I checked out a library copy of Bald in the Land of Big Hair, by Joni Rodgers, and read it in one evening this week.
It’s one of the best books I’ve read lately. Several times I laughed out loud and wished I had someone there, even a dog, with whom to share some of the best lines.
From the author’s website, here’s a synopsis:
Joni Rodgers lives in Houston, Texas, where big hair is a God-given right. It’s prerequisite for a real estate license, as natural as Naugahyde, as important as Elvis. But at thirty-two, Joni was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, and aggressive cancer of the immune system, and she lost her hair to chemotherapy. It’s no fun being a bald girl in the Big Hair Capitol of America, but Joni managed to hold onto her sanity and her sense of humor. With the same amazing ability to laugh at life (and herself) that helped her survive cancer, Joni now recounts her story-a deeply affecting tale of industrial-strength drugs, healing herbs, love, sex, prayer, kids, career, and the search for a wig that won’t make her look like Betty Rubble.
That about does it, except that it’s not a cancer-as-slapstick book by any means despite all those laughs. The author got very sick and might have died. All this happened while she had a husband and two small children. The emotional, physical and financial wreckage was grim, and this book doesn’t pull its punches in describing those things.
It also shines with tough spirituality, faith and love.
HT to Denise at Bag and Baggage, who mentioned the title.
Suz at Large 