Living with It: Why You Don't Have to Be Healthy to Be Happy

Since she was 13, Szasz, a librarian, now 34, has except for occasional remissions suffered from lupus, a chronic autoimmune disease. Here, she shows that by managing her ailment she has assumed responsibility for her life. Although this inspiring narrative inevitably concerns the medical crises and treatments the author underwent--often at odds with physicians--Szasz is justifiably proud of earning honors in high school, college and graduate school. Though driven to contemplate suicide by physical setbacks and the breakup of a love affair, she has always rallied, thanks to her fervent belief in ``always having occasions and goals ahead of me.'' (Aug.)