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Launch of new Macmillan Cancer Support Mood-boosting Books list

Today we’re launching a new list of Mood-boosting Books with Macmillan Cancer Support. The list includes titles that have been recommended as uplifting by people who have been diagnosed with cancer.

Most of the books aren’t specifically about cancer, but they’ve been recommended as books that people have found mood-boosting during or after treatment.

“Brings a smile to my face”

One of the titles on the list is A Slice of Britain: Around the Country by Cake by Caroline Taggart, which was recommended by Wan Lan Sng from the Trojans Breast Cancer Support Group in London:

“When I was undergoing chemotherapy, I felt sick most of the time and could not eat properly, most of all my favourite food – cakes! In this book, the author takes me on a journey through Britain, meeting people and discovering how some of our nation’s all-time favourite recipes came about. As she tastes all these goodies, I can almost smell and taste them too, and this brings a smile to my face.”

“I read a spectacular amount”

Dave Kirby from Sheffield’s Healing Word group recommended C.S. Lewis: “I read a spectacular amount whenever I was in hospital, but it was solely escapism; I read the Narnia books by C.S. Lewis in one go when I spent 12 hours in a waiting room.”

Collections of poetry also feature on the new list, such as You Made Me Late Again! by Pam Ayres and a collection of Haiku poems by the Japanese poet Basho. Debjani Chatterjee from Healing Word describes Basho as “one of the first great practitioners of Haiku”.

The Love Song of Miss Queenie Hennessy by Rachel Joyce, a companion piece to The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry (featured on a previous Mood-boosting Books list), was also recommended. Although the book is set in a hospice and the central character has terminal cancer, it was described as “very funny and moving”. Us by David Nicholls was selected for its power to transport the reader: “if you can’t travel you can do it through the novel”.

Find out about the full list of Mood-boosting Books.

Get involved

Materials to promote the list in libraries can be ordered from The Reading Agency shop.

Would you like to recommend a Mood-boosting Book? You can email [email protected] or share your suggestions on Twitter using #moodboosting

Read a list of books about cancer from Macmillan Cancer Support.

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