Radiation Days: The Rollicking, Lighthearted Story of a Man and His Cancer

Description

What's it worth to you to live another year? Writer, poet, foodie, and storyteller Lynn Hoffman considers that question in "Radiation Days," a memoir of his experience fighting throat cancer. "How many arrows will you put up with? How often are you willing to puke? What's a good day, no, what's a good enough day? Is there anything in your life that you care about so much that you'll let the archer shoot every day rather than take Death's hand? So far, there is something for me. There's my kid, there's poetry, and story-telling. There's the memory of teaching, eating, drinking, dancing, and being silly. There's the flight to Milan and the ferry to Staten Island. There's a love, there are friends. There's curiosity, vanity and even still, a bit of lust, a love of laughing. But I'm pretty thin and the price of time gets higher with each tick." In a memoir filled with fear, angst, triumph, and vulnerability, Hoffman creates an uplifting must-read for anyone who has ever battled something they were told was "unbeatable."

Lynn Hoffman: Lynn Hoffman taught at the Wine School of Philadelphia and is a former restaurant critic for Philadelphia Weekly. He founded the culinary arts program at Drexel University. He is the author of The Bachelor's Cat, Bang Bang and The Short Course in Beer. He lives in Philadelphia.

"Wryly humorous in a way that may bring others the courage to live life now. . . . Written in short vignettes, peppered with poetry and photographs throughout, this cancer memoir should spark high demand." Whitney Scott, Booklist "Unlike any of the many cancer survival memoirs now on the market. It mixes unapologetic intelligence with good will. . . . The book eases into the philosophy of what it means to be human, what is the measure a life's worth, and what is important enough to ask for your time when your time might be scarce. . . . The rest of us are the beneficiaries of what he learned." Chestnut Hill Local (Philadelphia) "Wryly humorous in a way that may bring others the courage to live life now. . . . Written in short vignettes, peppered with poetry and photographs throughout, this cancer memoir should spark high demand." Whitney Scott, Booklist "Unlike any of the many cancer survival memoirs now on the market. It mixes unapologetic intelligence with good will. . . . The book eases into the philosophy of what it means to be human, what is the measure a life's worth, and what is important enough to ask for your time when your time might be scarce. . . . The rest of us are the beneficiaries of what he learned." Chestnut Hill Local (Philadelphia)