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Memoir

	Illness as Metaphor Author: Susan Sontag Special Recommendation from: Linda & Fran Memoir ISBN  0374174431 hrd 0312420137 ppr (+ others) This is an especially important book for cancer survivors and many of us have found great truths in it. A cancer patient herself when she was writing the book, Sontag shows how the metaphors and myths surrounding certain illnesses, especially cancer, add greatly to the suffering of the patients and often inhibit them from seeking proper treatment. By demystifying the fantasies surrounding cancer, Sontag shows cancer for what it is - just a disease.
	Intoxicated by my Illness and other Writings on Life and Death Author: Anatole Broyard Memoir ISBN  0449908348 ppr Anatole Broyard was a literary critic for the New York Times before he passed away from prostate cancer in 1990. His chapter "The Patient Examines the Doctor" will resonate with a lot of cancer patients.
	It's Always Something Author: Gilda Radner Memoir ISBN  038081322X ppr 0380710722 mppr This is about Gilda Radner's personal account of her struggle with ovarian cancer and her inspiring attempt to keep an upbeat attitude during her illness. Her discussion of a Santa Monica patient support group called the Wellness Community is the best part of the book and may be of interest to cancer patients and their families.
	After Cancer: A Guide to your New Life Author: Wendy S. Harpham Memoir ISBN  0060976780 ppr In a poignant introduction describing her illness, the author tells of the changes one must confront after treatment. She makes it clear that there is no special formula for recovery, and that timetables are of no particular consequence because everyone is different. Her useful Q&A format candidly addresses many central questions: long-term side effects, probability of recurrences, diet considerations, coping with depression.
	Autobiography of a Face Author: Lucy Grealy Special Recommendation from: Fran Memoir ISBN  0060569662 ppr This book will likely be a difficult read, but is wonderfully written and has much to offer cancer survivors, especially those who childhood cancer survivors who were physically disfigured by treatments. Diagnosed at age nine with Ewing's sarcoma, a cancer that severely disfigured her face, Grealy lost half her jaw, recovered after two and half years of chemotherapy and radiation, then underwent plastic surgery over the next 20 years to reconstruct her jaw.

	Walking Taylor Author: Brian Schrauger Special Recommendation from: Carolyn Memoir The father of a boy who was on the Ewing's Sarcoma ACOR list wrote this book. As a Ewing's survivor, I used to subscribe to that list, but realized that it was more for parents of children going through treatment now, and not a survivor list. While I was on the list, Brian would often update us with the most eloquent stories of everyday life with his son Taylor, who had a hemipelvectomy (radical amputation) of his left leg (the same surgery that my doc wanted to do on me). Brian would share his conversations with Taylor, which went from humorous to spiritual to heartbreaking, right up to the very end. This is an amazing book by an amazing father.
	Mango Days: A Teenager Facing Eternity Reflects on the Beauty of Life Author: Patty Smith Special Recommendation from: Carolyn Memoir The diary of Patty Smith, a teen who had non-Hodgkin's lymphoma and wrote extensively and eloquently about her treatments and the cancer's impact on her life.
	Mom's Marijuana: Life, Love and Beating the Odds Author: Dan Shapiro Memoir ISBN  0375708014 The book is written by a long-term Hodgkin's survivor who was diagnosed at 22 and wrote the book at 34. It's a series of essays on his experience with cancer, but also his experiences with family, love, kids, work, and all of life. Though at times the book may make you cry, it will make you laugh. Mostly, it was a great validation of the experiences of having cancer as a young person.

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