{"product_id":"preparation-for-death-book-greg-baxter-9780141048444","title":"A Preparation for Death","description":"'Traditional autobiography is composed after the experience has passed. I wrote this book in the very panic of the experiences that inspired it ... '  In his early thirties, Greg Baxter found himself in a strange place. He hated his job, he was drinking excessively, he was sabotaging his most important relationships, and he was no longer doing the thing he cared about most: writing. Strangest of all, at this time he started teaching evening classes in creative writing - and his life changed utterly.  A Preparation for Death is a document of the chaos and discovery of that time and of the experiences that led Greg Baxter to that strange place - an extraordinarily intimate account of literary failure (and its consequences), personal decay, and redemption through reading, writing, and truth-telling. Studded with vivid, loving portraits of the people closest to him - his Austrian grandmother, who narrowly survived the Second World War; his mother and father, both described with heartbreakingly close attention; and his cousin Walter, whose own demons provide a striking counterpoint to the author's - it is above all a stunningly vivid and searching self-portrait: possibly the most honest book you'll ever read.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49567393743121,"sku":"GOR003043466","price":13.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49663441371409,"sku":"GOR005623246","price":17.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ WELL_READ \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":52099267363089,"sku":"GOR011587045","price":13.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ LIKE_NEW \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":52965389697297,"sku":"GOR011534648","price":13.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0141048441.jpg?v=1751448805","url":"https:\/\/www.worldofbooks.com\/products\/preparation-for-death-book-greg-baxter-9780141048444","provider":"World of Books ","version":"1.0","type":"link"}