Librarians cope by reading. When I was diagnosed, I checked out everything our public library had on breast cancer, all nineteen books, and read them in about two weeks. Some helped, some frightened me and a few were out of date. These are the ones I'd hand you across the desk. Your public librarian can find them for you, and can order them from another library if yours doesn't have them. That's what we're there for.

SHELF 1. UNDERSTANDING IT

Dr. Susan Love's Breast Book, by Susan M. Love with Karen Lindsey. Second edition, 1995.

If you read one book, make it this one. Clear, thorough and kind, written by a surgeon who talks to you like a grown-up. I took it to every appointment with sticky notes on the pages.

The free booklets from the American Cancer Society and the National Cancer Institute.

Don't turn up your nose at a pamphlet. They're short, they're current, and your doctor's office usually has a rack of them.

SHELF 2. WOMEN WHO WENT FIRST

First, You Cry, by Betty Rollin. 1976.

A television reporter's account of her own mastectomy, written when nobody talked about breast cancer out loud. It's funny and furious and more than twenty years old, so skip the medical details and read it for her honesty.

The Cancer Journals, by Audre Lorde. 1980.

A poet writing about her breast cancer. Strong and challenging. I read it twice and argued with it both times, which is what a good book is for.

Refuge: An Unnatural History of Family and Place, by Terry Tempest Williams. 1991.

About her mother's cancer and the rising Great Salt Lake and the birds she loves. Not a breast cancer book, exactly, but the most beautiful book on this shelf.

SHELF 3. FOR THE SPIRIT

Kitchen Table Wisdom, by Rachel Naomi Remen. 1996.

Short true stories by a doctor who has lived with a chronic illness herself. Perfect for chemo days, when I couldn't hold on to anything longer than five pages.

Anatomy of an Illness, by Norman Cousins. 1979.

An editor's account of being very sick and deciding to be a partner in his own recovery. My husband read it to me in the evenings.

SHELF 4. NOT ABOUT CANCER AT ALL

Sometimes the best medicine is a story that has nothing to do with you. From my middle school shelves:

• The Anne of Green Gables books by L.M. Montgomery. My radiation companions.
• Holes by Louis Sachar, this year's Newbery Medal winner. My students were right about it.
• The Harry Potter books by J.K. Rowling. The third one came out here this month and I read it in one Saturday, with my feet up, feeling perfectly well.

Recommend a book to me: [email protected]
Last updated 9/14/99 · Back to Renewed