Old Age A Beginner's Guide by Michael Kinsley 305.26 Kin

This is a book for baby boomers.  Kinsley writes, "Sometimes I feel like a scout from my generation, sent out ahead to experience in my fifties what even the healthiest Boomers are going to experience in their sixties, seventies or eighties."  He is ahead of the rest of us because he has been dealing with Parkinson's for a couple of decades.  He is thinking more about the end because of it.  He writes about competitive longevity and he who has his marbles at the end are the winners.  This might sound like a depressing book but I found it entertaining and at times thought-provoking.  I liked his take on this time of life. Another quote I loved was: "The easiest way to shuffle off to Buffalo with a good reputation is to earn it legitimately.  If you want to be remembered as a good person, then try to be a good person.  Who knows?  It might just work. But start now, because if you're a boomer, time is running out."

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A Few of the Girls: Stories by Maeve Binchy FIC Bin

I am still so sad that Maeve Binchy is no longer with us.  I am thrilled when anything penned by her comes out.  This is a collection of short stories - many of them quite short.  I am not a fan of short stories - except for hers.  I am always in awe the way she puts so much into so few words.  Some of these stories had been published because beside books she also wrote for magazines.  Some of them were written as a gift for friends of hers - what a treasure.

If you are a fan of Binchy you will want to read this.  As always, she writes about situations and people that are so familiar to her readers.  The world seems to be going crazy and I loved having the opportunity to  escape into the fiction of my favorite author.

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The Bridge Ladies: a memoir by Betsy Lerner 305.2 Ler

  

I loved this book.  The Bridge Ladies refers to the women with whom Betsy's mom has been playing bridge for decades.  Betsy has known these women since she was a child and her attitude toward the 'bridge club' changed as she grew up.  Then Betsy left to get an education and live her own life.  After twenty years of living and working in NYC her husband is offered a great job and Betsy finds herself moving back to New Haven - where her mother still lives.

The book is about the relationship between mother and daughter.  Betsy will find out things about her mother's life that she never knew before.  The story of the other ladies is interwoven.  Since I lived in part of the club's era I found it fascinating.  I also play bridge so I enjoyed Betsy's attempt to learn the game.  Any mother or daughter will recognize some of the issues between the generations.  At times I had tears in my eyes and other times I laughed out loud.  Great book!

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A Game for All the Family by Sophie Hannah MYS Han

A psychological mystery that kept me guessing.  Justine has retired from her job and plans on doing NOTHING.  That is her goal.  She and her husband, Alex, and daughter, Ellen, have moved from London to Devon.

Justin's life is being interrupted by some strange premonitions and 'feelings'.  Alex does a lot of traveling so it is often just Justine and Ellen.  One day she comes across a very strange story written by Ellen.  We continue to be given the chance to read more of the story as the book progresses.  It is an integral part of the mystery.

During a conversation with Ellen,  Justine discovers that Ellen is distressed because her best friend (Justine had never heard his name!) has been expelled from school because he was accused of stealing Ellen's coat (which she had given him).  When Justine goes to the school to explain the situation she is told that George doesn't exist.  Justine has no reason to believe that Ellen isn't telling the truth - yet why would the school lie to her?  There is no way to figure this one out - you just have to keep reading!

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Quiet Neighbors by Catriona McPherson MYS McP

I enjoyed this book even though it didn't move at a very past pace.  The mystery in the book is why does a woman named Jude flee London to go to the small village of Wigtown where she returns to a bookshop that she had been in once on a holiday.  If you want to find out why you have to read most of the book. (Well, I suppose you could take a quick look but that wouldn't really be playing by the rules.). The bookshop is a poorly maintained place filled with stacks of books. To Jude, a librarian cataloguer, it should have been a nightmare but on her previous visit she had found a treasure - a book by an author whose work she loved.  So when she ran away (with only the clothes on her back) that is where she went.  The owner is Lowell Glen and he is still there, as disheveled as ever.  He recognizes her right away and hurries to grab another book for her.  He found it and had been keeping it in case she returned.

Very quickly Lowell offers her a room in his house and some clothes (decades old!) that she can wear.  Lowell is a great character.  The description of his bookshop is great and I could imagine it in my mind.  Jude hasn't been staying with Lowell long before he has a young woman who shows up in his life - the daughter he never knew he had.

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The Boys in the Bunkhouse by Dan Barry 362.384 Bar

In 2009, a social worker from Muscatine traveled to the small town of Atalissa to follow up on a strange complaint of abuse.

The caller claimed there were about 20 intellectually disabled men living in squalor in the old Atalissa school house.  The men worked in a nearby turkey processing plant and did some of the worst jobs while being paid substandard pay. The social worker was doubtful but followed up on this outlandish claim - only to discover it was true.  And worse.

The Boys in the Bunkhouse by Dan Barry is the story of these disabled men: how they went from institutional care into a experimental group home promoted as a means to give them job skills and independence while providing a warm home environment. Instead, over the years it devolved into a situation of medical neglect, emotional abuse, and unsanitary living conditions.

I used to live near Atalissa, and I try to read Iowa stories whenever I get the chance, so, of course, I grabbed this one off the new shelf.  To say it is very compelling is an understatement.  I have been talking about this book to almost everyone I see.

While reading it, I asked myself over and over "How could no one have seen what was going on?"   Of course there are reasons, and this book does a great job trying to suss them out.  Barry doesn't take the easy way of just pointing fingers but he seeks out the perspectives of the Atalissa community, the men's caretakers, and Iowa's social services agencies who perfected the art of passing the buck when it came to these men.

I was especially caught by the life stories and personalities of these men, and appreciated the author's effort in tracking down their backgrounds and following up on where they are today.  Although it is a heartbreaking story in many ways, it's also complex and nuanced.  It's great nonfiction writing, and I highly recommend it.

PS - And in case you were wondering about the book cover - yes the schoolhouse was bright turquoise.  The inside was just as garish, but much shabbier.

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