BookWoman
A Cancer Journal
by
Book Cover & Preview Text
This is a “little biography” of a lesser life—lesser by comparison with the megastars—and may be the beginning of a new literary form, a sociology of lesser cities not on the map of cultural capitals and the people who inhabit them, people who are sorely missed in those cities when they are gone, and who have often exhibited moral qualities of such a superior nature that Mother Teresa herself would applaud.
It’s not a how-to-grieve book… This is a journal of dying, about the day by day progression of cancer and it’s …a book about addiction and withdrawal.
Running [KB1] the bookstore was not an easy life. The hours were unbelievably long, with many details... But she loved it … the Bloomsday celebration, drinking Jamison’s Whiskey and reading from Joyce into the early hours…the Thomas Wolfe dinner that night when we were snowbound and everything seemed magical.
We had the scene to play. He [Dr. Jervis] was breaking the news… She looked like one of the great actresses…. Then Jervis went to get the X-rays from the CT scan. … They are quite beautiful, in a way. … Views of the aorta from the top.
We go abruptly from one routine that’s complicated enough (selling the house, packing, closing the bookstore) to another that includes the diagnosis and possible treatment for cancer. When we got into bed last night, she was crying a little. “I want to do the right thing,” she said; “I will try to be brave.” The part sob, part sigh when I hold her at night. How many nights are there? In the morning, she said,“ All my dreams....,”then left the sentence unfinished.
Undated Poem
We met in fingertips
Touching
Above a hero,
His life unwinding
On the Spindle,
I breathing you in,
Your heart,
Your artful flesh
The thing of my desire.
We lay in rust
On the fender of
A jeep,
Formats Book Details BookWoman is about Rosemary Latimore, a woman who loved books, and had a bookstore in Rosemary and her Poplar Street Books came along at the right time in But the book is also about what it was like losing her. We hear much about a war on cancer. This is more like the war cancer wages on us. And surviving that war. But in the end, it's not really about war. More about coming to terms with the universe through the kindness of grief. At first there was a searing of flesh and crushing of bone in the aftermath of death, and witnessing the little spirit linger for a while, then become one with a universal spirit of some kind. At least, that's the way it seemed. I didn't grasp the nature of love until I had nothing to grasp. After making inquiries into the nature of love, and working backwards from the grief I was feeling, I could see that love is an addiction. The release of chemicals like oxytocin and dopamine are the same as you get from using cocaine. When deprived of it, you're in withdrawal, an addict in need of a fix. Certain books are good for grief. Proust, for example. There's a lot of Proust here. If you've read Remembrance of Things Past, you'll see why, and want to throw your arms around your own Albertine, so strong will be your affection for her and her mysterious ways. The author earned a Ph.D. in Sociology from the City University of New York, and taught in His most recent book published was Children of Light, a study of a small millenarian and pacifistic sect found only in North and He is active in Veterans For Peace, is an elected official on the Woodfin Water Board, and is married to the tempestuous Kasha Baxter.
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