Before I Forget: Love, Hope, Help, and Acceptance in Our Fight Against Alzheimer’s

With the assistance of Vanity Fair contributing editor Shnayerson, spouses Smith (a restaurateur and model) and Gasby (a marketing exec) explain the slow, grinding stages of Alzheimer’s disease as it is affecting Smith. The couple recently went public about Smith’s degenerative disease after a revealing Today Show segment and a frantic missing-person search that turned the East Coast upside down. Over the course of Gasby’s loving narrative as the chief caregiver and Smith’s compelling inserts as the courageous patient, they take the reader through the early stages of forgetfulness, the horror of the diagnosis, and the mood swings and inappropriate behavior of the later symptoms. The doctors try to keep the couple abreast of drug trials and new research in the pipeline, but acknowledge it’s an uphill fight. However, underneath the grim march of the disease, there is an enduring love story of care and adoration, anchored by their campaign for new funding for research into possible cures. (Jan.)