Ageproofing (Age-Proof by Chatzky, Roizen, and Spiker)

Were these types of books out there when I was younger and I just ignored them? Maybe. Then, again, when I was younger, families thought they were feeding their children healthy food if they could afford the new boxed cereals, commercially canned fruits and vegetables (loaded with sugar and salt), and a commercial loaf of bread that could be molded into a marshmallow (with same type of texture).

A bit of a different picture this post. I actually don't know what connection I was making between these three! I may have been showing a family member how I can read three books at the same time. I started AgeProof (the book on the bottom of the picture) on January 1 and finished it on February 9. The book is meant to be worked through not raced through. The subtitle is "Living Longer Without Running Out of Money or Breaking a Hip." Jean Chatzky provides the financial information, Michael F. Roizen, MD provides the health information, and Ted Spiker writes it in a way so that the reader is not bored to death. The format is easy to work with and humorous as Spiker "spikes" (I had to) the information with quips from the two experts. The chapters alternate between finance and health (with connections to each other interwoven).

I have not read any of these authors other works so it was not a rehash for me. I did know much of the information, but it was nice to see it in writing with the background research written in common vocabulary and not medical or financial jargon.

Reviews are all over the place with this book -- the first that I've seen that happen on a site like Goodreads. The fluctuations in ratings seem to come from whether the reader gained much from the book or little, and that makes sense. If you already know the information, then the book will be boring or shallow. If the reader doesn't want to hear that Americans need to eat healthier, then that reader is going to think the doctor is pompous. Was it totally new to me? No, but did I find useful information or encouragement? Yes. Do I think the book is worth working through, if only as a checkup if you already know everything? Yes. Do I already believe in healthy eating and living healthy financially as well? Yes. My rating range: 3-5.

💕💕💕 In our family, we tend to make wise eating choices and we ended up eventually making wise financial choices, but, oh how we wish we had made those wise financial choices from the moment we married! I like how this book encourages everyone that it is never too late and even has sections for the different stages of life. My children are getting this book as a gift (and now I will find out which ones read my blog...ha).

--- It may seem strange to think that I am including my spiritual formation section in a review of a finance and health book; however, these authors have wise words about forming habits and making changes by small steps. Also, when one is wanting to change, change happens best when one replaces an unhealthy or unwise habit with a better choice rather than simply to stop the bad habit. For example, if a person wants to stop buying sugar laden lattes everyday (hard on the finances and the gut), then replace it with a smaller plain latte (less money and less sugar but still caffeine) and a small piece of extra dark chocolate.

With Christ-following spiritual formation, the replacement for gossip or lack of kindness or (fill in the blank) is knowing Christ. Not knowing about Jesus, but knowing Jesus daily. In order to do so, one way to make time for knowing Jesus and stopping the gossip or the unkindness might be to practice small steps of silence  or maybe it will be to start small steps of journaling or maybe singing grateful songs. I'll revisit these thoughts in later blogs. 

Losing and Living (A Carnival of Losses: Notes Nearing Ninety by Donald Hall)

I read this final book of Donald Hall's close on the heels of his Essays After Eighty (You can find that review here.) However, I did not want to review two growing old books, one after the other, especially one with a title about losses. At the time that I read the book, I still had all of my aunts and uncles and both parents alive (and I'm not a child). I have seen that they have had to live through the losses of loved ones and the loss of health, but they have continued to live. This book is about living even as it is also about losing, and there is much to be learned from Hall's story. Not to mention, as I have come to realize, there is much to learn from Hall's writing. He remained a master writer to the very end (he died in June of this year), no wonder as he continued to revise to extraordinary lengths. In his first essay "You Are Old," he writes: "You are old when an essay of reminiscence takes eighty-four drafts." However, he is comparing that number to the numbers he mentioned when he was younger -- up to sixty! Clearly, he hones his craft more than the rest of us.

Because Hall writes from the vantage point of nearing ninety, "he feels free to reveal...several vivid examples of 'the worst thing I ever did' which is different from someone trying to keep an untarnished image of him or herself. However, be prepared for an entire essay (only two paragraphs, one half of a page) dedicated to the F- word. It is on page 181 of a 216 page book. Some will get the book for that essay alone and others will want to burn the book. I wouldn't go that far. I both bought the book and also dislike that particular essay. I don't want obscene words in my head that will come out at random sometime in the future if I fall into my father's stage of Alzheimer's or have a stroke and the only words I remember are obscene. It may sound funny on paper or in a movie, but in real life, it's not humorous at all.

Here are the great parts: amazing writing, writing of images that make this book (and his Essays After Eighty) required reading for some medical students. Hall captures so incredibly well what aging can look like that medical students are asked to read the book so that they will have some understanding of their older patients, some understanding of what the ailments of growing older feel like. His essay "Solitude Double Solitude" is nothing short of amazing (I'm running our of superlatives for Hall's writing) and his final sentence was gut-wrenching.

A surprising element of reading this book happened as Hall recounted his life with various poet-peers. These were poets who were famous in their day, and some I had never even heard of. Hall didn't expect to be remembered for too long either, and I think, perhaps, his prose will outlast his poetry! Nonetheless, I read these chapters at the same time that I was pondering legacy. Not many people will have their names remembered for years upon years, but each person matters. Each person brings something to the world of living, whether it be for ill or good.

Hall's final essay "Tree Day" is the perfect essay to end on, a perfect transition from one generation to the next. I do recommend the book. 

Aging Well or Aging...Well...(Essays After Eighty by Donald Hall)

First, I fell in love. Then, the honeymoon was over, and I started to take the book out of my Amazon cart. Still, I read on. Now, the book stays in the cart, waiting.

I picked up this book from the library (although photo credit here goes to iBooks or Google or Amazon or the publisher) because a friend had read some Donald Hall poems at a gathering. It turns out Hall just died in July 10 of this year so, in my case, I fulfilled a statement he makes in his essays about a poet becoming popular after he dies! This is not a book of his poems. In fact, he doesn't even include one of his poems. After eighty years, he feels the poetic muse has left him and he turns to prose...superb prose...well earned superb prose as he revises often over thirty times! Clearly Hall was willing to put in the time to become a master of his art. His art and skill at writing alone tempts me to buy the book.

I went looking for a book of his poetry and came home with White Apples and the Taste of Stone (selected poems 1946-2006), Anecdotes of Modern Art (written with Pat Corrington Wykes), and this book Essays After Eighty. Before he died, he finished A Carnival of Losses: Notes Nearing Ninety which also sits in my shopping cart.

I fell in love with the first essay "Out the Window" as he describes the view out his window and his mom turning ninety as she looked out that same window, living in the same house for almost sixty years (a nice counterpoint to my last book review of Miller's Valley and musings on moving on). Still, in this chapter the years that lie ahead of the reader might look a bit foreboding based on Hall's descriptions. (Believe me, if I did not use the lie/lay correctly here, I did try to discern the proper usage!)

As I moved into the second essay on writing "Essays After Eighty," I thought surely I needed this book if only to learn how to avoid beginning "paragraphs with 'I'" (14) Not to mention avoiding a lot of other problems in writing already demonstrated in this post!

In "Yeti in the District" and other essays, Hall takes negative situations and brings in his sense of humor. Yet, as I read on, Hall has an edge of cynicism, perhaps, some would say "understandably so" as he survived a wife and an ex-wife who both died of cancer.

Sometimes timing even in reading matters. I have read a number of books lately that have involved such deep thinking that I am ready for some belly laughs. There are some gentle laughs in Hall's essays, some name droppings that are so subtle that it takes one a moment to realize he just dropped a lot of famous names, and a lot of memoir from an old poet who writes extremely well. My guess is that he did not intend for the book to be about teaching anyone else how to age well.

My (there's that personal pronoun again) favorite quote: "Yesterday my first nap was at 9:30 am, but when I awoke I wrote again." I'd have to say Publisher's Weekly's blurb for the book describes Hall's work well: "Laconic, witty, and lyrical, Hall is a master stylist, yet he remains refreshingly humble and matter-of-fact about fame (his and others)...By exploring the joys and vicissitudes of a long life, [Essays After Eighty] offers revealing insights into the human condition -- and the grit and openness it requires" (from the front flap of the cover).

💕💕💕💕💕 Getting to know older adults is important for children. Older people have stories to tell and too often I hear at memorials or when it is no longer possible to hear their stories, "Oh, how I wished I had listened or asked questions when he or she was able to tell me all about life back then."  Our family did a fair job of our children knowing older people. Not the best, not the worst.

---------------- Here I am now one of those people wishing I had paid more attention to the stories of my elders, so I read books like Essays After Eighty. As for spiritual practices, there are people around me who are older than I am that I can still get to know, can still practice being attentive to. Journaling makes for a beneficial practice as well. Not everything needs to be saved for those who come behind us but both types of journaling -- for one's own eyes only and for others to read -- can be a blessing.