Simon & Schuster is introducing a new summer reading series this year in the Hamptons.
The theme of the series is "power, perseverance and resilience of women." The content includes lectures from A House In the Sky author Amanda Lindhout, Life By The Cup author Zhena Muzyka and Brain On Fire author Susannah Cahalan.
The talks kick off on June 26th and run through August 18th. The series will take place at the Westhampton Beach Performing Arts Center (WHBPAC) located in Westhampton, New York. Books & Books Westhampton Beach will be selling books at the event. Follow this link to check out the entire schedule.
New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.
Susannah Cahalan tells a terrifying true story in
Brain on Fire about losing control, slipping away from a "true" (happy, ambitious, newly in love, well-employed) self, and coming far too close to forfeiting everything she was to a mysterious affliction. It all happened quickly. It all seemed, at first, to be viral or perhaps anxiety induced. Crowds overwhelmed her. Work (her life as a journalist) made no sense. She grew paranoid and raging, impossible to calm, numb or tingling, migraine prone, on the verge, always of running away, dangerous to herself, "barbaric." Soon she would find herself labeled a flight risk in the epilepsy ward of a New York City hospital—her father and mother vigilant at her side, her new boyfriend determined to find the Susannah he sensed was still inside. One doctor after another misread the scant clues. The electrodes glued to Susannah's head would not reveal the secret.
It took a neurologist named Souhel Najjar, a simple test (draw a clock, he said), and the quick cooperation of a University of Pennsylvania physician, Dr. Josep Dalmau, to finally discover what had happened to Susannah's brain—and to treat the rare autoimmune disorder that had attacked her so virulently. Many months would go by before Susannah would recover. This book, her first, maps that journey.
It is a memoir of sorts—an investigation into the author's own life assisted by medical records and the observations of those who were near through the ordeal. It's a generous book—and story—that has already helped others, and it is important for that reason. As literature, as memoir, I worried about the liberal use of dialogue that had been clearly recreated by those whom Susannah interviewed. I wished, as well, for something less strictly documentary and more (in places) transcendent.
But I honor the achievement of this narrative, the intelligence of the doctors, the kindness of Susannah's family and boyfriend, and the marvel of the brain itself. I am proud, as well, to be a University of Pennsylvania alum and adjunct. It's a school where important work gets done.
For more on the memoirs I read (and sometimes teach), please visit the
Handling the Truth page.
Brain On Fire: My Month of Madness by Susannah Cahalan was one of O, The Oprah Magazine’s “10 Titles to Pick Up Now,” $25.
Hallucinations by Oliver Sacks. Have you ever seen something that wasn’t there? Heard someone call your name in an empty house? Sensed someone following you? Then definitely read this book! $27.
Far From The Tree: Parents, Children and the Search for Identity by Andrew Solomon is one of the New York Times Best Books of 2012. It tells the stories of parents coping with severe disabilities in their children and how they come to see these challenges as blessings. A beautiful and inspiring book. $21.
Buy Shoes on Wednesday and Tweet at 4:00 by Mark Di Vincenzo lets you know the best time to do EVERYTHING, $11.
My final
Publishing Perspectives story takes an inside look at four of the Buzz Authors of adult books—British actress and playwright Rachel Joyce (
The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry), Vaddey Ratner (
In the Shadow of the Banyan), Susannah Cahalan (
Brain on Fire: My Month of Madness), and Antoine Wilson (
Panorama City). Facilitated by Beatrice's own Ron Hogan, the panelists reflected not just on what they write but how they hear the voices that carry their tales.
The whole story can be found
here.
Any writer is blessed to be reviewed by you. I so appreciate your willingness to find the best in every work, your kindness, your innate sense of what transcendence actually is.
It sounds like an important contribution. The brain--so much who we are--when it's vulnerable...I'm glad she got properly dx and treated.