"Truly moving. Hayden has created a heartfelt and often hilarious tribute to her life-and to the resilience of women everywhere." — Publishers Weekly (starred review) Named one of Library Journal's BEST BOOKS OF 2015! A landmark work of graphic memoir and a cancer narrative that Gabrielle Bell (Lucky, Cecil & Jordan in New York, Everything is Flammable) calls, "comforting, straightforward and strongly connected to life." When Jennifer Hayden was diagnosed with breast cancer at the age of 43, she realized that her tits told a story. Across a lifetime, they'd held so many meanings: hope and fear, pride and embarrassment, life and death. And then they were gone. Now, their story has become a way of understanding her story. For everyone who's faced cancer personally, or watched a loved one fight that battle, Hayden's story is a much-needed breath of fresh air, an irresistible blend of sweetness and skepticism. Rich with both symbolism and humor, The Story of My Tits will leave you laughing, weeping, and feeling grateful for every day.

Amanda Katherine Loy is not your typical twenty something year old. At the young age of 27, she had a preventative double mastectomy -- or as she likes to say, she chopped off her tits. She has the BRCA 1 gene mutation, which raises her risk of developing breast cancer over her lifetime to up to 85%.When she was going through the process of navigating surgery/genetic counseling etc, she felt so alone. There are no resources for young women navigating a genetic predisposition like this (or, for that matter, navigating breast cancer). So she made it her mission to change that. And thus, I Chopped Off My Tits was born.What started as her sharing the nitty gritty details of her story turned into a movement and, really, a book that not just women with her story can relate to, but anyone who has ever faced a traumatic event in their lifetime. It's funny, it's candid AF, and it's jam packed full of actionable tools to face your fears head on so you can live your f*ck yes life.

On my chest, there are two foreign objects where my breasts once were. One is a mound of flesh patchworked from soft pieces of my own stomach. The other object is a silicon bag of saline, covered in skin. Instead of nipples, I have two horizontal scars. I dont have words for what used to be my tits. Now, when I look at them, I know those scars saved my life. Karin Horen tells the remarkable story of her continuing battle with breast cancer. At just 26 she was diagnosed with breast cancer and immediately underwent two surgeries, resulting in a partial mastectomy, a twelve-month course of chemotherapy and six weeks of radiotherapy. Unphased by her health scare, she moved forward with her life meeting a charismatic actor, Manu Bennett (Arrow, Spartacus), and moving to New Zealand to start a family. When the cancer returned, she had a full mastectomy of her left breast and a preventative mastectomy of her right. After her double mastectomy, Karin struggled with her turbulent relationship and her body image. She took inspiration from her three daughters and found a new purpose with her Breast Cancer fundraising efforts, including co-founding Paddle for Hope, and co-developing Paddle On, a rehabilitation programme for those whose lives have been affected by cancer.

A novel that “considers the agency . . . women exert over their bodies and charts the emotional underpinnings of physical changes . . . with humor and empathy” (The New Yorker). On a sweltering summer day, Makiko travels from Osaka to Tokyo, where her sister Natsu lives. She is in the company of her daughter, Midoriko, who has lately grown silent, finding herself unable to voice the vague yet overwhelming pressures associated with adolescence. Over the course of their few days together in the capital, Midoriko’s silence will prove a catalyst for each woman to confront her fears and family secrets. On yet another summer’s day eight years later, Natsu, during a journey back to her native city, confronts her anxieties about growing old alone and childless. Bestselling author Mieko Kawakami mixes stylistic inventiveness and riveting emotional depth to tell a story of contemporary womanhood in Japan. “Took my breath away.” —Haruki Murakami, #1 New York Times–bestselling author The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle “Kawakami lobbed a literary grenade into the fusty, male-dominated world of Japanese fiction with Breast and Eggs.” —The Economist “A sharply observed and heartbreaking portrait of what it means to be a woman.” —TIME “Raw, funny, mundane, heartbreaking.” —The Atlantic “A bracing, feminist exploration of daily life in Japan.” —Entertainment Weekly “Timely feminist themes; strange, surreal prose; and wonderful characters will transcend cultural barriers and enchant readers.” —The New York Observer “Bracing and evocative, tender yet unflinching.” —Publishers Weekly “Kawakami writes with unsettling precision about the body—its discomforts, its appetites, its smells and secretions. And she is especially good at capturing its longings.” —The New York Times Book Review

"Hayden's work reminds me of why I began drawing comics, and why I continue. They're comforting, straightforward and strongly connected to life." -- Gabrielle Bell, author of Lucky and Cecil and Jordan in New York "Underwire explores the funny, and often absurd, aspects of being a lady. Cheers to the artist for spotlighting female characters... and, hopefully, getting more women psyched about comics."-- Whitney Matheson, USA Today "Hayden's cheerful profanity and scratchy lines give the work a homey, intimate feel... Hayden's stories are like comfortable, lived-in jeans--not the most stylish or flattering, but the ones you want to spend time wearing."-- Publishers Weekly "We observe as she watches her 12-year-old daughter learn how to hold her temper; we feel her impatience when the kids won't go to sleep and let her drink and chat the night away with old girlfriends; and we can't help but identify with her view of aging, which isn't so much graceful as it is graced by good humor and undaunted optimism... This is a book with plenty of staying power."-- Booklist "The central character is the author herself, and she's a joy. She's bawdy, messy, raucous, and entirely human -- as likely to sit around with her friends, slamming wine and gossiping, as she is to lament over her son leaving for college... Hayden is seriously fun, alive, and inspiring -- as an artist, a writer, a woman, and a human being. Brava!"-- Under the Radar "With a busy black-and-white palette of comforting cartoon grit, Hayden recalls Robert and Aline Crumb in this offkey anthem to misfit domesticity."-- Adam McGovern, Comic Critique Sometimes you just gotta pick yourself up by your brastraps. Underwire collects the wise and witty autobiographical comics of an captivating new voice: Jennifer Hayden, cartoonist and politically incorrect mother of two. She may not have all the answers, but she's not gonna let that stop her from enjoying the prime of her life -- her forties! Since its internet debut at ACT-I-VATE.com, Underwire has attracted praise for its sharp tongue, enchanting style, and warm wisdom. These everyday observations -- about womanhood, parenthood, growing up, and rocking out -- add up to something not only funny, but also quite profound. After a few stories, you might even feel like a member of the family. Now, for the first time in print, Top Shelf presents twenty-two stories from the beloved webcomic, plus seventeen new pages of comics and art created exclusively for this collection.

Breasts tells it like it is - and like it should be! Exploring the inner workings of breasts and their important role in feeding the babies of the world, it gives, in a funny and direct way, information children want and need about their anatomy.