Mouth and oropharyngeal cancer reading list

You can find a list of books about cancer, treatments, and living with cancer on our general reading list.

Looking Forward: the speech and swallowing guidebook for people with cancer of the larynx or tongue
Jack E. Thomas and Robert L. Keith
Thieme Medical Publishers; 2005
ISBN 3136662040

Has information about cancer treatments and how to manage problems with speech and swallowing. It includes exercises for improving speech and swallowing, and tips on tube feeding.

Brenda's easy to swallow cook book
Available from the Mouth Cancer Foundation

Produced by a patient, Brenda Brady, and her husband in association with the Mouth Cancer Foundation. The book has tips for anyone who has difficulty chewing and swallowing food. It contains 40 pages of recipes and tips, from various people. Contributors include fellow patients and celebrity chefs Nigella Lawson, Rick Stein, Antony Worrall Thompson and Phil Vickery.

Cancer At Your fingertips (3rd edition)
Val Speechley and Maxine Rosenfield
Class Publishing; 2001
ISBN 978-1859590362

Facts about cancer and cancer treatments set out in question and answer form. Includes information on diet, exercise, sex and relationships, holidays, employment and money matters.

Living with Cancer
Jeffrey Tobias and Kay Eaton. Forward by Gary Lineker OBE
Bloomsbury; 2001
ISBN 0747554102

Follows the BBC TV series of the same name. Covers treatment, side effects and different types of cancer, including head and neck cancers.

Detecting mouth cancer and how to reduce your risk
This leaflet contains information about the signs, symptoms and causes of mouth cancer and how you can reduce your risk of the disease. You can order this mouth cancer leaflet online or ring our leaflet enquiry line on 020 3469 8333.

Mouth cancer can affect you (English and Urdu)
Cancer in the mouth can affect you (English and Bengali)
Leaflets that describes cancer in the mouth and what happens if it is not treated. They also cover how smoking and chewing paan can cause mouth cancer and how to prevent it. The leaflets use illustrations to demonstrate how to check the mouth and photographs that show what changes to look for.

From Macmillan Cancer Support

Understanding head and neck cancers (also on audiotape + CD)
Diet and cancer (also on audiotape + CD)
Coping with advanced cancer (also on audiotape + CD)
Controlling cancer pain
Controlling symptoms of cancer (also on audiotape)
Lost for words – how to talk to someone with cancer
Sexuality and cancer (also on audiotape)
Understanding chemotherapy (also on audiotape + CD)
Understanding radiotherapy
Coping with hair loss (also on audiotape + CD)
Coping with fatigue (also on audiotape + CD)
Understanding cancer research trials (clinical trials)
The emotional effects of cancer (also on audiotape + CD)
Talking to children when an adult has cancer
Talking about your cancer (also on audiotape + CD)
Life after cancer treatment

From the Royal Marsden Hospital Trust

Chemotherapy
Radiotherapy
Clinical trials
Your operation and Anaesthetic

These booklets can be downloaded from the Royal Marsden website, or you can request them by calling freephone 0800 783 7176, or send an email to patientcentre@rmh.nhs.uk

Please contact us on our feedback form if you would like to recommend a book that you have found helpful. It helps us if you include the title, author, publisher's name and year, and ISBN number.