It's been said that cancer is a disease that steals away the feeling of perfection. Author Jane Loeb Rubin is all too familiar with this feeling. In Almost a Princess, she presents a collection of essays that document her twice-fought battle with cancer.

In this memoir, Rubin, a hospital administrator and two-time cancer survivor, shares her experiences from the dual perspectives of a patient and a health care professional. She reflects on her life growing up in a secular Jewish home with a hard-nosed but loving father, marrying her high school sweetheart at nineteen, raising...