Not Exactly What I Had in Mind: An Incurable Love Story

Since 1989, Breslin, a freelance writer and daughter of journalist Jimmy, has been battling a mysterious blood disease that threatens her life and that physicians have been unable to identify. In this candid and funny memoir, Breslin recounts how she managed to hang on to a zest for living despite arduous treatments and astronomical medical bills. Because the disease attacks her red blood cells, she must have frequent infusions of gamma globulin supplemented by transfusions. In the midst of her illness, Breslin met and married Tony Dunne, nephew of John Gregory Dunne and Joan Didion; their love, according to the author, is the mainstay of her life. She also has supportive friends and family, including her father, with whom she claims to have a combative, loving relationship. Rosemary's aggressive spirit has helped her deal with a bureaucratic medical system as well as a serious bout with pneumonia, and here it makes for a lively, frank-talking memoir. First serial to Self; author tour. (Feb.)