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From my husband regarding his late father:

Dad was always reading something.  When we picked up the area around his chair, I took a moment to record the books that he had gathered around him at the time that he died.  This is what I found:

Born to Kvetch by Michael Wex.  This is a very colorful history of the Yiddish language.  I know he read this before, and he sent me a copy in 2006.  I think he was re-reading it.

What Paul Meant by Garry Wills

Rogers and Hammerstein:  Melody Line, Chords and Lyrics for Keyboard – Guitar – Vocal, by Williamson Music.

Oxymoronica: Paradoxical Wit and Wisdom from History’s Greatest Wordsmiths, by Dr. Mardy Grothe

Viva la Repartee: Clever Comebacks and Witty Retorts from History’s Great Wits and Wordsmiths by Dr. Mardy Grothe

How to Talk to a Liberal (if you must) by Ann Coulter.  My brother got this book by super-provocative conservative iconoclast Ann Coulter for my dad, based on Dad’s conservative ideological bent.   Actually, my dad talked to liberals all the time, but I doubt he talked to them about Ann Coulter….

A History of Rome under the Emperors, by Theodor Mommsen. 

Perspectives on History: A Newsmagazine of the American Historical Association, 46:7, October 2008.

In Defense of History by Richard J. Evans

The History of Pugachev by Alexander Pushkin

Rural Panic in Revolutionary France: The Great Fear of 1789 by Georges Lefebvre

Philipps’ Book of Great Thoughts and Funny Sayings by Bob Phillips

Guitar Chord Bible by Phil Capone

Jesus and Yahweh: The Names Divine by Harold Bloom.  The great cultural curmudgeon holds forth on matters divine. 

The Kings Depart: The Tragedy of Germany: Versailles and the German Revolution by Richard M. Watt

Crisis in Europe 1560-1660 edited by Trevor Aston

Silver City’s Bear Mountain Lodge: The Untold Story by Donna Eichstaedt.  Donna Eichstaedt was both our neighbor in Normal, Illinois and a student of my father’s at Illinois State University. 

Mysterium Coniunctionis by C. G. Jung

History and Theory vol 45, no. 4, 2008

Bowling Alone by Robert D. Putnam.  This is a book about the decline of collective activities and the atomization of U.S. society.  I believe this may have been the last book he read, though I couldn’t say whether or not he finished it.  It shows that, right to the end, he was curious and interested about the world going on around him. 

Obituary. Wake memorial service.  Final resting place. Music playlist at wake.  Final Netflix queue.