Book Reviews

Tough Broad : From Boogie Boarding to Wing Walking—How Outdoor Adventure Improves Our Lives as We Age

By Caroline Paul

“From the New York Times-bestselling author of The Gutsy Girl, a funny, inspiring, deeply researched exploration into the science and psychology of the outdoors and our place in it as we age.”

Amazon

Meeting the Muse After Midlife—A Journey to Meaning, Creativity, and Joy

By Sally Jean Fox

Victoria Starr Marshall

How to be Authentic: Simone de Beauvoir and the Quest for Fulfillment

By Skye C. Cleary

Victoria Starr Marshall

My View from the Back of the Bus

By Merritt D. Long

Long’s story is one of resourcefulness, resilience, and perseverance through the almost insurmountable roadblocks our shameful racist culture put in his path. Many people, if not most, are unable to overcome such adverse circumstances. My View from the Back of the Bus is the story of one person who did. I highly recommend it.

Victoria Starr Marshall

Dancing with the Muse in Old Age

By Priscilla Long

“In Dancing with the Muse in Old Age, Long distills the best contemporary writing on aging to its essence and inspires us with the stories of creative people who never let their age be a barrier.”

Victoria Starr Marshall

Bittersweet: How Sorrow and Longing Make Us Whole

By Susan Cain

“Cain weaves stories from her own life—some heartbreaking, some funny, all of them poignant—throughout the book, which gives Bittersweet an intimacy and feeling of deep honesty.”

Ann Hedreen

Writing While Masked: Reflections on 2020 and Beyond

by Mary Ann Gonzales, Tyson Greer, Wanda Herndon, Laura Celiese Lippman, Jan Spalding, Suzanne Tedesco, Beth Weir

“Writing While Masked gathers seven aspiring writers’ personal pieces, essays, and poems about 2020’s deadly pandemic, unparalleled divisiveness, and momentous racial reckoning.”

Crow’s Feet: Life As We Age

Edited By Nancy Peckenham

Crow’s Feet offers an expertly curated selection of well-written, honest, and inspiring accounts of living with age.

Shape Up!! as you Sit, Stand, Walk: It’s Nature’s Exercise

By Helen Fleder

A former ballerina, Fleder, now 97, provides an ingenious image to help visualize good posture and remind us to hold ourselves in proper alignment.

My Last Eight Thousand Days: An American Male in His Seventies

by Lee Gutkind

Life-changing in its perceptive and honest revelations of growing older. A must-read for all of us longing to peel back the truth of ourselves. — Gay Talese

Nuclear Option

by Dorothy Van Soest

A perceptive thriller set in an offbeat milieu . . . a well-researched, compassionate, and exciting blend of social commentary and political thriller. — Kirkus Review

Dinner with Edward: A Story of an Unexpected Friendship

by Isabel Vincent

“Dinner with Edward is a book about love and nourishment, and about how dinner with a friend can, in the words of M. F. K. Fisher, ‘sustain us against the hungers of the world.’” — Amazon Review

Grand: A Grandparent’s Wisdom for a Happy Life

by Charles Johnson

National Book Award winner and MacArthur Genius Fellow Charles Johnson reflects on the joys of being a grandparent in this warm, inspiring collection of wisdom and life lessons.

After The Blast
by Eric Wagner

The Ecological Recovery of Mount St. Helens

“Mingling intimate accounts of extraordinary scientists in the field with his own acute perceptions of the changing mountain and its burgeoning life, Eric Wagner gives us a terrific read, equally gripping for its social and natural history.  ” –Robert Michael Pyle, author of Wintergreen and Magdalena Mountain

EightySomethings
by Katharine Esty, Ph.D.

A Practical Guide to Letting Go, Aging Well, and Finding Unexpected Happiness

“This well-written and thoughtful book is a useful guide for aging adults and their children. ” –Mary Pipher author of the best-selling book, Women Rowing North

Night Hawks: Stories
by Charles Johnson

A masterful story collection—thirteen years in the making—from National Book Award winner and University of Washington professor emeritus, Charles Johnson. Seattle provides a backdrop for several stories.

It’s OK That You’re Not OK
by Megan Devine

Meeting Grief and Loss in a Culture That Doesn’t Understand

“Grief support and understanding that is heartfelt, straightforward, and wise.” ―Jack Kornfield, author of A Path with Heart

Inheritance: A Memoir of Genealogy, Paternity, and Love
by Dani Shaprio

“A meditation on what it means to live in a time when secrecy, anonymity, and mystery are vanishing.” —The New Yorker

Elderhood: Redefining Aging, Transforming Medicine, Reimagining Life
by Louise Aronson
“In a world of increasing numbers of older adults, Aronson’s highly readable, absorbing, and thought-provoking book should serve as a guide for how our culture must change in order to provide a future in which all of us can age well throughout the span of our lives.” ―Changing Aging

Factfulness
by Hans Rosling

Ten Reasons We’re Wrong About the World and Why Things Are Better Than You Think

“One of the most important books I’ve ever read―an indispensable guide to thinking clearly about the world.” ―Bill Gates