Product Description

'Certainly not!' said Marie Sharp, when a friend suggests she join a bookclub when she turns sixty. 'Bookclub people always seem to have to wade through Captain Corelli's "Mandolin" or, groan, "The God of Small Things". They feel they've forever got to poke their brain with a pointed stick to keep it working. But either you've got a lively brain or you haven't. And anyway, I don't want to be young and stimulated any more. Those oldies who spend their lives bicycling across Mongolia at eighty and para-gliding at ninety, aren't brilliant specimens of old age. No, they're just tragic failures who haven't come to terms with aging. I want to start doing old things, not young things'.Too young to get whisked away by a Stannah Stairlift, or to enjoy the luxury of a Walk-In Bath (but not so much that she doesn't enjoy comfortable shoes), Marie, is all the same, getting on in years - and she's thrilled about it! She's a bit pre-occupied about whether to give up sex - 'Ouch! Ouch! Ouch!' - but there are compensations, like falling in love all over again - but this time with her baby grandson, Gene. Curmudgeonly, acute, and funny, this fictionalised diary is what happens when grumpy old women meet Bridget Jones.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #248026 in Books
• Published on: 2006-09-28
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 256 pages

From the Inside Flap
"Certainly not!" said Marie Sharp, when a friend
suggests she join a bookclub when she turns sixty. "Bookclub people always seem to have to wade through Captain Corelli's Mandolin or, groan, The God of Small Things. They feel they've forever got to poke their brain with a pointed stick to keep it working. But either you've got a lively brain or you haven't. And anyway, I don't want to be young and stimulated any more.

Those oldies who spend their lives bicycling across Mongolia at eighty and para-gliding at ninety, aren't brilliant specimens of old age. No, they're just tragic failures who haven't come to terms with aging. I want to start doing old things, not young things."

From the Back Cover
`Poignant and utterly engaging' The Times

`Wise, funny and heart-warming' Daily Mail

`A delight to read' Closer

`Readers will rub their hands together with glee...few books are so
original, so entertaining and so thought-provoking' Daily Express

`This hilarious diary of a mature woman certainly gives Bridget Jones a run
for her money' OK

`Hilarious' Red

`Hilarious...It had me laughing out loud on the bus' Woman & Home

`Immense wit and charm' Psychologies

`The babyboomers' answer to Bridget Jones' The Independent

About the Author
Virginia Ironside is a journalist, agony aunt, and author, divorced living in West London. She has one son, one grandson.

Customer Reviews

Oh so true!
Hilarious! Although I have another five years to go before I reach the big 60 I was definitely able to relate to so much of what Marie had to say for herself. Did not agree with all her comments though!
Sad! The illness of her friend Hughie I did find rather difficult to cope with as I have experience of being in a similar situation to Marie.
Realistic,yes! While reading kept thinking, so true,been there done that, got the same memories.
Worth reading,yes! Especially if you are a woman of a certain age or know one maybe?
Unlike Marie though I do want to remain, at least feeling young, even if not actually so. I want to remain stimulated and will carry on doing young things, rather than old things!!

Sixty not out
Very funny and sad by turns, this is the diary of a retired art teacher, Marie, as she prepares her sixtieth birthday. She's a brittle, sarcastic and for the most part quite loveable woman, as revealed in her ramshackle circle of friends and (more acutely and movingly) her absolute love for her new grandson. In the course of the year a close friend dies (unflinchingly described)and - without giving anything away - Stuff Happens.

There's a great joke about the type of men who wear big hats, many peppery and subversive digressions about sex, online dating, dental issues, what not to wear, old flames and new options.

It's also (I think) one of the very first books to deal with the way baby boomers are squaring up to oblivion. A book for anyone who plans to live beyond sixty.

FUN, ENTERTAINING, AND GOOD ADVICE


London advice columnist Virginia Ironside has finally crossed the pond with her first U.S. publication, and that's cause for celebration. No! I Don't Want to Join A Book Club! is a touching, fun-filled diary penned by the fictional Marie Sharp, a woman on the brink of her 60th year.

Marie doesn't quite go gently into her sixth decade as "the best is yet to be" turns out to be merely a poet's dream. Those around her place the emphasis on youth, especially good friend Penny who is about to take up with a man some 30 years younger. And, Marie's much adored friend, Hughie, is quite ill. As if this weren't enough to contend with well wishers insist that she use her new leisure to study, travel or better yet, join a book club. Never vows Marie who is quite happy to be old and needs absolutely no advice about how to spend her time. Besides, she has a definite opinion about book club members: "They feel they've forever got to poke their brain with a pointed stick to keep it working."

Author Ironside delivers a plethora of pungent comments about the state of today's world, especially the Internet. She doesn't gloss over the downside of aging but faces adversities with equanimity and good humor.

The joy of her life is found in being a first time grandmother (although she does have a tendency to obsess about the welfare of her grandson.) And then, there's Archie, the fellow she had a teenage crush on. He's a widower now. Marie has sworn off men, but.......

One of the most recognizable voices on British radio, stage and screen actress Sian Phillips gives a sterling reading as Marie shares her very private thoughts with her diary.

- Gail Cooke