It's Your Funeral!

Putting the fun in funeral! This is a recommended purchase for all general nonfiction collections. Pairs well with Caitlyn Doughty's titles.

If you like Caitlin Doughty's death positive message then you'll appreciate this book. You might even be able to get the more funeral squeamish people in your life to open up by sharing it. It was a fun, light read about a heavy topic.

Fun, informative and uplifting, this book covers a wide range of topics related to dying, including cultural and religious traditions, cost and eco implications and songs/readings/epitaphs.
It's written in a well considered tone - not too serious but keeping things factual and as light as possible. Highly recommended, perfect for opening up conversations with our loved ones about our final wishes.

Since many people are resistant to having conversations about death and funerals, this book is a good option. It hits many of the important decisions regarding someone's passing, but with a more light-hearted tone than most literature. A good place to get started.

Net Galley Feedback

Truly a fun read. It's one of those books that I think fans of My Favorite Murder would enjoy. It has a very Murderino vibe to it. The humor is dark without being hopeless, the advice is incredibly insightful, highly recommended. 5/5, 9/10.

No one likes talking about funerals or thinking about the death of loved ones, but these are topics we should be discussing more often. They certainly have been of late in Sophie’s family with some relatives recently sharing their decisions to pre-purchase cremation plans and others updating their wills. That’s why, when Sophie spotted It’s Your Funeral!: Plan the Celebration of a Lifetime—Before It’s Too Late by Kathy Benjamin she knew she had to read it. What she didn’t expect was for it to be laugh-out-loud funny!

It’s Your Funeral is a book that aims to “demystify death, decrease your anxiety, and put the fun back in funeral.” The brightly colored and fun (honestly) book looks at every aspect of funerals from ancient traditions to ideas so modern you’ve probably never heard of them—plastification and body farms anyone? It asks questions Sophie hadn’t even thought about such as which burial methods are the most eco-friendly, explores how to manage your digital legacy (and what you might want to think about protecting from sensitive eyes), and even invites you to think about what songs you’d like to have played at your funeral and the clothes you’d like to be buried in. For the record, if anyone tries to lay Sophie to rest wearing pantyhose—she’s coming back to haunt you. Speaking of hauntings, one page even offers tips on how best to plan for that if it’s a personal goal!

All throughout the book are work pages with space for you to write down your thoughts, ideas, and wishes. You can describe what you’d like done with your ashes (did you know that having them turned into tattoo ink, a vinyl record, or even a firework are all options?), list items you’d like to take with you to the great beyond and where you’d like them placed on your body, make a note of readings you’d like spoken and by whom, and even write your own epitaph and/or obituary. All throughout, the book encourages you to have fun—it’s YOUR funeral after all. Have you thought about what photos of you your loved ones might use for future obituaries or service sheets? Why not leave a folder on your computer titled “Photos Where I Look Super Hot to Use After I’m Dead” with some of your favorites in? Or why not request that your family form a flash mob and “perform an intricately choreographed interpretive dance to Adele’s Someone Like You every year on the anniversary of your death”? It’s really up to you!

This is a book that really got Sophie thinking. It’s one she would like to buy for several people she knows, but also feels slightly awkward about doing so—”Hey! Happy birthday! Here’s a book about planning your funeral…” For now, she’s working through several of the worksheets herself and making sure to talk to her family about her (and their) wishes. She recommends you do the same.