BOOKWORM
A FUNNY GIRL
My Name is Barbra by Barbra Streisand, Viking, $63. She is a living legend. One of the most recognizable voices in the history of popular music. Nominated for a Grammy 46 times. And she is among a handful of EGOT winners (Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony). In My Name is Barbra, she tells her own story, from growing up in Brooklyn and appearances in New York nightclubs to her break-out performance in Funny Girl (musical and film) and the long string of successes that followed.
They say that success changes a person, but I think it actually makes you more of who you really are.
Frankly, I think I’m rather ordinary. I just happened to be born with a good voice, and then I guess there was something about my looks, my personality, whatever talent I had that intrigued people (or annoyed them).
There’s a story about why she is Barbra, not Barbara. Well, she never really liked the name Barbara. “When I was a kid, playing secretaries with a friend, I called myself Sydney. I liked men’s names... Sydney Streisand...that had a nice alliteration. Samantha was my other favourite name (I eventually used it for my dear dog). Then it occurred to me that I could just take out that middle a in Barbara. Now I’d be Barbra...that was different and unique. I liked the way it looked too...and down deep I would still be same Barbara Joan Streisand, if you see what I mean.”
THE HEART OF THE MATTER
The Spoiled Heart by Sunjeev Sahota, Viking, USD 29. Nayan Olak keeps seeing Helen Fletcher around town. She’s returned with her teenage son to live in the run-down house at the end of the lane, and – though she’s strangely guarded – Nayan can’t help but be drawn to her. He hasn’t risked love since losing his young family in a terrible accident twenty years earlier.
In the wake of the tragedy, Nayan’s labour union, long a cornerstone of his community, became the center of his life: a way for him to channel his energies into making the world a better – fairer, as he sees it – place. Now, he’s decided to mount a run for the leadership. But his campaign pits him against a newcomer, Megha, who quickly proves to be a more formidable challenger than he anticipated.
While Megha is fighting for the rights of coloured people, Nayan attempts to highlight the fact that there was no such thing as White working class. “...It doesn’t exist. Shouldn’t exist. There is only the working class.”
The beauty of Sahota’s writing is that even the most unsympathetic and bristly character is not quite the villain. With his keen observation of human frailties and quirks, each has a point of view, justified in their eyes.
As Nayan’s differences with Megha spin out of control, complicating the ideals he’s always held dear, he grows closer to Helen – and unknowingly barrels towards long-held secrets about how their pasts might be connected. Suddenly, much more is threatened than his chances of winning.
Sunjeev Sahota captures the essence of loneliness in a few sparse words. Nayan was used to this, the discomfort men felt when speaking to him about their children, the hairpin swerve towards safer, blander territory. It was a loss on top of the loss: he missed knowing he was a person who made others feel comfortable.
And of a mind grappling with dementia. He’d sit there, looking utterly forlorn, frightened by his surroundings. He’d stare at the ceiling, his neck stretching as if his mind was in a river cave, dark water rising.
In a lighthearted passage, Nayan shows off his bargaining skills to Brandon, Helen’s son, making him walk away from a “deal” to strike a better one!
A riveting story of ambition, love, family secrets, and unintended consequences, from the two-time Booker Prize nominee, The Spoiled Heart is a multilayered exploration of the mysteries of the heart, how community is forged and broken, and the shattering impact of secrets and assumptions alike.
MISTRESS OF SPICES
The Curious Secrets of Yesterday by Namrata Patel, Lake Union Publishing, $16.99. Tulsi Patel communicates her feelings through her collection of t-shirts. “Ants in pants” one day. “Slow your roll,” the next.
She longs to explore what lies beyond her prescribed world. The “heady smell of toasted cumin that had once been a comfort became a sign of changelessness”.
When she finds an unsent letter written by her grandmother that speaks of a long-ago betrayal, she decides to unravel the mystery as a distraction from the impending test that will seal her place in the line of healers. But she stumbles upon much more than she bargained for. And then an attractive neighbour begins renovating the shuttered deli next door...
But the path to self discovery doesn’t run smooth. There’s interference from a social media influencer wannabe who goes by the name Savasana Skye, clueless about the fact that it means “corpse pose” in yoga. A flurry of posts about their store Rasa by an unknown person first leads to an uptick in sales and then, just as quickly the tide turns with people accusing them of false advertising and selling harmful concoctions. It doesn’t help that they are located in Salem. And then there’s the “curse” that afflicts the women in the family.
An engrossing read, peppered with delicious bits about ajwain being good for digestion and the perfect comfort food, khichdi. And food being shared with neighbours in repurposed yoghurt containers!
Namrata Patel explores the many nuances of the hyphenated identity in her books and discovers that her own hyphen is not solely about geography.
WIT AND WARMTH
Keya Das’s Second Act by Sopan Deb, Simon & Schuster, $35. In his fifties, Shantanu Das finds himself isolated from his traditional Bengali community after a devastating divorce.
He hasn’t spoken to his elder daughter Mitali in months. When his younger daughter Keya, came out as gay, no one in the family could find the words they needed. As each worked up the courage to say sorry, fate intervened: Keya was killed in a crash.
When Shantanu finds an unfinished play Keya and her girlfriend had been writing, Mitali has an idea. Put on the play as a way to honour Keya and finally apologize.
For the Das family, the play brings an understanding: They see who their daughter was and who she would have become, and they see who they were and who they have become.
A story filled with warmth, wit and wisdom from the author of Missed Translations: Meeting the Immigrant parents Who Raised Me.
DOUBLE TAKE
Doppelganger by Naomi Klein, Alfred A. Knopf Canada, $38.00. We all have another side to our personalities. Buffeted by strong gales of opinion, we go from one online platform to another, each more convincing than the other, forming a multiplicity of points of view. It’s as if you have acquired another self – “a double who is almost you and yet not you at all”. If a name hasn’t been invented for this malady, it will soon be.
Naomi Klein explores this strange twilight world “as we create digital doubles of ourselves, filtered and curated just so for all the other duplicates to see”. A wild ride.
SHARED HISTORY
The Sea Between Two Shores by Tanis Rideout, McClelland & Stewart, $22. Connected as much by their desire for healing as by the actions of their ancestors, two families uncover shared losses and hopes for a better future.
The story of two families brought together to reckon with what it means to make amends, the book weaves history and current events together masterfully.
IT WILL ALL COME OUT IN THE WASH
Dirty Laundry by Disha Bose, Ballantine Books, $37. Ciara Murphy is the perfect wife with the perfect life – on Instagram. But behind the filters, reality is less polished.
Mishti Guha, her best friend, discontent in her marriage, wants what Ciara has. Earth mother Lauren Doyle is ostracized for her dishevelled family. And then Ciara is found murdered in her pristine home.
What caused the unspooling of a group of women desperate to preserve themselves?
NOT LONG ALGO
Jaj, A Haida Manga, by Michael Nicoll Yahgulanaas, Douglas & McIntyre, $34.95. With gorgeous imagery, visual artist Michael Nicoll Yahgulanaas brings to life the tumultuous history of first contact between Europeans and Indigenous people and the early colonization by the Europeans of the northern West Coast.
The story follows several historical figures including Johan Adrian Jacobson (JAJ), who comes to the Haida village of Masset to collect specimens for a German museum, through a time span that includes first contact, the devastation of the smallpox epidemic, and the mass resettlement of disenfranchised peoples, both Indigenous and European.
A must-read chapter of our history, presented in a unique format.
FOR YOU, KID
Dungeons and Dragons Honor Among Thieves, adapted by David Lewman, Random House, $10.99. This junior novelization with key moments and photographs from the film is sure to be a hit with the kids.
It will also have the adults sneaking in a read!
THE NATURE OF THINGS
Be A Nature Explorer by Peter Wohlleben, illustrated by Belle Wuthrich, Greystone Kids, $17.95. An invitation to explore the outdoors with 52 activities, one for every week of the year!
What is particularly lovely is that Peter Wohlleben, the best-selling author of The Hidden Life of Trees and The Inner Lie of Animals, to name just two, doesn’t talk down to his young readers, but takes them on a shared adventure.
“Your adventures will be even more exciting if you discover plants or animals that I am not aware of because they don’t exist in Germany. Some may look like the ones that live near me, but they’ve adapted to live near your home.”
Activities include using a forest telephone, making a tree friend, making chewing gum and predicting rain.
The perfect companion as you head outdoors with the young explorers in your family!
TEEN REVIEW
By ZEHRA HEMANI
Secluded Cabin Sleeps Six by Lisa Unger, Wheeler Publishing, $ 34.99. This psychological thriller keeps you in suspense from the start with its captivating plot as it reveals how the person closest to you may be the biggest stranger in your life.
This book revolves around six characters who come to a secluded cabin for a vacation.
Mako and his wife Liza, who seem like a perfect couple but what is really hiding between the extravagance of their lifestyle?
Bruce and his wife, Hannah, who seem to have it all but what is the reason for Bruce’s secret phone calls and who is the ‘difficult client’ he has?
The last two are Cricket, Hannah’s best friend, and Johnny, the next in a long line of suitors.
Overall, I give this book a 4.5/5 because I was really impressed and managed to finish this in one sitting. The one flaw was that sometimes this book went a little dry as the author explained the backstory of the characters and their emotions. A warning is that this book contains some mature and dark themes such as rape, depression, suicide, cutting oneself, murder, etc.
Read this book at your own discretion.
• Zehra Hemani is a youth volunteer at Brampton Library.