Now in paperback, the ingenious illustrated memoir that is widely praised: “Hilarious, hell-raising, and frequently heart-wrenching.” —Booklist “[A] unique tragicomedy of a memoir . . . The author is so likable, even in her darkest hour, that as you applaud her recovery you also realize you’ll miss looking after her.” —Entertainment Weekly (“A” rating) “Compelling reading . . . Becker has turned one person’s experience into a universal story of family, healing, and the return to creativity.” —Library Journal (starred review) “A wonderful book, funny and touching, harrowing and sweet.” —Anne Lamott, author of Bird by Bird For years Suzy Becker, author of the New York Times bestseller All I Need to Know I Learned from My Cat (1.7 million copies in print), literally lived by her wits. Then brain surgery left her temporarily unable to speak, read, or write. I Had Brain Surgery, What's Your Excuse? is a story that grapples with the question “What makes me me?” By turns philosophical and whimsical, rivetingly dramatic and unexpectedly light, it is illustrated with drawings, charts, pseudoserious graphs, real EEGs. The result is a book filled with insights into creativity, identity, love, relationships, family, and that intangible something that gives each of us our spark. To say that Becker, the author-illustrator of the best-seller All I Need to Know, I Learned from My Cat (1990), has a funny way of looking at things would be an understatement. Quick quips and a deft hand are her stock-in-trade, her peculiar perspective defining not only her life but also her livelihood. The diagnosis that the intermittent seizures she'd been experiencing were the result of a mass on her brain that would require surgical removal left Becker with one fear: after the operation, will I still be me? Becker's hilarious, hell-raising, and frequently heart-wrenching account of her johnny-gowned journey through the medical maze of MDs, MRIs, and HMOs is joyous testament to the fact that she made it out not only alive but with all her essential, irrepressible Becker-ness still intact. Comically accompanied by keepsake notes, clippings, and her own inimitable cartoons, Becker's mirthful memoir should be required reading for anyone who has ever been seriously ill; might one day become seriously ill; knows someone who was, is, or might be seriously ill; or all of the above. Carol Haggas Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved Pre—Chapter One P R O C R A S T I N A T I O N TERRY GROSS (host of National Public Radio’s Fresh Air): My guest is Suzy Becker, author of I Had Brain Surgery, What’s Your Excuse? She is also the author of three other books, including All I Need to Know I Learned from My Cat , an international bestseller in the 1990s. Suzy, in addition to being a writer, you are a small-business owner, teacher— ME: Was. TG: —AIDS bike-a-thon organizer. Writing’s not exactly a sideline, but your life isn’t the quiet, contemplative writer’s life some might imagine . . . ME: I discovered writing at the end of my career as a cat whisperer— TG: There’s nothing about that in your bio. I made it up—I’m making the whole thing up. It’s a form of procrastination, I guess—making up interviews with myself on National Public Radio when I should be working on my book. TG: I’m going to disappoint a lot of listeners when I admit I was not a fan of your cat book—I’m not a cat person or a big fan of gift books in general, or whatever they call that genre. Your new book is altogether different, not an All I Need to Know I Learned from My CAT Scan . . . ME: It still makes a nice gift—[ wait, she should say that .] TG: It’s nonfiction, very personal, a memoir of sorts. . . . People may think, brain surgery—who wants to read about that?! I wanted to tell you—I could relate to so much of what you wrote about and I haven’t even had brain surgery! [ We laugh .] You actually began working on this book while you were still recovering, is that correct? ME: That draft ended up being more like notes than a book. TG: I’m curious, at what point did you know—when the neurosurgeon told you you had a tumor and you were going to need brain surgery— devastating news for most of us—as a writer, was there some little part of you that said, “I’m going to get a book out of this”? ME: Terry, I’m a writer, not an alien. [I AM an alien. Writers don’t waste valuable writing time making up interviews. ] I was devastated by the \ news. As a writer, I think I knew I’d write about it as a way to record the experience, maybe get some perspective, but . . . TG: So, you were this perfectly healthy person: You were—I should say are athletic, you play volleyball, do these biking marathons, then in May of ’99 you have a seizure. . . .