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Funny books for cancer patients by cancer survivors and cancer writers
Sometimes you want escape. Sometimes you want company. And sometimes you want someone to say the awkward, bleak or ridiculous part out loud.
These funny books for cancer patients take different approaches to cancer humour: memoir, poetry, comics, cartoons and colouring. Some are dark. Some are profane. Some are specific to breast cancer. If you’re buying for someone else, their own sense of humour matters more than any generic “cancer gift” list.
FROM UREVOLUTION
Glossary of Awkward – Breast Cancer Edition
Glossary of Awkward is URevolution’s own illustrated book about the strange, uncomfortable and sometimes ridiculous things people say when breast cancer enters the conversation. It turns awkward comments, clichés and social moments into irreverent illustrated definitions rather than offering medical advice or another instruction to “stay positive.”
Good fit if: the reader already uses humour to talk about cancer, dislikes forced positivity or enjoys darker comedy. If you’re buying it for somebody else, know your audience first.
Which funny cancer book sounds like the right fit?
Dark poetry and breast-cancer humour: It’s Probably Nothing…
Graphic breast-cancer memoir: Cancer Vixen
Dry comic memoir: Cancer Made Me a Shallower Person
Short illustrated cancer humour: Cancer Crackup
Snarky activity book: If You Give a Cancer Patient a Coloring Book
Broader, unfiltered life memoir: Now It’s Funny
Other funny cancer books worth considering
It’s Probably Nothing…: Or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love My Implants — Micki Myers
Format: Poetry and memoir
Good fit if: you want breast-cancer writing with self-irony, political incorrectness and dark humour.
Worth knowing: some of the medical material is graphic, so this is not the gentlest option on the list.
Micki Myers approaches breast cancer through poetry, self-irony and dark humour, with an account that can be emotionally sharp rather than conventionally uplifting.
Cancer Vixen — Marisa Acocella Marchetto
Format: Graphic memoir
Good fit if: you want a visual account of breast cancer that mixes illness with relationships, fear and everyday absurdity.
Worth knowing: this is a full memoir rather than a collection of standalone jokes.
Cartoonist Marisa Acocella Marchetto follows her breast cancer diagnosis and treatment in a candid, visually energetic account.
Cancer Made Me a Shallower Person — Miriam Engelberg
Format: Memoir in comics
Good fit if: you prefer dry, unsentimental humour and cartoon storytelling.
Worth knowing: the book follows diagnosis and treatment rather than staying purely in joke-book territory.
Miriam Engelberg mixes the seriousness of breast cancer with the absurd details around diagnosis, surgery, chemotherapy, support groups, wigs and daily life.
View Cancer Made Me a Shallower Person on Amazon (paid link)
Cancer Crackup — Alisa Grodsky
Format: Illustrated humour
Good fit if: you prefer shorter visual pieces to a long narrative memoir.
Worth knowing: the charitable contribution is specific rather than “all proceeds.”
Cancer Crackup combines cancer humour with illustrated observations about treatment and the social side of illness.
The Colorectal Cancer Alliance currently states that Grodsky donates $20 per book, with a guaranteed minimum annual contribution of $1,000. Donation arrangements can change, so check the Colorectal Cancer Alliance partner page for current details.
If You Give a Cancer Patient a Coloring Book — Chelsey Gomez
Format: Activity and colouring book
Good fit if: you want snarky cancer humour without committing to another memoir.
Worth knowing: it is an activity book first, so it serves a different purpose from the memoirs above.
This is the hands-on option in the guide, built around cancer-specific humour rather than inspirational slogans.
View If You Give a Cancer Patient a Coloring Book on Amazon (paid link)
Now It’s Funny: How I Survived Cancer, Divorce and Other Looming Disasters — Michael Solomon
Format: Memoir
Good fit if: you want cancer placed inside a broader, messy life story rather than treated as the only subject.
Worth knowing: the tone can be blunt and unfiltered.
Michael Solomon mixes cancer with divorce and other personal upheaval in a fast-moving memoir rather than treating cancer as an isolated chapter.
How to choose a funny cancer book for someone else
The word funny covers a lot of ground. One person wants black humour about chemotherapy. Another wants cartoons about things people say. Someone else wants a memoir that happens to be funny rather than a book built around cancer jokes.
Before giving one as a gift, think about the person’s own sense of humour. Do they joke about cancer themselves? Are they comfortable with profanity? Would breast-cancer-specific material feel relevant or too narrow? Would they rather read a full memoir, dip into cartoons or use an activity book?
The safest clue is usually the person themselves. If they make dark jokes, send irreverent memes or roll their eyes at “stay positive” messaging, that tells you more than a generic list of cancer gifts ever could.
More from URevolution
If awkward cancer conversations are part of why you landed here, read what to write to someone with cancer and what not to say to a cancer patient. For a harder relationship problem, how to cope with unsupportive family during cancer looks at what happens when the people around you make illness more difficult rather than easier.
You can also browse the Glossary of Awkward collection for the other URevolution editions.
