From April ’09 Spotlight: You’re a writer in your early 50s, well-respected on your home turf and living a good life. But you read Anne Frank’s diary at an impressionable age, spent time in closets for years afterwards “hiding from the Nazis,” and always wondered when the other shoe would drop. Then, one day, just when everything seems fine, you have a routine mammogram… And so begins S.L. Wisenberg’s new book The Adventures of Cancer Bitch.
You probably don’t need Sandi to tell you that breast cancer disproportionately targets Ashkenazi women. Very likely you’ve lost people you love to this disease, perhaps you’re even being treated for it now yourself. Regardless of what you think you already know firsthand, Sandi’s book is a must read for members of our community. Having lived a life committed to Jewish ritual as well as Jewish literature, Sandi uses acerbic self-reflection to search for higher truth (both spiritual and medical).
Sandi’s book tour will take her to places as near as Iowa City and as far as Sofia, Bulgaria (where she’ll be presenting at June’s Bet Debora Conference), but here in Chicago we’ll have many chances to hear her describe her Adventures, including April 6 at Loyola (north campus); May 6 at 57th Street Books (Hyde Park); and May 14 at Northwestern (Evanston). To order the book, learn more about specific stops on the book tour, and/or read her ongoing observations on daily life, visit Sandi’s Blog: http://cancerbitch.blogspot.com.
