Hello, I am Jennifer Cramer-Miller—an author, speaker, and joy seeker. Thirty-some years ago, at 22, I had a cozy apartment with my best friend and a promising PR position. Then I was diagnosed with an incurable autoimmune kidney disease, and suddenly, doctors discussed my “quality of life.” At a very young age, life’s uncertainty fueled my will to survive. And I’ve learned that life is a mix of beauty and bummers. So as long as we’re alive, we should appreciate all of it. That’s why I’m drawn to books that illuminate what it means to be a human managing uncertainty, holding onto hope, and finding joy.
I wrote...
Incurable Optimist: Living with Illness and Chronic Hope
Jennifer Cramer-Miller was a twenty-two-year-old with a promising job, charming boyfriend, and cozy Seattle apartment. Then she was diagnosed with an incurable autoimmune disease, and suddenly, rather than planning for a bright future, she found herself soaking a hospital pillow with tears. That day, Cramer-Miller crossed over from wellness to chronic illness; from thriving to kidney failure. Her survival hinged upon expert doctors, selfless strangers, and benevolent loved ones. But what kind of life would that be?
Spanning two-plus decades and four kidney transplants, this story of hope illuminates the tightrope of uncertainty, the gift of life, and the determination to find joy. Shining a bright light on people helping people, this family love story will inspire you to hug the humans you love.
I felt a surge of emotions when I read this moving and beautiful book by Suleika Jaouad. I related so deeply to her experience of getting knocked down by a sudden and dire diagnosis after her college graduation.
Underlining plenty of passages, I wrote “Totally get this!” in many a margin. But it was the beauty of her writing, the honesty of her account, and the strength of her spirit that made this book sing. Between Two Kingdoms reinforced my belief that no matter what we endure, joy is always available if we savor the gift of life.
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • A searing, deeply moving memoir of illness and recovery that traces one young woman’s journey from diagnosis to remission to re-entry into “normal” life—from the author of the Life, Interrupted column in The New York Times
ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR: The New York Times Book Review, The Washington Post, Bloomberg, The Rumpus, She Reads, Library Journal, Booklist • “I was immersed for the whole ride and would follow Jaouad anywhere. . . . Her writing restores the moon, lights the way as we learn to endure the unknown.”—Chanel Miller, The New…
There’s something special about Kate Bowler. At 35, diagnosed with cancer, she started questioning our culture of positivity that emphasizes can-do achievement.
Her insights are beautiful, and her buoyant humor is icing on the cake. I feel like we’re soul sisters, my friend Kate and me (we’ve never met). Her words resonate with my belief that life is a mix of beauty and bummers, and sometimes there is even beauty within the bummers. I believe we should show up for life and appreciate all of it. So, I’m drawn to Kate Bowler’s account of how her hard-won uncertainty has shifted her perspective.
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • The bestselling author of Everything Happens for a Reason (And Other Lies I’ve Loved) asks, how do you move forward with a life you didn’t choose?
“Kate Bowler is the only one we can trust to tell us the truth.”—Glennon Doyle, author of the #1 New York Times bestseller Untamed
It’s hard to give up on the feeling that the life you really want is just out of reach. A beach body by summer. A trip to Disneyland around the corner. A promotion on the horizon. Everyone wants to believe that they are headed toward…
Oh, this book! It’s so moving. It’s so sad. It’s so beautiful. And it lingers in my mind years after I first read it.
Paul Kalanithi wrestles with a question you’d never wish upon a 36-year-old neurosurgeon with stage IV lung cancer, married with a child. What makes life worth living in the face of death? He writes, “I began to realize that coming face to face with my own mortality, in a sense, had changed nothing and everything… I can’t go on. I’ll go on.” While he stared bravely ahead as he faced death, he penned a beautiful book about life.
'Rattling. Heartbreaking. Beautiful.' Atul Gawande, bestselling author of Being Mortal
What makes life worth living in the face of death?
At the age of thirty-six, on the verge of completing a decade's training as a neurosurgeon, Paul Kalanithi was diagnosed with inoperable lung cancer. One day he was a doctor treating the dying, the next he was a patient struggling to live.
When Breath Becomes Air chronicles Kalanithi's transformation from a medical student asking what makes a virtuous and meaningful life into a neurosurgeon working in the core of human identity - the brain - and…
Deepak Chopra says, “I recommend this book highly to everyone.” Yes, Deepak Chopra, I agree! This is an oldie but oh-so-goodie.
Dr. Rachel Remen is a remarkable woman—a long-term chronic illness survivor, author, and doctor. She believes stories heal, and boy oh boy, she’s chock full of wisdom. This book is a swift and satisfying read, presenting life lessons in a series of brief chapters—different accounts from different patients. Dr. Remen’s winning writing style shines sparkles of truth through every single one.
"I recommend this book highly to everyone." --Deepak Chopra, M.D.
This special updated version of the New York Times-bestseller, Kitchen Table Wisdom, addresses the same spiritual issues that made the original a bestseller: suffering, meaning, love, faith, and miracles.
"Despite the awesome powers of technology, many of us still do not live very well," says Dr. Rachel Remen. "We may need to listen to one another's stories again." Dr. Remen, whose unique perspective on healing comes from her background as a physician, a professor of medicine, a therapist, and a long-term survivor of chronic illness, invites us to listen from…
I love love love this book by Delia Ephron. It packs in all my favorite themes and things—heartbreak, hope, a real life rom-com flavor, family bonds, hilarity, grief, and giddy humor.
Delia Ephron is well celebrated for her novels, essays, and screenplays, but this? Wow! When I read her memoir about illness and love, I felt connected to her work in a brand-new way. Deftly weaving life's darkest moments with hope and humor—this book ultimately reminds us to believe in miracles, love our people, live fully, and find joy.
If you pitched a movie about a woman in her seventies, recently widowed, who reconnects with a man she dated in college, leading to a months-long exchange of emails and the pair falling in love fifty years after their first date, the studio exec would say that's too far-fetched. But that's exactly what happened to Delia Ephron, writer and producer, screenwriter of You've Got Mail and bestselling novelist.
When Delia's beloved first husband Jerry died of cancer in 2015, after thirty-five years of marriage, she couldn't think of moving forward without him. But when she wrote a piece about the…
I’m an Australian USA Today bestselling romance author who writes contemporary romance and uses the pen name Alyssa James to write medieval romance. I think the makeover trope resonates with me because although I’m no beauty queen now, I was definitely an ugly duckling in my teens. For reasons best known to him, my father insisted on close-cropped hair, and financial circumstances dictated out-of-style hand-me-down clothing. After university, I found my own style, but it wasn’t until I was accepted as an international flight attendant that I believed that I couldn’t be all that ugly if Qantas employed me!
Return to Hope Creek is a second-chance rural romance set in Australia.
Stella Simpson's career and engagement are over. She returns to the rural community of Hope Creek to heal, unaware her high school and college sweetheart, Mitchell Scott, has also moved back to town to do some healing of his own.
Mitchell, a former NFL quarterback, doesn't need the complication of encountering Stella again so long after the messy end to their relationship, but as each tries to build a new life, they are drawn together and find their chemistry is just as strong as ever.
Will their love be stronger the second time around?
When two old flames come back to their home town, sparks are bound to ignite. A rural romance from USA Today bestselling author Alyssa J. Montgomery.
A horrific car accident ended former world number-one Stella Simpson’s tennis career, and a betrayal ended her relationship with her fiancé/coach. When a family friend offers to sell her half of a property in the rural community where she grew up, it seems like the perfect place to escape, heal and begin the next phase of her life. Until she discovers that the man who broke her heart ten years ago has bought the…
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