suicide

In Working Stiff, Judy Melinek provides a fascinating look into the work of a New York City medical examiner. Never sensational, Melinek describes some of the more interesting autopsies she’s performed, how she dealt with the families of the deceased, and cases that landed her at crime scenes and in courtrooms—all surprising aspects of this occupation that I had never considered.

The grueling, heartbreaking, and necessary work of her office during and after 9/11 is undeniable. And Melinek shares her role in those events openly and honestly. While a successful medical examiner must hold her

Another beautiful, intelligent, sensitive teenager has killed her self. The media blames the bullies at Emma Putnam's new school that refused to accept her, that kept her on the fringe. The used words like slut and whore, they left notes and signs on her locker, they found her on social media...they drove her to suicide.



But that is just one side of the story.



Sara Wharton's life came crashing down the day Emma committed suicide. Identified as one of the bullies, Sara faces some very serious charges in court. But it wasn't her fault, Emma wasn't exactly nice to her, and even though Sara

Thirteen Reasons Why focuses on the subject of teen suicide. 

Hannah Baker, a freshman, has committed suicide.  But, why?  It is a question that is always asked but many times has no answer.  This time, however, Hannah wants a chosen few to have that answer.  She wants thirteen people to know how their actions affected her and ultimately caused her to make the decision to end her own life.

Clay Jensen, also a freshman, doesn’t understand why he has received the tapes from Hannah.  In his mind, he’s done nothing wrong, certainly nothing serious enough to have been one of the reasons for

So yesterday I was reading at the gym, and I am just about to the end of my book and something horrible happens. It starts with a little catch in my throat, then I can feel my eyes starting to fill up...and I realize that I am about to cry over a book in public. And not just anywhere, at the gym, in front of all the ladies going to zumba and the body builders lifting weights. I avoided the full out break down (thank goodness a character didn't die or I would have had to leave immediately and go cry in my car) and I hope that anyone who saw just thought I was sweating from my eyeballs from my

I read It's Kind of a Funny Story by Ned Vizzini years ago but the story has always stuck with me, I think it was something I could really relate to. It's about a guy who is at the top of his class at his public school. He is a pretty competitive person (at least academically) and he desperately wants to get into this very elite prep school, probably more for the challenge of getting accepted than actually going.

Well he makes it into the school, but unlike his public school this one is filled with geniuses. This is when he begins to think that perhaps he isn't all that smart, isn't all that

Books that don’t match their descriptions are extremely annoying, and this one especially so. The book jacket says, “It is extremely funny, but the African beach scene is horrific.” And the beach scene really is exceedingly horrific. Unfortunately, the comic relief I was led to expect never followed. I failed to be even slightly amused by this story of Little Bee, a Nigerian refugee, whose life becomes entangled with a vacationing English couple.

That isn’t to say this isn’t a good book. After Little Bee’s entire family is killed, her sister in an especially horrid way, Little Bee stows away