On The Books-Seniority!

It’s long bemoaned in the book world that there are far too few offerings with mature narrators. As I myself grow ever closer to that cusp of becoming a senior, I grow weary of having the majority of books I pick up narrated by thirty somethings. I dug deep to bring you wonderful and refreshing characters to keep company with.

These stories capture my kind of seniors’ moments!

AN ELDERLY LADY IS UP TO NO GOOD – Helen Thursten

Maud is an irascible 88-year-old woman with no family, no friends, and no qualms about a little murder. Ever since her father’s untimely death when she was only eighteen, Maud has lived in the spacious apartment she inherited. Now in her later years she has fully embraced the life of an armchair traveler and recluse, content with this solitary existence. When that solitude is threatened, can murder be far behind?

If you liked…The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman, Three Things About Elise by Joanna Cannon, The Little Old Lady Who Broke All The Rules by Catharina Sundberg

LILLIAN BOXFISH TAKES A WALK – Kathleen Rooney

It’s the last night of 1984 and Lillian, 85 years old but just as sharp and savvy as ever, is on her way to a party. Deciding to walk a path that takes her over ten miles around the city, she encounters bartenders, bodega clerks, security guards, criminals, children, and parents. All these interactions cause her to reflect on both the past and the present.

A love letter to life that embraces how we connect to each other in moments, no matter how brief they might be.

If you liked…Seven Husbands Of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid, Unlikely Pilgrimage Of Harold Fry by Rachel Joyce, 100 Year Old Man Who Climbed Out The Window & Disappeared by Jonas Jonasson

EROTIC STORIES FOR PUNJABI WIDOWS – Balli Kaur Jaswal

Every woman has a secret life.  With age those secrets grow in number and deepen in significance.

A young woman whose family finds themselves strapped financially, takes a job teaching creative writing to a group of widows from her close-knit community.  A misunderstanding has them unleashing some very unexpected tales of seduction and scandal.

If you liked…The Lido by Libby Page, Major Pettigrew’s Last Stand by Helen Simonson, Curious Charms Of Arthur Pepper by Phaedra Patrick

AN UNNECESSARY WOMAN – Rabih Alameddine

A portrait of a reclusive woman’s late life crisis, readers follow Aaliyas digressive mind as it ricochets across recollections of past and present Beirut.  As she tries to overcome her aging body and emotional upwellings, Aaliya is faced with an unthinkable disaster that threatens to shatter the life she has left. 

If you liked…Still Alice by Alice Genova, Elegance Of The Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery, Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout