Ninny's Natter

From being mistaken for a faith-healer to being mistaken for a woman, the twenty-odd short stories in this memoir describe some of the more memorable incidents from the author's life. When a well-dressed woman accosts him on the street and asks him for money, he wonders whether he should grant her wish. He is stumped when an Israeli tourist asks him which country he belongs to while on a weekend visit to Norway from his base in Sweden. As a child, the author had no qualms about demanding orange soda from his uncle, but as an adult he thinks twice about buying his father even a small carton of whole milk. Written in a plain, straightforward manner and infused with wry humor, the stories switch effortlessly between lighthearted and somber tones. Set mainly in the U.S. and India, they cover a period of forty years.