World Cancer Day

World Cancer Day is an international day observed every February 4th to raise awareness about cancer, encourage its prevention, and mobilize action to address the global cancer epidemic. Cancer touches countless lives, and books about it can offer understanding, comfort, and hope. The following titles explore the many dimensions of cancer—its medical challenges, emotional journeys, and stories of resilience—from both patients and those who care for them.

Updated November 3, 2025
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Fond du Lac Public Library
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Mailman : my wild ride delivering the mail in Appalachia and finally finding home
Grant, Stephen Starring
Paper Book
An exuberant, hilarious, and profound memoir by a mailman in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia, who found that working for the post office saved his life, taught him who he was, gave him purpose, and educated him deeply about a country he loves but had lost touch with. ...
A fatal inheritance : how a family misfortune revealed a deadly medical mystery
Ingrassia, Lawrence
Paper Book
Nominated for the National Book Critics Circle Award in Nonfiction Named a best book of the year by Amazon, NPR, and Kirkus Weaving his own moving family story with a sweeping history of cancer research, Lawrence Ingrassia delivers an intimate,...
Fatal to fearless : 12 steps to beating cancer in a broken medical system
Giusti, Kathy
Paper Book
An empowering, soul-baring personal account and guide from a two-time cancer survivor and healthcare disrupter that shows anyone how to deal with a frightening medical diagnosis in America today, providing the knowledge necessary to take ownership of personal wellbeing and maximize...
This changes everything : a surprisingly funny story about race, cancer, faith, and other things we don't talk about
Merritt, Tyler
Paper Book
A cancer diagnosis caused Tyler Merritt-beloved author of I Take My Coffee Black-to realize that there was no time for anger, unforgiveness, foolishness, or lost friendships. None of us have any time to waste. When Tyler Merritt was diagnosed with cancer, everything he...
The cancer journey : understanding diagnosis, treatment, recovery, and prevention
Nabhan, Chadi
A cancer diagnosis can change our lives and the lives of our loved ones in an instant. It leaves us seeking answers to myriad questions and searching for hope. In The Cancer Journey, Dr. Chadi Nabhan demystifies this complex disease and offers a compassionate guide to understanding your...
Nearly departed : adventures in loss, cancer, and other inconveniences : a memoir
Pfeffer, Gila
Paper Book
By the time she was thirty, Gila Pfeffer was the oldest living member of her family, having lost her mother to breast cancer and her father to colon cancer. A simple blood test confirmed she carried the BRCA1 gene--which put her at high risk of developing cancer herself. Determined to break the...
Early detection : catching cancer when it's curable
Ratner, Bruce
Paper Book
The Second-Leading Killer in the USA Shouldn't Be This Deadly Written by Bruce Ratner and Adam Bonislawski, .... Catching cancer early remains the single best way to combat a disease that is the second-leading killer in both the US and worldwide. But the vast...
An exercise in uncertainty : a memoir of illness and hope
Gluck, Jonathan
Paper Book
In this thought-provoking memoir, an award-winning journalist explores the chaos, doubt, and search for meaning that come with staying one step ahead of cancer for decades. "An Exercise in Uncertainty has a powerful and restorative story to tell us. Jonathan Gluck's...
Cancer is complicated : and other unexpected lessons I've learned
Shearer, Clea
NATIONAL BESTSELLER "Clea has always been a helper, and she's doing it again with this incredible book. She is sharing her cancer journey and helping you through yours. She will walk with you . . . holding your hand every step of the way." -Hoda Kotb A comforting,...
This ordinary stardust : a scientist's path from grief to wonder
Townsend, Alan R.
Paper Book
"[A] remarkable account of a shifting consciousness" - Publisher's Weekly, starred review "An extraordinary, powerful book" - David Quammen, author of The Heartbeat of the Wild and Breathless A compassionate exploration of...
Survivor's Notebook: Poems
O'Brien, Dan
Paper Book
A collection of prose poems that chronicles the family life of two cancer survivors. Dan O'Brien's powerful companion to Our Cancers catalogs the recovery of a cancer survivor, whose wife has recently survived her own cancer, as he returns to his daily life...
How to lose your mother : a daughter's memoir
Jong-Fast, Molly
Paper Book
Instant New York Times Bestseller "With propulsive humor and perspective on her annus horribilis, Jong-Fast achieves the memoir's transformative work of alchemy, arming us all with lines so good you won't just want to underline them, you will want to cut them out to share." --...
All the way to the river : love, loss, and liberation
Gilbert, Elizabeth
Paper Book
INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER AN OPRAH'S BOOK CLUB PICK "A delicious mashup of narrative that's by turns harrowing and healing." -People "Entertaining, insightful, wrenching ... punch-to-the-gut powerful." -The Washington Post
This is your mother : a memoir
Simpson, Erica J.
Paper Book
Named a Best Memoir of 2025 (So Far) by BookPage and Real Simple * "A beautiful story about an extraordinary mother's gift of love and hope." --Jeannette Walls, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Glass Castle * "Candid...Heartbreaking.....
If tomorrow never comes
Ashley, Allison
Paper Book
Fate connects two people in life-changing ways in a deeply romantic and emotional novel about hope and second chances by the author of Would You Rather and The Roommate Pact. Uncertain of what tomorrow brings, Elliott Holland decides to live it up--on the eve of a stem...
The general and Julia : a novel
Clinch, Jon
Paper Book
Longlisted for the Mark Twain American Voice in Literature Award Ulysses S. Grant reflects on the crucial moments of his life as a husband, a father, a general, and a president while writing his memoirs and reckoning with his complicated legacy in this epic and intimate work...
A family matter : a novel
Lynch, Claire
Paper Book
A READ WITH JENNA BOOK CLUB PICK AS FEATURED ON TODAY * "Burns like a sparkler, quick and mesmerizing." --The New York Times A young wife following her heart. A husband with the law on his side. Their daughter, caught in the middle. Forty years later, a family...
What Does It Feel Like
Kinsella, Sophie.
Paper Book
A NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK * From #1 bestselling author Sophie Kinsella, an unforgettable story--by turns heartbreaking and life-affirming--of a renowned novelist facing a devastating diagnosis and learning to live and love anew. "The bravest book you'll read all...
Been wrong so long it feels like right
Mosley, Walter
Paper Book
In the latest from "mystery master" Walter Mosley, a family member's terminal illness leads P.I. Joe King Oliver to the investigation of his life: tracking down his long-lost father, and meanwhile, a new case pits King's professional responsibility against his own moral code. (The...
Four weekends and a funeral : a novel
Palmer, Ellie
Paper Book
A tender, laugh-out-loud debut romance about a woman who ends up in over her head after a little white lie . . . The right guy at the dead wrong time. When thirty-year-old post-double-mastectomy BRCA 1 carrier and reluctant thrill-seeker Alison Mullally...
Maggie; or, a man and a woman walk into a bar
Yee, Katie
Paper Book
Summer's Best Beach Reads by The New York Times * Books You Should Read This July by New York magazine * Books We're Most Excited About by Today * Best Beach Reads by Harper's Bazaar * Best Books of Summer by ELLE * Most Anticipated Books of the Summer by...
Alice & Jack
Levin, Victor
DVD
Alice & Jack explores perseverance, passion, and the true sense of partnership over the course of a profound 14-year relationship. Honest, intimate, and surprisingly funny, it asks the seminal question of our time: are the bonds between us stronger than the forces that would tear us apart?
Ride
Gish, Annabeth
The cancer detectives
Pollak, Amanda
DVD
How one of the most impactful, lifesaving tests for women was created and popularized by a Greek immigrant and his wife, a famous Japanese-American illustrator who was detained in a WW2 internment camp, and a groundbreaking Black female surgeon. In the 1950's, survival rates from cancer of any kind...

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