I originally picked up Cathy Croshaw's memoir "The Breast Defense is a Good Offense" because, as superficial as it may sound, much of it takes place in Truckee. Lake Tahoe is one of my all-time favorite places; I wrote a great deal of my memoir about postpartum bipolar disorder in Alpine Meadows. I also love the health memoir genre and I especially enjoy reading books that incorporate humor, which Ms. Croshaw has done so effectively in this book.

I have enormous respect for Ms. Croshaw for sharing such a personal journey with breast cancer.

I learned a great deal about modern-day breast cancer treatments, such as making sure one receives the 3-D mammogram if at all possible. I related to Ms. Croshaw's "Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow" chapter, as I lost hair from being prescribed too high dose of lithium.

Most significantly, in reading this book, I was inspired to stop procrastinating (I'll never forget the author's eye-opening conversation with "Jenny") and I scheduled my overdue mammogram! As one who has bipolar disorder and just turned 50, I also was extremely interested to read about Ms. Croshaw's manic symptoms that manifested after she received hormone therapy. She includes very helpful details about what took place, including those who could be most vulnerable to such an occurrence, her doctors' observations, landmark studies, etc., so I urge readers to check out "Chapter 25--Life After Cancer."

I'd like to add some information I discovered thanks to getting my mammogram last week. There is now a screening called ABUS (Automated Breast Ultrasound) for those with very dense breasts, which I have. ABUS improves early detection in women with dense breasts. This screening has been clinically shown to improve breast cancer detection by 35.7% over mammography alone, and is especially useful at detecting smaller and earlier stage cancers in dense breasts.

So yes, ABUS is done in addition to the mammogram, and many forms of insurance covers the test. A doctor's referral is needed, and I'm so grateful that I'll be getting an ABUS screening this month.

Thanks again to Cathy Croshaw for writing a book that will help so many people. All in all, this book is such a worthwhile read. "The Breast Defense is a Good Defense" will surely save lives.

For this book is more like a self help book than a memoir.

Cathy Croshaw writes about how she came to have her breast cancer diagnosed and what happened after, but mostly how she could find support and where you could find more support. The first half of this book is really more the memoir part, the second is more self help. I didn’t mind much as all in infused with a good amount of humour.

The writing is nice enough, but what irks me bit is the jumping back and forth through time. I get the feeling Croshaw might have trouble focussing, which is hard to believe for a lawyer. What I like best about this book is that it almost seems like the author is talking to you like a friend.

I would give this a 2.5 stars. Cathy is encouraged by a friend to get a 3D mammogram and the night before her move to Lake Tahoe she is diagnosed with breast cancer. It was almost half the book before we got to the point of her getting a diagnosis with the first half being an autobiography. I went into this hoping to read about someone's experience with breast cancer. Having been diagnosed myself I wanted to compare what I felt with someone else but this was more of a how-to book. How to deal with cancer, handle chemo if you are upper middle class and get your treatment at a Cancer Spa that serves gourmet meals and offers massages.

Thank you to Netgalley and Goodreads giveaway for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

Did not find this book humorous or funny in any sense - the writing was very dry and also very 'surface'. As a breast cancer survivor myself, I was expecting more 'real-life' tidbits I would relate to and nod along with - not the case here. This book could actually have been titled 'My Breezing Through Breast Cancer' because it's just that, and the author also says it - she breezed through with no complication (her botched hysterectomy a few years before her cancer diagnosis made for much more interesting reading!) Also the fact that the first 40-45% of the book was on her life and past and how she met her friends felt irrelevant, didn't even contribute to the story in the sense that she said she needed to say how she got there with the cancer - it felt more like how she got to Tahoe where she ended up staying at the time of her treatment. This book was pretty much everything BUT dealing with breast cancer, sadly