I Had Brain Surgery, What's Your Excuse?: An Illustrated Memoir
Becker, Suzy
ISBN 10: 0761124780 ISBN 13: 9780761124788
Published by Workman Pub Co, 2004
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Hardcover
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Greenworld Books, Arlington, TX, U.S.A.
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About this Item
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Synopsis:
Now in paperback, the ingenious illustrated memoir that is widely praised:
“Hilarious, hell-raising, and frequently heart-wrenching.” —Booklist
“[A] unique tragicomedy of a memoir . . . The author is so likable, even in her darkest hour, that as you applaud her recovery you also realize you’ll miss looking after her.” —Entertainment Weekly (“A” rating)
“Compelling reading . . . Becker has turned one person’s experience into a universal story of family, healing, and the return to creativity.” —Library Journal (starred review)
“A wonderful book, funny and touching, harrowing and sweet.” —Anne Lamott, author of Bird by Bird
For years Suzy Becker, author of the New York Times bestseller All I Need to Know I Learned from My Cat (1.7 million copies in print), literally lived by her wits. Then brain surgery left her temporarily unable to speak, read, or write. I Had Brain Surgery, What's Your Excuse? is a story that grapples with the question “What makes me me?” By turns philosophical and whimsical, rivetingly dramatic and unexpectedly light, it is illustrated with drawings, charts, pseudoserious graphs, real EEGs. The result is a book filled with insights into creativity, identity, love, relationships, family, and that intangible something that gives each of us our spark.
“Hilarious, hell-raising, and frequently heart-wrenching.” —Booklist
“[A] unique tragicomedy of a memoir . . . The author is so likable, even in her darkest hour, that as you applaud her recovery you also realize you’ll miss looking after her.” —Entertainment Weekly (“A” rating)
“Compelling reading . . . Becker has turned one person’s experience into a universal story of family, healing, and the return to creativity.” —Library Journal (starred review)
“A wonderful book, funny and touching, harrowing and sweet.” —Anne Lamott, author of Bird by Bird
For years Suzy Becker, author of the New York Times bestseller All I Need to Know I Learned from My Cat (1.7 million copies in print), literally lived by her wits. Then brain surgery left her temporarily unable to speak, read, or write. I Had Brain Surgery, What's Your Excuse? is a story that grapples with the question “What makes me me?” By turns philosophical and whimsical, rivetingly dramatic and unexpectedly light, it is illustrated with drawings, charts, pseudoserious graphs, real EEGs. The result is a book filled with insights into creativity, identity, love, relationships, family, and that intangible something that gives each of us our spark.
Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.:
Pre—Chapter One
P R O C R A S T I N A T I O N
TERRY GROSS (host of National Public Radio’s Fresh Air): My guest is
Suzy Becker, author of I Had Brain Surgery, What’s Your Excuse? She is
also the author of three other books, including All I Need to Know I
Learned from My Cat, an international bestseller in the 1990s. Suzy,
in addition to being a writer, you are a small-business owner, teacher—
ME: Was.
TG: —AIDS bike-a-thon organizer. Writing’s not exactly a sideline, but
your life isn’t the quiet, contemplative writer’s life some might imagine . . .
ME: I discovered writing at the end of my career as a cat whisperer—
TG: There’s nothing about that in your bio.
I made it up—I’m making the whole thing up. It’s a form of procrastination, I
guess—making up interviews with myself on National Public Radio when I
should be working on my book.
TG: I’m going to disappoint a lot of listeners when I admit I was not a
fan of your cat book—I’m not a cat person or a big fan of gift books
in general, or whatever they call that genre. Your new book is altogether
different, not an All I Need to Know I Learned from My CAT
Scan . . .
ME: It still makes a nice gift—[wait, she should say that.]
TG: It’s nonfiction, very personal, a memoir of sorts. . . . People may
think, brain surgery—who wants to read about that?! I wanted to
tell you—I could relate to so much of what you wrote about and I
haven’t even had brain surgery! [We laugh.] You actually began
working on this book while you were still recovering, is that correct?
ME: That draft ended up being more like notes than a book.
TG: I’m curious, at what point did you know—when the neurosurgeon
told you you had a tumor and you were going to need brain surgery—
devastating news for most of us—as a writer, was there some
little part of you that said, “I’m going to get a book out of this”?
ME: Terry, I’m a writer, not an alien. [I AM an alien. Writers don’t waste
valuable writing time making up interviews.] I was devastated by the
\ news. As a writer, I think I knew I’d write about it as a way to
record the experience, maybe get some perspective, but . . .
TG: So, you were this perfectly healthy person: You were—I should say
are athletic, you play volleyball, do these biking marathons, then in
May of ’99 you have a seizure. . . .
P R O C R A S T I N A T I O N
TERRY GROSS (host of National Public Radio’s Fresh Air): My guest is
Suzy Becker, author of I Had Brain Surgery, What’s Your Excuse? She is
also the author of three other books, including All I Need to Know I
Learned from My Cat, an international bestseller in the 1990s. Suzy,
in addition to being a writer, you are a small-business owner, teacher—
ME: Was.
TG: —AIDS bike-a-thon organizer. Writing’s not exactly a sideline, but
your life isn’t the quiet, contemplative writer’s life some might imagine . . .
ME: I discovered writing at the end of my career as a cat whisperer—
TG: There’s nothing about that in your bio.
I made it up—I’m making the whole thing up. It’s a form of procrastination, I
guess—making up interviews with myself on National Public Radio when I
should be working on my book.
TG: I’m going to disappoint a lot of listeners when I admit I was not a
fan of your cat book—I’m not a cat person or a big fan of gift books
in general, or whatever they call that genre. Your new book is altogether
different, not an All I Need to Know I Learned from My CAT
Scan . . .
ME: It still makes a nice gift—[wait, she should say that.]
TG: It’s nonfiction, very personal, a memoir of sorts. . . . People may
think, brain surgery—who wants to read about that?! I wanted to
tell you—I could relate to so much of what you wrote about and I
haven’t even had brain surgery! [We laugh.] You actually began
working on this book while you were still recovering, is that correct?
ME: That draft ended up being more like notes than a book.
TG: I’m curious, at what point did you know—when the neurosurgeon
told you you had a tumor and you were going to need brain surgery—
devastating news for most of us—as a writer, was there some
little part of you that said, “I’m going to get a book out of this”?
ME: Terry, I’m a writer, not an alien. [I AM an alien. Writers don’t waste
valuable writing time making up interviews.] I was devastated by the
\ news. As a writer, I think I knew I’d write about it as a way to
record the experience, maybe get some perspective, but . . .
TG: So, you were this perfectly healthy person: You were—I should say
are athletic, you play volleyball, do these biking marathons, then in
May of ’99 you have a seizure. . . .
"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.
Bibliographic Details
Title: I Had Brain Surgery, What's Your Excuse?: An...
Publisher: Workman Pub Co
Publication Date: 2004
Binding: Hardcover
Condition: good