Top 10 Books on Cancer
top-10-books-about-cancer
The Wounded Storyteller
Dr Susan Love's Breast Book
Dancing in Limbo
Picking Up the Pieces
There is no good card for this
under a desert sky
The Hardest Peace
Loose Screws and Skinned Knees
The fault in our stars
Drums Girls and Dangerous Pie
Type in the words "Books on Cancer" for an Amazon search and over 11,000 selections will pop up on your computer screen. I am a tad shy of 11,000 cancer books, but I do own one entire shelf of books about cancer because I am into light reading like that! With so much to choose from, how in the world does anyone know what books to purchase?
If you find yourself in that quandary, here is my list of top 10 cancer books. I've included fiction, nonfiction and memoir for those diagnosed with cancer and for those who love someone with cancer. These books have been helpful to me as a patient, to me as a mom explaining my cancer to my children, and to me as a woman who loves others in my life who are facing this disease.
Book I Quote The Most:
The Wounded Storyteller by Arthur W Frank.
This book is not for the faint at heart as it is a literary study of illness narrative. My daughter, Aleah, pointed me in the direction of this book while she was working on an illustrated authoethnography of chronic illness and disability for her graduate work. Yeah, not exactly a casual read, but it changed how I listen to other people who are sick and how I communicate my own cancer story.
Favorite Book During Treatment
This book is called the bible for women with breast cancer and with 700 pages it takes up a chunk of shelf space. I realize not everyone has breast cancer, but finding a specific book on a specific cancer is imperative for a person going through treatment.
Two Books For After You Finish Treatment:
Dancing in Limbo: Making Sense of Life After Cancer by Glenna Halvorson-Boyd and Lisa K Hunter
I was unprepared for the confusion and disorientation I experienced after I finished treatment. I found the chapters helpful as I began to re-create a life of meaning and purpose after cancer and to be okay with the fact that life would never return to "normal."
Picking Up The Pieces: Moving Forward After Surviving Cancer by Sherri Magee, Ph.D. and Kathy Scalzo, M.S.O.D.
This book contains assessment tools for analyzing the changes brought on by cancer, including the physical, emotional, spiritual and relational changes. The book challenges the reader to look at the positive effects of facing one's own mortality and moving forward into an uncertain future with courage and compassion.
Book for Those Who Love People Who Have Cancer:
There is No Good Card for This: What to Say and Do When Life is Scary, Awful, and Unfair to People You Love By Kelsey Crowe and Emily McDowell
Several of Emily McDowell's greeting cards are my go-to selections for people with cancer. My favorite is a card covered in lemons that says, "When Life Gives you Lemons, I Won't tell you a story about my cousin's friend who died of lemons." Yep. If you've had a serious diagnosis, you know why I love that card!
The book is a recent release (Jan 2017) and besides Emily's fantastic illustrations, it contains help for all of us who love people who are sick, including practical advice about empathy and compassion and how small gestures make a big difference.
Top Three Memoirs:
Under a Desert Sky: Redefining Hope, Beauty and Faith in the Hardest Places by Lynne Hartke
Of course this is my favorite memoir!!! Can't wait for it to be released in less than two months!!
The Hardest Peace by Kara Tippetts
I was first introduced to Kara when she wrote to a woman with terminal brain cancer, asking the woman to reconsider her decision of ending her life by doctor-assisted suicide. Kara's tender words were written by one who was herself facing terminal cancer as a wife, friend, and mom of four young children. There is peace from Christ in the midst of life's hard.
Loose Screws and Skinned Knees by Care Tuk
My friend, Alan Zaben introduced me to Care Tuk when I began the process of locating influencers for my book."You should talk to Care Tuk," Alan said.Care talks candidly of her eleven bouts with cancer in her book (it has since climbed to 14) and her near-death experience in a car crash after being hit by a drunk driver. She jokes about being held together by bolts, screws, titanium places and fishing line! Her words challenge everyone to turn obstacles and adversity into opportunities and adventure. I appreciate her story and her kind advice to me as a new author.
Top Two Fiction Books
The Fault in Our Stars by John Green
Three of my four children own this book, so that tells you something about the author's ability to write to the core of what people think about cancer. And being the awesome readers that we are, we discovered this gem long before Hollywood decided to make it into a movie.
Drum, Girls and Dangerous Pie by Jordan Sonnenblink
When I was first diagnosed and we were all stumbling around trying to figure out life, my youngest son placed this book on my pillow and suggested I read it. The young adult novel--written by a teacher--became a launching point for us to having important conversations about my cancer.
That is my list of 10. Some of the books have been on my shelf since the beginning. Others are new arrivals. What are your favorite books about cancer?