I’ve Always Been into Death

This is an excerpt from my cancer memoir.

“My family’s always been into death.”

That’s not me talking. That’s the opening line of Lisa Alther’s great novel Kinflicks, one of the key books of my life. I got it new in 1976 and look at it now: raggedy-ass cover, coffee-circles burned into the binding, dog-eared pages and spills here and there. This is an appreciated book. I lent it to so many friends and brought them into the Kinflicks world. (And a few of the apparently used the book as a coast...