I share recommendations in this genre every month in my newsletter, Haley Wrote This

Haley's book list on graphic memoirs to make you feel seen

Haley Weaver Why Haley loves this book

I grew up as a competitive swimmer and struggled to put words to some of the feelings I had around being a female athlete, especially given how disconnected I felt from the history of women’s sports. This book hits both of those topics as the author shares her experience as a soccer player—to the point that I had to put down the book every once in a while and just sigh with relief.

Plus, the historical look at Title Nine was so informative and, quite frankly, shocking. 

By Kelcey Ervick ,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Keeper as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

From the New York Times Book Review,

"[R]eaders will certainly want to linger on the beautiful depictions of birds, people and scenes from her life. She weaves in historical context in graceful and necessary ways."

A beautifully illustrated coming-of-age graphic memoir chronicling how sports shaped one young girl’s life and changed women’s history forever.

Growing up playing on a top national soccer team in the 1980s, Kelcey Ervick and her teammates didn’t understand the change they represented. Title IX was enacted in 1972 with little fanfare, but to seismic effect; between then and now, girls’ participation in organized sports has…


If you love William H. Colby...

Ad

Book cover of My Book Boyfriend

My Book Boyfriend by Kathy Strobos,

Lily loves her community garden. Rupert wants to bulldoze it. When feelings grow, will they blossom or turn to rubble?

"It literally had everything! - Bookworm Characters - Humor - Banter - Swoon-worthy lines."  - Book Reviewer.

Book cover of Abortion in America: The Origins and Evolution of a National Policy

Marcia Biederman Author Of The Disquieting Death of Emma Gill: Abortion, Death, and Concealment in Victorian New England

From my list on abortion flourishing even when criminalized.

Why am I passionate about this?

Years ago, I wrote mystery novels featuring women investigators when that was new in the genre. Now, I discover stories of real-life women whose lives have a natural story arc that can engage the reader from start to finish. Like gambling and prostitution, abortion, when it was illegal in the US, as it is now again in many places, was simultaneously in your face and undercover. It was also largely practiced by women, which is why I’m fascinated by books about it.

Marcia's book list on abortion flourishing even when criminalized

Marcia Biederman Why Marcia loves this book

This book has a permanent place on my nightstand, where I reach for it whenever I need a pithy, brilliant reminder of how the US completed its late-nineteenth-century transformation from a country with no abortion laws to a place where abortion was banned everywhere at every stage.

I’m amazed that a book first published in 1978, long before the advent of the Internet, managed to marshal evidence from newspaper classified ads and forgotten trials to present a portrait of America where abortion was widespread but seldom dared to speak its name.

By James C. Mohr ,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Abortion in America as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

'The history of how abortion came to be banned and how women lost--for the century between approximately 1870 and 1970--rights previously thought to be natural and inherent over their own bodies is a fascinating and infuriating one.


Book cover of Dinner at God's House
Book cover of The Truth about Butterflies
Book cover of An Uncommon Friendship

Share your top 3 reads of 2025!

And get a beautiful page showing off your 3 favorite reads.

1,277

readers submitted
so far, will you?

5 book lists we think you will like!

Interested in law, ethics, and death?

Law 190 books
Ethics 152 books
Death 418 books