In these 26 short personal essays, Sikka shares her musings and observations on being diagnosed with and treated for breast cancer. As executive producer of NPR, Sikka is aware of the power of spoken words, and her reading is enriched by that understanding. Her slightly British-sounding voice infuses the reading with the warmth, personal experience, and attitude that only she could bring. “J Is for Journey” questions society’s need to transform this disease into a mystical journey, and “Q Is for Quitting” gives listeners permission to give up when they feel like it. Sikka couches insights in the practical and often poignant language of her own experience (“you will find . . .” and “don’t be surprised if . . .”) rather than the neutral language of medicine. This is valuable information many listeners will find helpful and comforting. J.C.G. © AudioFile 2014, Portland, Maine

03/03/2014
NPR executive editor Sikka bares all details of her personal experience with breast cancer in this honest, frank, and contemplative summary, arranged alphabetically by topic. Starting from A for "Anxiety" with a range of topics including "Guilt," "Mastectomy" to "Reconstruction," "Sex," through to "Zzzzzs," Sikka writes so candidly about her experiences it's as if you're reading her journal. She shares surprises—finding that the chemotherapy unit was standing room only, epiphanies—"hat you want most is your pre-cancer life...and you would do anything to go back to it," and unexpected advice—shave hair before it falls out with chemotherapy. Whether discussing turbans and other headwear, omnipresent anxiety, or the relief that pillows can provide from post-surgery pain, Sikka's voice is calm and earnest, poetic and descriptive, and occasionally even uplifting. Those who find cancer in their lives, whether first-hand or through a friend or family member, will appreciate the raw but supportive voice that emerges here. (Feb.)

A Booklist Top 10 Science & Health Book of the Year

"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. 'B' is for buying multiple copies." - Library Journal (starred)

"Sikka's voice is calm and earnest, poetic and descriptive, and occasionally even uplifting. Those who find cancer in their lives, whether first-hand or through a friend or family member, will appreciate the raw but supportive voice that emerges here."- Publishers Weekly

"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

"A Breast Cancer Alphabet is like having a chat with someone who’s walked the walk and has a thing or two to share with you about it which just might make your walk a bit less scary."- Nancy's Point

"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

“A Breast Cancer Alphabet is a brisk, user-friendly ABC of dealing with the disaster of cancer and how to get through it with a smile. It is a remarkably insightful and sensitive guide to making the best of the worst, all delivered with Madhulika’s wit and vital energy.” - Tina Brown, former editor of Vanity Fair, the New Yorker, and the Daily Beast

"Madhulika Sikka is the honest-talking-advice-giving-big sister-sage-support group that every girl needs to help navigate the world of 'cancerland'. A Breast Cancer Alphabet is the definitive how-to go-to book." - Marisa Acocella Marchetto, author  of Cancer Vixen

"Madhulika Sikka's A Breast Cancer Alphabet is brilliantly researched, smart, and personal - an unvarnished primer of what every woman needs to know about the diagnosis, treatment, and consequences of living with breast cancer. Her practical advice  from "A" to "Z" is exactly what I wish I'd known when I was first diagnosed. With the trained eye and ear of a top-flight journalist, she demystifies the disease, telling you everything you forgot to ask that no one else will share. Reading it will help you recognize, and even laugh, at your worst fears. "B" is for "Brava", Madhulika - for your honesty and creativity in guiding us on a journey none of us chose to take. It is a lot easier when you have A Breast Cancer Alphabet at your side." - Andrea Mitchell, NBC News Chief Foreign Affairs Correspondent

"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

"Breast cancer is a topic no woman wants to learn about first-hand. But should it happen to you, Madhulika Sikka’s A Breast Cancer Alphabet is an ideal primer for before, during and after the experience. Offering the kind of real-world advice that can only come from someone who’s lived to tell the tale, Sikka’s book is required reading for anyone in search of a book that will bring you up to speed quickly, gently, and with genuine empathy."- Micki Myers, author of It's Probably Nothing...

"'T' should be 'Thank you, Madhulika,' for writing a witty, practical and honest book. Too many cancer books out there gloss over the uncomfortable realities of living with a life-threatening illness. A Breast Cancer Alphabet is a must-have for women with cancer." - Suleika Jaouad, New York Times columnist

In these 26 short personal essays, Sikka shares her musings and observations on being diagnosed with and treated for breast cancer. As executive producer of NPR, Sikka is aware of the power of spoken words, and her reading is enriched by that understanding. Her slightly British-sounding voice infuses the reading with the warmth, personal experience, and attitude that only she could bring. “J Is for Journey” questions society’s need to transform this disease into a mystical journey, and “Q Is for Quitting” gives listeners permission to give up when they feel like it. Sikka couches insights in the practical and often poignant language of her own experience (“you will find . . .” and “don’t be surprised if . . .”) rather than the neutral language of medicine. This is valuable information many listeners will find helpful and comforting. J.C.G. © AudioFile 2014, Portland, Maine

2014-01-05
A compilation of thoughts by a woman with breast cancer. When she received her diagnosis ("the most devastating news I had ever had in my life"), NPR News executive Sikka had just finished an interview with President Barack Obama, and his statements swirled with the myriad of thoughts suddenly rushing through the author's mind. "What my doctor was saying competed with words from the president's interview in this cloud in my head," she writes. Fortunately, she had numerous friends and family to help her through the monthslong process of mastectomy, chemotherapy and recovery. Sikka has gathered together her reflections and discoveries of being in "Cancerland" in an A-to-Z guidebook to the entire process of cancer diagnosis, treatment and life afterward. The author examines the process of coping with the waves of feelings one will experience (anxiety, guilt, indignity and others), the need for pampering and the odds of a diagnosis—one in eight women in the United States will get breast cancer. Sikka frankly explores the nature of breasts and how these intimate parts of the body suddenly become everyone's business, from doctors and nurses to brothers and male co-workers. She discusses the lack of sexual desire caused by the chemotherapy and pain and the need to use any and all available drugs. "Drugs are your friends," she writes. "Let me repeat, drugs, pharmaceuticals of all kinds for all things, are your friends. Pill-popping, vein-coursing drugs are your friends." Whether you want to Quit, need Kindness from a friend, or long for a Vacation, Sikka gives counsel. 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. Insightful, helpful comments on living with breast cancer.