Between the Lines discussion

Fiona, I'm actually liking Siff quite a bit. There are, of course, some pretty disgusting parts but I think Mary roach is a really good writer and she gives a lot of fascinating information. I just finished chapter 3 and it sounds like you're on chapter 5. Chapter 4 is Dead Man Driving and I imagine this is where using corpses as "crash test dummies" comes in. Anyway, I was reading Stiff while I was waiting for my son at the dentist office and lets just say I got to a part where I was grateful that I hadn't eaten breakfast! Re: what I plan on doing with my body after I'm dead I'm a registerd organ donor and whatever's not used will be cremated in whatever container works! Hopefully there won't be very much of me left because I'd be happy for all of my organs to be useful to a lot of people.

I quite fancy an Egyptian-painted pod left somewhere in the woods.

I don't care what happens to me. I'll be dead so I won't know. I just hope people don't waste a lot of money on a funeral.

I would love a Viking funeral. Definitely. Just put me in a boat, set it on fire, and push me out to sea! But since that's not legal any place I know of, it will be cremation. My husband wants to be donated to a medical school.

That sounds beautiful Marsha.

Thanks, Petra. And Fiona, I chose cremation because I really hate the idea of being put into the ground, although the way you plan to do it does sound a lot better than a standard burial. I have a friend who wants to be buried in a cardboard coffin with an English oak planted at his head.

On the other hand, there is a company that will turn your ashes (or your pet's ashes) into diamonds, and my friend Barbara wants to be made into jewelry for her kids and grandkids!

Fiona wrote: "I really hate the idea of burning. No idea why. So instead, I will be very green and become compost. Which apparently means I will first be freeze dried and then broken up into pieces using ultra-s..."

I couldn't help but add my 2 cents here. I just finished a book by Jody Summers called Dark Canvas about an artist that uses the ashes of your deceased loved one in a painting. The story is fiction based on a real artist that does this type of work.

IMO, Stiff is the best of her books - the others that I know of are Bonk and Spook. I really liked it. I mean, essentially, it's gross-out fun for grown-ups!

Marsha wrote: "... I chose cremation because I really hate the idea of being put into the ground..."

Me too. I'd rather be ashes than food for maggots and worms.

I put this on my TBR. It will have to be after my 100 that I read this year, but did sneak if off to my dad to find me a used copy. My personal book hunter.

Burials at sea are amazing!

I definitely want to be cremated. Being buried under ground freaks me out (not that I would know, of course). I still haven't finished Stiff b/c there's been too much death around me lately.

Fiona wrote: "I am definitely putting myself down for human compost! Cremation is such a pointless waste when you could be doing something useful with your dead body."

In our Hindu culture in India we believe that cremation should be done and organs should not be taken out of the body before they are cremated.

I bought this now I need to read it.

Kolahala wrote: "Fiona wrote: "I am definitely putting myself down for human compost! Cremation is such a pointless waste when you could be doing something useful with your dead body."

In our Hindu culture in India we believe that cremation should be done and organs should not be taken out of the body before they are cremated."

Flying my body back to the UK from the West Indies would be $5K and up, so I would probably have a sea burial. However, I read that in Florida you can get cremated and then cast, with concrete, into some sort of organic shape which then gets a plate put on with your name and thrown into the sea with lots of others that become an artificial reef for coral to grow on and fishies to get a new piece of real estate. I really fancy that.

I enjoyed this book. After watching Michael Jackson's memorial yesterday where the centerpiece was a $25,000 coffin, I definitely want to be cremated. What a waste of money.

Well, I'm slightly late but I'm currently reading Packing For Mars which only came to my bookstore this August.Though it's an easy read but I haven't been quick to finish it because it's such an enjoyment that it makes you want to savour it slowly. It's strange how quirky the book is that it makes you wonder if the facts are fictitious sometimes..