The textbook quoted extensively from Lewis.

Then the textbook is way better than the reading list!

And I just thought of two picture books for children that deal with the subject very movingly (surely better than the damn Notebook!):

Annie and the Old One

The Two of Them

So, I have an assignment for class. I must choose and read a book (fiction or non-fiction) related to grief and bereavement.

Joy Luck Club

Marley and Me

I'd prefer Sarah's Key to Winter Garden.

Let the Great World Spin has multiple storylines about grief.

There's Revolution, which is bad history, but good writing. I thought the opening, which deals more with grief/bereavement than the rest, was really good.

Oh duh, one of my favorites, John Irving's A Widow for One Year. Actually probably any Irving. Or any Amy Tan.

Also, Paul Auster's The Book of Illusions.

Isn't The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion supposed to be very good?

It is very good. And more straightforward than Blue Nights, which is also about memory and aging.

There's also About Alice by Calvin Trillan.

I must choose and read a book (fiction or non-fiction) related to grief and bereavement.

Her suggestions: Making Rounds With Oscar, Winter Garden, The Help, Watering the Elephants, Any Jody Picoult Book, The Notebook, Bed Number 10

I will admit to being skeptical of this list. Anyone have any ideas?

Yeah, that is a weird list! There are so many books about grief and bereavement, I don't even know where to start. I mean, it's one of the most common themes in literature. Anyway, a couple of 2011 nonfic books that come to mind: Joyce Carol Oates, A Widow's Story; Meghan O'Rourke, The Long Goodbye; Julian Barnes, Nothing to be Frightened Of (though I think that one might be more specifically about death than grief itself).

Also, off the top of my head, probably half of Anne Tyler's books are about dealing with grief and loss, among other things. Morgan's Passing is the first one that comes to mind, but I seem to recall it's a major theme in many of her other books too.

I recommend Tear Soup. It's a picture book about grieving, explaining it to children but it's really good for adults too.

The main character has lost someone close (never says who) and it goes to explain that some days are harder than others, and sometimes people don't know what to say to someone who is grieving. it talks about how everyone grieves differently and how it never goes away.

There's also About Alice by Calvin Trillan.

I sobbed all the way through About Alice, because I had read all his books and felt like I knew them.

Madeleine L'Engle's Two-Part Invention, about her marriage and her husband's death, is excellent.

Sarah's Key would definitely work, though parts of it feels very much like a Hallmark movie.

Also The Book Thief. The story is told by Death, but it's about a young girl dealing with the death of her brother.