Self-Help Book and Memoir

Book Review, Author Interview, and Giveaway

Join us for this tour from May 10 to May 28, 2021!

 

Book Details:

Book Title Again: Surviving Cancer Twice with Love and Lists
Author:  Christine Shields Corrigan
Category:  Adult Non-Fiction (18+), 256 pages
Genre:  Memoir
Publisher:  Koehler Books
Release date:  Oct 2020
Content Rating:  PG-13. My book has some profanity and one non-explicit sex scene with my husband.

 

“This no-nonsense debut memoir recalls Corrigan’s
two-time battle with cancer and takes a pragmatic approach toward
guiding other patients. Candid, sagacious writing on illness and
adaptation.” –Kirkus Reviews

  Book Description

A breast cancer diagnosis at forty-nine forces Christine Shields Corrigan, a wife, mom, and meticulous list-maker, to confront her deepest fears of illness, death, and loss of control as she struggles to face cancer again. From the discovery of a “junky” cyst, to chemotherapy and surgery, sleepless nights filled with rosaries and “what ifs,” and shifting family dynamics, her adult experience mirrors her teen bout with Hodgkin’s lymphoma, with one exception—she no longer has parents keeping her in the dark.Self-Help Book and Memoir

With the ghosts of cancer past hovering around her, Chris falls into the same overprotective traps her taciturn Irish-Catholic parents created, striving to keep her family’s life “normal,” when it is anything but, and soldiering through on her own, until a neighbor’s unexpected advice and gift move her to accept others’ help. With fierce honesty, poignant
reflection, and good humor, Chris shares a journey filled with sorrow, grace, forgiveness, and resilience, as she winds her way through cancer for the second time. Again offers practical guidance and hope to individuals that they have the strength to forge a path beyond a diagnosis.

My Thoughts

 

This is a touching memoir told honestly and without seemingly holding much back. The format immediately caught my  interest, no doubt because I keep track of chores through lists.

Each chapter has a To-Do list under the heading.

CHAPTER 6

How Not to Tell Your Kids You Have Cancer

To Do 3/11 to 3/13

  • Take Tom to meet
  • Get pathology report again
  • Lunch w/Athena
  • Tell Kids

This unique introduction to each chapter pulled me in, as did Corrigan’s entire story of finding she had cancer for a second time. 

She goes back and forth sharing the first time she was diagnosed when she was 14, and then at 48 when she learns the bad news a second time

The story is told in what feels like a very honest, true, emotional rollercoaster ride that consists of getting on the ride, attempting to survive it while it’s happening, and then after disembarking discovering what might be helpful. 

It’s a book worth investigating, for sure.

My Concerns

None

Conclusion

Corrigan has constructed a well-written, informative memoir that won’t have any trouble holding your attention. Though it is honest and many times hard to read, I feel it’s a good tool for those suffering with cancer, and those who need to know what it’s all about so they can be understanding and helpful when needed.

My thanks to iRead Book Tours and the author for a copy of this book and the ability to post a review without stipulations.

Rating: ☆☆☆☆☆


Meet the Author and Interview

 

Christine Shields Corrigan is a two-time cancer survivor, wife, mom, and author of Again: Surviving Cancer Twice with Love and Lists. In addition to Again , Chris has published a number of lyrical and practical essays where she gives voice to the beautiful ordinary. Her work about family, illness, writing, and resilient survivorship has appeared in anthologies, magazines, and other publications including, The Brevity Blog, Grown & Flown, Horn Pond Review, The Potato Soup
Journal and Anthology, Purple Clover, Ravishly.com, Wildfire Magazine, and the Writer’s Circle 2 Anthology.

Chris’ essay, “Not Back to But Forward,” about how her cancer experiences helped her cope with COVID-19 is included in (Her)oics: Women’s Lived Experiences During the COVID-19 Pandemic (edited by Joanell Serra and Amy Roost), an anthology that draws together the stories of 52 women across the US during the Covid-19 pandemic (March 2021). A graduate of Manhattan College and Fordham University School of Law, Chris built a successful career as a labor and employment law
attorney and as a legal writer and editor. After surviving cancer in midlife, Chris became a freelance writer. She also teaches creative nonfiction writing for an adult education program, provides writing workshops for cancer support groups, and is the chair of the programming committee of the Morristown Festival of Books. She lives in New Jersey with her family.

Interview

  1. What inspired you to start writing?

I’ve been writing for most of my life, but the inspiration to write Again: Surviving Cancer Twice with Love and Lists has its roots my teenage experiences with Hodgkin’s disease when I wrote about my experiences every day in a black composition notebook as I waited for my radiation therapy appointment. After my treatment ended in 1981, I was a sophomore in high school. I was active in my school’s Speech and Drama Society and a member of the forensics team. I asked my speech coach if I could write an original speech about my Hodgkin’s experience, and she agreed.  I wrote the speech, practiced it so I could give it with emotion, but not tears, and eventually my coach entered me into an “original oratory” competition. I gave that speech once. And only once.

After the competition, I learned that, while the judges thought my presentation was excellent, none of them would give me a score on the speech’s content. It was too “personal,” “too hard,” “too emotional,” and “not fair” to score. My speech coach wouldn’t let me give the speech again. I put the typewritten pages in my desk along with my old notebook, and at some point, tossed them.

Thirty-five years later, I received my breast cancer diagnosis and began recording my story in a journal my daughter gave me. I didn’t know then that I’d eventually write a book, but I knew how important it was for me in 1981 to record my story, even if I didn’t share it as I’d wanted. As an adult, I also knew I would never heal unless I wrote about my experiences.

  1. What, in your opinion, are the most important elements of good writing?

In my view, the most important elements of good writing begin with good reading. To write well, you must read deeply and broadly—fiction, non-fiction, poetry, writing from diverse cultures, writing from many countries, both classic and modern works. I think the best writers also are the best readers. It’s through reading that one learns the difference between a good story and a great one; one begins to understand the universal themes that arise over and over in humanity’s words and experiences. Any great novel or even non-fiction has a clear narrative arc, a compelling plot, and interesting, detailed characters. But no writer can get to any of those this without a solid working knowledge of the elements of the craft of writing.

Good writing requires strong verbs. In How to Write an Autobiographical Novel by Alexander Chee, he recounts his time in a non-fiction class taught by Annie Dillard who shared the key to “vivid writing”—“Verbs, first. Precise verbs.” English is one of the most rich and vibrant languages in the world. Trust me, there’s a verb for what one wants to say, other than the verb to “be.”  The verb to “be” conveys only the existence of something. That verb to be must used in conjunction with the present participle (-ing verbs, running, hiding, shrieking, drinking, sleeping) to make something happen on the page. This style of writing is exhausting for the reader because the writing sounds like bells that are constantly ringing, ringing, ringing. I harp on this quite a bit whenever I teach my own non-fiction classes or writing workshops—because why use two verbs: “Johnny was running from second to third when he was tagged out”; when one would do: Johnny ran from second to third when the third baseman tagged him out.

This brings me to my next important element of good writing, which is write in the active voice. In active voice, the sentence’s subject does something: “Monique cast the line, and the sailboat drifted from the dock.” The reader knows who (Monique) did what (cast the line) and what happened (the boat sailboat drifted). And now, perhaps now, the reader wants to know what happens next.

Compare that to the passive voice where the subject is acted upon: “The line of the sailboat was cast by Monique onto the dock, and the sailboat drifted toward the harbor.”

What just happened? It took eight words to find Monique and then to figure out she did. Please avoid the passive voice.

Like the passive voice, good writing shuns adverbs—the words that modify verbs, adjectives, and other adverbs. They usually end in –ly and are utterly and completely unnecessary. Why? In our very rich language, a strong, precise verb exists to say in one word, what adverbs and flimsy verbs say in several.

David softly said, “Please turn the volume down, the baby’s napping.”

Softly said? What wrong with “whispered’?

“Sally shut the door loudly.” There’s a verb for that—slammed.

But don’t take my word for it. Invest in some craft books. Here are a couple of my favorites: On Writing by Stephen King, Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott; and On Writing Well by William Zinsser.

  1. Do you hear from your readers much? What do they say?

Yes, I do. Getting those emails or even stopped in the grocery store and having a conversation about Again is heart-warming. I wanted so much for Again to help others, for my stories to resonate with those going through similar experiences.

A few months ago, I received an email from a young survivor who had Hodgkin’s lymphoma as a teen who read Again. She wrote:

“I have lived in fear for years… anticipating that one day, I would face a secondary cancer linked to the treatments that had been administered. This led to many discussions with my care team to help me plan for the possibility.

Still, I could not shake the fear of possibly having to go through the cancer experience again.

That is, until I read your words.

Your words, your book, have helped me see that my biggest fear is something that can be managed if it comes into my life. It wouldn’t be easy, as I’m sure your experience wasn’t. But it would be possible.”

That was enough affirmation from the universe for me! That’s why I wrote Again.

  1. What is the key theme and/or message in the book?

When I’m asked why I wrote a book about cancer, I often reply that Again is more than a book about my cancer experiences. Plenty of people get cancer. In 2020, approximately1.8 million people were diagnosed with some form of cancer. Over the last year, our nation collectively has suffered extraordinary loss—loss of life, loss of connections with family and friends, loss of work, loss of education. Loss, grief, and illness are part of our human condition. But, in my view, those losses aren’t defining, but how we respond to them are. Again is about courage, strength, hope, and resilience, all of which are qualities and skills that helped me over this long year. I hope that my experiences help others find their own path and their own transformation even through something that is hard and frightening.

  1. If you were stuck on a deserted island, which three books would you want with you?

If I were stuck on a deserted island, I would want to have a copy of the Bible with me because it has every genre of writing and every shade of human joy and suffering in it. I would also want to have a copy of Devotions by Mary Oliver, which a collection of most of her work. I love her poetry—it can transport you anywhere. Last, I would want either a copy of Emma by Jane Austen or Little Women by Louisa May Alcott, which are my most favorite novels.

  1. What book is currently on your bedside table?

Walking with Ghosts by Gabriel Byrne. It’s a delightful memoir.

  1. Do you listen to audiobooks? If so, are there any you’d recommend?

Yes, I do listen to audiobooks. I love to listen to them when I’m driving, cooking dinner, traveling, or walking the dog. Audiobooks allow me to read multiple books at a time. Recently, I’ve enjoyed the following audiobooks: Eleanor by David Michaelis; The Yellow Wife by Sadeqa Johnson; The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab; and The Splendid and the Vile by Erik Larsen. I’m currently listening to The Code Breaker by Walter Isaacson.

Connect with the author:  Website  ~  Twitter  ~  Facebook ~ instagram


Tour Schedule:

 

May 10 – Cover Lover Book Review – book spotlight / giveaway
May 10 – Working Mommy Journal – book spotlight / giveaway
May 11 –Rockin’ Book Reviews – book review / guest post / giveaway
May 12 – Pick A Good Book – book review / author interview / giveaway
May 13 – Jazzy Book Reviews – book spotlight / guest post / giveaway
May 14 – Sefina Hawke’s Books – book spotlight
May 14 – Books for Books – book spotlight
May 17 – Book World Reviews – book review
May 17 – Literary Flits – book spotlight / giveaway
May 18 – A Mama’s Corner of the World – book review / giveaway
May 19 – Locks, Hooks and Books – book review / giveaway
May 19 – Books Lattes & Tiaras – book spotlight / giveaway
May 20 – jayme_reads – book review
May 20 – Olio by Marilyn – book spotlight / author interview
May 20 – Olio by Marilyn – book review / giveaway
May 24 – Lamon Reviews – book spotlight / author interview / giveaway
May 25 – Laura’s Interests – book review / giveaway
May 26 – Kam’s Place – book review
May 27 – Deborah-Zenha Adams – book spotlight / guest post / giveaway
May 27 – Leels Loves Books – book review / giveaway
May 28 – Adventurous Jessy – book review / giveaway

Enter the Giveaway:

 

AGAIN: Surviving Cancer Twice with Love and Lists Book Tour Giveaway

 

 

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6 Comments

  1. Thank you so much for your kind words and sharing Again with your readers!

  2. Oh wow..I think this will be an amazing read. Very inspiring! Thanks for sharing!

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