WEEKLY READER: Our roundup of stories on death, mourning, and more

TOP STORIES

GWAR’s Dave Brockie gets a flaming Viking funeral – a report from Miriam Coleman at Rolling Stone

From Modern Loss: Mark Liebenow on losing his wife

INFOGRAPHIC: Cremation: it's the way to go, from Macrina Cooper-White on Huffington Post

“We Don’t Know Death: 7 Assumptions We Make about Dying”, from Pallimed

DEATH

James Brown’s body has been dismembered, moved 14 times – via Black America Web.

An unattended, unnoticed death: Andy Park of the Sydney Morning Herald reports

Death selfies from Izismile

Medical examiner writes memoir, Dennis Kelly of USA Today reports

Native American tribes want ancestors' scalps from German Old West museums -- via Melissa Eddy at the New York Times

MOURNING

In Boulder, Colorado, the homeless are dying -- and a recent ceremony honors their memories -- via Erica Meltzer of the Boulder Daily Camera

In Tablet Magazine, Sarah Ivry is not so fond of viral mourning

From Joel Mathis and Ben Boychuk of Newsday, a debate over the mourning of celebrity deaths

Funeral foods from Epicurious

Grief-support charity to close due to lack of funding – via the Desert Sun

Via Bob Garrison at KUSA: Robin Williams mourning post used as “click bait”

Cybermemorials, ‘Living Headstones,’ and other digital mourning practices – from Kyle Chayka at Newsweek

OBITS

How prominent will your obituary be? It's all in the timing, per Thomas Vinciguerra of the New York Times

Get it right: ESPN posts wrong photo, headline for dead race car driver – Robert Littal of Black Sports Online reports

FUNERALS

Sociologists see big changes in funeral industry, per Longwood University

Criminally neglectful funeral home story of the week – from KSAT-TV