About A Breast Cancer Alphabet
Hardcover: 224 pages
Publisher: Crown; First Edition edition (February 25, 2014)
From NPR News executive editor comes an indispensable and approachable guide to life during, and after, breast cancer.
The biggest risk factor for breast cancer is simply being a woman. Madhulika Sikka’s A Breast Cancer Alphabet offers a new way to live with and plan past the hardest diagnosis that most women will ever receive: a personal, practical, and deeply informative look at the road from diagnosis to treatment and beyond.
What Madhulika Sikka didn’t foresee when initially diagnosed, and what this book brings to life so vividly, are the unexpected and minute challenges that make navigating the world of breast cancer all the trickier. A Breast Cancer Alphabet is an inspired reaction to what started as a personal predicament.
This A-Z guide to living with breast cancer goes where so many fear to tread: sex (S is for Sex – really?), sentimentality (J is for Journey – it’s a cliché we need to dispense with), hair (H is for Hair – yes, you can make a federal case of it) and work (Q is for Quitting – there’ll be days when you feel like it). She draws an easy-to-follow, and quite memorable, map of her travels from breast cancer neophyte to seasoned veteran.
As a prominent news executive, Madhulika had access to the most cutting edge data on the disease’s reach and impact. At the same time, she craved the community of frank talk and personal insight that we rely on in life’s toughest moments. This wonderfully inventive book navigates the world of science and story, bringing readers into Madhulika’s mind and experience in a way that demystifies breast cancer and offers new hope for those living with it.
“Breast cancer patients will fall in love with Sikka . . . a funny, chatty, and honest storyteller. Just what the doctor ordered.”—Booklist (starred)
“[Sikka’s] charming alphabetic compilation . . . is a warm and fuzzy friend to keep close during the cancer journey.”—Library Journal (starred)
“Sometimes humorous, always honest and straightforward, this little book offers the perfect combination of practical advice and personal musings to help any woman, her family and her friends handle the complicated road through Cancerland.”—Kirkus Reviews
“This useful and often amusing little book should be the first present you give someone who’s been diagnosed with breast cancer. Its practicality extends from sound advice (‘drugs are your friends’) to the inclusion of pages for notes at the end. By presenting her own experience in a wry and matter-of-fact manner, Madhulika Sikka removes taboos in talking about sex, or looks, or the desire on some days to just quit soldiering on through the whole deal. It won’t make having breast cancer easier but it will make the dread disease and its treatments less mysterious. That’s a gift indeed.”—Cokie Roberts, journalist and author of We Are Our Mothers’ Daughters
“Thank goodness for Madhulika Sikka! She is neither a warrior nor a hero. Her breast cancer made her neither sexy nor spiritually enlightened. She is simply a real woman with a real illness who tells it true: with grief, anger, wit, and great authenticity.”—Peggy Orenstein, author of Cinderella Ate My Daughter: Dispatches from the Front Lines of the New Girlie-Girl Culture
Watch the trailer: HERE
Purchase Links
About Madhulika Sikka
MADHULIKA SIKKA is a veteran broadcast journalist with decades of experience. Among other media outlets, she has worked at NPR News and ABC News.
Visit Madhulika’s website for more information.
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Madhulika Sikka’s TLC Book Tours TOUR STOPS:
Wednesday, October 1st: The Reading Date
Thursday, October 2nd: Peeking Between the Pages
Friday, October 3rd: Guiltless Reading spotlight/excerpt
Monday, October 6th: WV Stitcher
Tuesday, October 7th: Lisa’s Yarns
Wednesday, October 8th: Life is Story
Friday, October 10th: Bibliotica
Monday, October 13th: A Chick Who Reads
Tuesday, October 14th: Nightly Reading
Monday, October 20th: Lesa’s Book Critiques
Monday, October 20th: From the TBR Pile
Monday, October 20th: Laura’s Book List – giveaway
Tuesday, October 21st: Sincerely Stacie
Tuesday, October 21st: My Shelf Confessions
Thursday, October 23rd: Luxury Reading
Monday, October 27th: Patricia’s Wisdom
Tuesday, October 28th: Perfectly Unperfect
Wednesday, October 29th: Sharon’s Garden of Book Reviews
Thursday, October 30th: Back Porchervations