“Furnishing Eternity,” former BJ columnist David Giffels’ latest book, will be available from Amazon January 2 although you can pre-order.

It’s promoted as “a vibrant, heartfelt memoir about confronting mortality, surviving loss, finding resilience in one’s Midwest roots and seeking a father’s wisdom through an unusual woodworking project—constructing his own coffin.”

Yes, David and his father, Tom Giffels, worked on dad’s coffin for several years. And had an ad hoc philosophy class in rural Ohio.

Dave and five centuries of BJ experience left at the same time in 2008.

Dave also has published:

“All the Way Home: Building a Family in a Falling-Down House,” about the 1913 Tudor house that David and wife Gina Giffels bought for $65,000 and renovated a home with six fireplaces, a solarium and a billiards room.

“The Hard Way on Purpose: Essays and Dispatches From the Rust Belt,” about the demise and migration from the rubber capital of America of all those Goodyear, Firestone and Goodrich jobs.

“Are We Not Men? We Are Devo,” about the Ohio rock band. A natural seque since Dave handles guitar and vocals for the local May Company rock band with Dave “Doc” Rich, Pat McNulty and “Friday” Mike Wilkinson.

David and wife Gina have two children, Evan and Lia. David became an English professor at the University of Akron.

Dave will be pushing his book at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, January 4 at the Akron-Summit main library auditorium in downtown Akron. Three days later, there will be “An Evening With David Giffels” at the downtown Akron main library at 7 p.m. Thursday, January 7.

Here’s an interesting trivia note:

In 2007, Ol’ Blue Walls had the No. 2 AND No. 3 newspaper columnists, according to the National Society of Newspaper Columnists. Dave was second, Bob Dyer third. The Hartford Courant’s Susan Campbell was No. 1.