The Bookshelf: March 15, 2016

Trib+Health is joining with respected books authority Kirkus Reviews to bring you select reviews of books of note in the field of health care. For more book reviews and recommendations, visit Kirkus.com.

READING AND WRITING CANCER: How Words Heal

by Susan Gubar

For cancer sufferers, words can lift the spirit. Literary scholar and memoirist Gubar … believes she has “been kept alive by a clinical trial and by the New York Times,” where she contributes the blog Living with Cancer. Reading about others’ experiences with the physical, emotional, and medical tolls of the disease, she writes, has made her feel less isolated. She recommends both, offering helpful advice for those who want to write and candid, insightful responses about the huge number of cancer memoirs — and fiction featuring cancer sufferers — that she has read. … Bright, upbeat, and empathetic, Gubar argues convincingly that words have the power to heal.

For the full review, visit kirkus.com.