Books & Movies
We’ve compiled a collection of books and movies that may be of particular interest to our community. Here you’ll find personal memoirs, self-help and reference books, and books and films written and directed by members of our community.
We are always open to suggestions for additional books and movies about the heredtary breast and ovarian cancer experience. If you have suggestions, please send them to info@facingourrisk.org.
Click on the Featured Books & Movies tab to check out the newest books and movies along with some clasics.
Click on the Library Archive tab for previously featured books and movies.
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The Pink Moon Lovelies, Empowering Stories of Survival, by Nicki Boscia Durlester The Pink Moon Lovelies, Empowering Stories of Survival is a collection of stories highlighting the personal battles of 50 women, including survivors of breast and ovarian cancer and previvors with the BRCA gene mutation. Each story is compelling and has an important message to impart. This book grew out of the Facebook group, Beyond the Pink Moon, named after Durlester’s memoir that intimately chronicles her journey after a breast cancer diagnosis. |
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Confronting Hereditary Breast and Ovarian Cancer: Identify Your Risk, Understand Your Options, Change Your Destiny, by FORCE Executive Director, Sue Friedman, Rebecca Sutphen, M.D., and Kathy Steligo If you are concerned that the cancer in your family is hereditary, you face difficult choices. Confronting hereditary cancer is a complex, confusing and highly individual journey. Written by three passionate advocates for the hereditary cancer community who are themselves breast cancer survivors, this book dispels myths and presents practical decision making tools. With its unique combination of the latest research and expert advice, as well as compelling personal stories, this resource gives previvors, survivors, and their family members the guidance they need to face the unique challenges of hereditary cancer. |
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Leaving Long Island, by Fern Kupfer Leaving Long Island is the story of a woman whose life experiences includes the loss of a child,, the explosive end of a long marriage, and the discovery of a genetic inheritance endemic to the Ashkenazi Jewish population. This second-half-of-life memoir is a compelling narrative of both pain and happy second chances. Fern Kupfer’s work has appeared in Newsweek, Redbook, Family Circle, Woman’s Day, The Women’s Review of Books, The Chronicle of Higher Education, Parents and Cosmopolitan magazines. She was also the recipient for the Myrtle Wreath Award by the Nassau County Hadassah. |
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I’m Still Standing, by Wendy Watson I’m Still Standing is the inspiring life story of Wendy Watson who after losing her mother to breast cancer when she was just 16, and learning that nine other relatives had died of the disease, decided to do something no one else in the UK had ever done. Although little was known about the genetic link to breast cancer at the time, Wendy, at the age of 37, was the first woman in Britain to have a prophylactic double mastectomy to avoid the breast cancer that had stalked her family. Then, in 1996, Wendy set up the Hereditary Breast Cancer Helpline to offer support to others facing hereditary cancer. Today, she answers the Helpline phones, lectures on the subject around the country and is an advocate for those with hereditary cancer. |
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Survivor Magazine Survivor Magazine is a digital and print complement to the Breast Cancer Awareness Body Painting Project: A Fine Art & Photography Essay of Survivors. The BCABPP is a powerful project by photographer and artist Michael D. Michael. The accompanying magazines chronicle the beautiful art, womena and their stories. The magazine is available in hard copy and digital formats. The premier issue is available for free. |
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Kicking Cancer in the Kitchen, by Annette Ramke and Kendall Scott Kicking Cancer in the Kitchen is the bible for the woman who has been handed the cancer card--and for the one who never wants to get it. Authors Annette Ramke and Kendall Scott are cancer survivors, so they know exactly what it's like to deal with "the Big C." Here they share, girlfriend-style, real-life knowledge and experience about the healing power of food, along with their stories of cancer ups and downs with more than 100 recipes for fighting cancer and soothing symptoms of treatment. Whether someone is in the thick of "Cancer World" and wants to know what to expect, or for anyone who wants to do all they can to boost their health, Kicking Cancer in the Kitchen offers guidance on not only surviving, but thriving-before, during, and after cancer. |
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Cancer Time Bomb: How the BRCA Gene Stole My Tits and Eggs, by Joelle Burnette After finding out she tested positive for the BRCA genetic mutation, Cancer Time Bomb is Joelle Burnette’s non-fiction narrative about her prophylactic journey to becoming a “previvor” and free from breast and ovarian cancers. This powerful story chronicles Joelle’s 3-year odyssey as she justifies slicing away healthy parts of her body that have high odds of producing cancer. While pressured by surgeons and family to take drastic measures that would lessen cancer’s potential threat, she offers insight into what it feels like to face these decisions while not having cancer. |
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Now What?: A Patient’s Guide to Recovery after Mastectomy, by Amy Curran Baker In 2008, Amy Curran Baker was diagnosed with invasive ductal carcinoma and within three weeks of her diagnosis underwent a bilateral mastectomy with reconstruction. After her surgery, she had lots of questions, the same that most women will have. As an occupational therapist, she knew many of the answers but many more came from speaking with other women who had undergone similar procedures, from researching message boards and from a little bit of luck. This book provides information women need after mastectomy and reconstruction surgery so that they can focus on what matters most: healing and staying well. |
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Legacy for Donna, by Denise Rodda R.P.N. In this personal and gripping account of nursing her dying sister who lost her battle with hereditary cancer, Denise Rodda, a BRCA2 previvor, shares her insights from the experience and her plea for awareness of one’s family medical history. This book chronicles and examines the genetic predisposition in Denise Rodda’s family and explains the vital need for families to learn from their Preventative Health Genealogies and extended family tree. It is hoped that those dealing with a genetic cancer predisposition will give this book to their relatives who could benefit from this lesson. The book relegates compassion and understanding of a palliative death, sharing a family story so others can benefit from their personal lesson. A donation per book sold is given to the cancer care unit at the author’s local hospital. |
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Eating The Underworld, by Doris Brett When Doris Brett was diagnosed with ovarian cancer several years ago, she began writing a private journal - a traveler's diary through a life-threatening illness. Evocatively told via three voices - the diarist, the poet, and the voice of fairytale and myth, Eating The Underworld is a sharply observed, often unexpectedly funny book about change, transformation and the constant renewal of self throughout our lives. Extraordinary...Its bravery, irony, humor and intelligence - everything shines through the transparent prose...a remarkable literary voice, or melding of three voices--the autobiographical, the poetic, and the allegorical." Eating the Underworld is now available for the first time in the US via the Amazon Kindle. The author is donating 20% of all Kindle proceeds to FORCE. |
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Pieces of Me, by Veronica Neave Pieces of Me is a true, sometimes funny and sometimes difficult account of Veronica Neave’s journey from initial diagnosis as a BRCA2 gene mutation carrier and her decision to have a prophylactic bilateral mastectomy. Along the way, she shares her choices, insights and fears as she considers various perspectives and eventually finds inner peace.
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Off the Rack, by Genae Girard In this illuminating, heart-felt and bittersweet humorous book, cancer survivor Genae Girard shares her personal journey through the raw pain of a cancer diagnosis to a ‘new normal’ way of vital living. She reveals her innermost thoughts with a surprising candor and unique, quirky creativity to help others have a fresh perspective in understanding this life-changing disease. There is power in self-education, taking control of the medical treatment process and being able to get real in handling the scary stuff by keeping a sense of humor about it all. |
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What We Have, by Amy Boesky The stirring true story of a woman who chose fearlessness in the face of a fatal family legacy and discovered the pleasure of living each moment to its fullest. In What We Have, Boesky tells the story of one year in her family’s life. A year that is filled with wonderful and funny life changing moments – finding a dream house and having a new baby as well as life’s tragedies – the phone call from their parents disclosing their mother’s breast cancer. |
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The Breast Reconstruction Guidebook: Issues and Answers from Research to Recovery – Third Edition, by Kathy Steligo The Rx for understanding mastectomy and reconstruction. The Breast Reconstruction Guidebook is THE resource for women considering reconstructive surgery. 'Finally, women have a blueprint of the reconstruction process. They have choices. This book explains them all.' Sue Friedman, Exec. Dir. Facing Our Risk of Cancer Empowered (FORCE). |
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In the Family At 31, filmmaker Joanna Rudnick faces an impossible decision: remove her breasts and ovaries or risk incredible odds of developing cancer. Armed with a positive genetic test result that leaves her essentially 'a ticking time bomb,' she balances dreams of having her own children with the unnerving reality that she is risking her life by holding on to her fertility. In The Family follows Joanna as she takes us on a journey through the unpredictable world of predictive genetic testing. |
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Letters from Home explores fifteen basic American virtues in the form of letters to the authors’ four sons. More about Letters from Home ... The authors are donating their royalties to FORCE, Memorial Sloan Kettering, and Share Our Strength. |
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Positive Results is a comprehensive source of information and advice to help women (and some men) at high risk for breast and for ovarian cancer because of family history and genetic profile. More about Positive Results ... |
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In Mirror Makeovers Regina Savage talks about finding yourself, dealing with your emotions, and moving ahead one day at a time. More about Mirror Makeovers ... Use FORCE at checkout and a donation will be made to FORCE. |
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In Previvors Dina Roth Port addresses the universal questions of women everywhere who have watched family members suffer from the disease and wondered, "Am I next?" More about Previvors ... |
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