Ten Books...to celebrate Seniors Week
Get ready for Seniors week 15 March - 23 March, by reading some fiction featuring older adults as the main characters.
The best exotic Marigold hotel by Deborah Moggach
When Ravi Kapoor, an overworked London doctor, reaches the breaking point with his difficult father-in-law, he asks his wife: “Can’t we just send him away somewhere? Somewhere far, far away.” His prayer is seemingly answered when Ravi’s entrepreneurial cousin sets up a retirement home in India, hoping to re-create in Bangalore an elegant lost corner of England. Several retirees are enticed by the promise of indulgent living at a bargain price, but upon arriving, they are dismayed to find that restoration of the once sophisiticated hotel has stalled, and that such amenities as water and electricity are . . . infrequent. But what their new life lacks in luxury, they come to find, it’s plentiful in adventure, stunning beauty, and unexpected love.
No, I don't need reading glasses by Virginia Ironside
Grace celebrates her 70th birthday by gathering twelve of her friends and family around her table. This moving and often funny novel dissects the lives of women over three generations and celebrates the triumph of endurance.
The last days of Ptolemy Grey by Walter Mosley
At 91, Ptolomey Grey is shutting down and virtually ignored. Then a doctor gives him an experimental drug that will curtail his life but make those last few months really sizzle. After taking it he's clear-headed enough to uncover some shocking truths about his family.
Thursdays in the park by Hilary Boyd
Jeanie has been a loving wife for over thirty years, but every Thursday, Jeanie takes her granddaughter to the park, and there she meets Ray, who performs the same weekly duty for his grandson. Ray seems to be everything George isn't - a listener easy to talk to, open-minded and sexy.
Norwegian by night by Derek Miller
Sheldon Horowitz - 82 years old, impatient and unreasonable - is staying with his granddaughter's family in Norway when he disappears with a stranger's child. To Norway's cops, he is just an old man who is coming undone. But Sheldon is an ex-marine, had heard the boy's eastern European mother being murdered, and is determined to protect the child from the killer and his Balkan gang.
Mr Wigg by Inga Simpson
It's the summer of 1971, not far from the stone-fruit capital of New South Wales, where Mr Wigg lives on what is left of his family farm. Mrs Wigg has been gone a few years now and he thinks about her every day. He misses his daughter, too, and wonders when he ll see her again. He spends his time working in the orchard, cooking and preserving his produce and, when it's on, watching the cricket. It s a full life. Things are changing though, with Australia and England playing a one-day match, and his new neighbours planting grapes for wine. His son is on at him to move into town but Mr Wigg has his fruit trees and his chooks to look after. His grandchildren visit often: to cook, eat and hear his stories. And there's a special project he has to finish. Trouble is, it's a lot of work for an old man with shaking hands, but he ll give it a go, as he always has.
Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom
Maybe, like Mitch, you lost track of this mentor as you made your way, and the insights faded, and the world seemed colder. Wouldn't you like to see that person again, ask the bigger questions that still haunt you, receive wisdom for your busy life today the way you once did when you were younger? Mitch Albom had that second chance. He rediscovered Morrie in the last months of the older man's life. Knowing he was dying, Morrie visited with Mitch in his study every Tuesday, just as they used to back in college. Their rekindled relationship turned into one final "class": lessons in how to live.
The leisure seeker by Michael Zadoorian
This is the unforgettable cross country journey of a runaway couple in their twilight years determined to meet the end of all roads on their own terms. "The Leisure Seeker" is the story of John and Ella Robina, a couple married 50+ years - she has stopped her cancer treatments, he has Alzheimer's - who kidnap themselves from the adult children and the doctors who seem to run their lives, and steal off on a forbidden vacation. Each battling their own infirmities, John pilots their '78 Leisure Seeker RV (it's the one with the left turn signal blinking) along the forgotten roads of Route 66 on a journey of rediscovery.They're not searching for America, but for a past that they're having a damned hard time remembering these days. Yet Ella is determined to prove that, when it comes to life, you can go back for seconds-sneak a little extra time, grab a small portion more, even when everyone says you can't. It's the story of Ella and John: the people they encounter, the problems they overcome, the lives they have lived , the love they share, and how their heartbreak at watching friends disappear into nursing homes inspired them to face the colossus at the end of all roads on their own terms.
Grace's table by Sally Piper
Grace celebrates her 70th birthday by gathering twelve of her friends and family around her table. This moving and often funny novel dissects the lives of women over three generations and celebrates the triumph of endurance.
The old man and the sea by Ernest Hemingway
The Old Man and the Sea revived Ernest Hemingway's career. It also led directly to his receipt of the Nobel Prize in 1954. This tale of an aged Cuban fisherman going head-to-head (or hand-to-fin) with a magnificent marlin encapsulates Hemingway's favorite motifs of physical and moral challenge.
The best exotic Marigold hotel by Deborah Moggach
When Ravi Kapoor, an overworked London doctor, reaches the breaking point with his difficult father-in-law, he asks his wife: “Can’t we just send him away somewhere? Somewhere far, far away.” His prayer is seemingly answered when Ravi’s entrepreneurial cousin sets up a retirement home in India, hoping to re-create in Bangalore an elegant lost corner of England. Several retirees are enticed by the promise of indulgent living at a bargain price, but upon arriving, they are dismayed to find that restoration of the once sophisiticated hotel has stalled, and that such amenities as water and electricity are . . . infrequent. But what their new life lacks in luxury, they come to find, it’s plentiful in adventure, stunning beauty, and unexpected love.
No, I don't need reading glasses by Virginia IronsideGrace celebrates her 70th birthday by gathering twelve of her friends and family around her table. This moving and often funny novel dissects the lives of women over three generations and celebrates the triumph of endurance.
At 91, Ptolomey Grey is shutting down and virtually ignored. Then a doctor gives him an experimental drug that will curtail his life but make those last few months really sizzle. After taking it he's clear-headed enough to uncover some shocking truths about his family.
Thursdays in the park by Hilary Boyd
Jeanie has been a loving wife for over thirty years, but every Thursday, Jeanie takes her granddaughter to the park, and there she meets Ray, who performs the same weekly duty for his grandson. Ray seems to be everything George isn't - a listener easy to talk to, open-minded and sexy.
Norwegian by night by Derek Miller
Sheldon Horowitz - 82 years old, impatient and unreasonable - is staying with his granddaughter's family in Norway when he disappears with a stranger's child. To Norway's cops, he is just an old man who is coming undone. But Sheldon is an ex-marine, had heard the boy's eastern European mother being murdered, and is determined to protect the child from the killer and his Balkan gang.
Mr Wigg by Inga SimpsonIt's the summer of 1971, not far from the stone-fruit capital of New South Wales, where Mr Wigg lives on what is left of his family farm. Mrs Wigg has been gone a few years now and he thinks about her every day. He misses his daughter, too, and wonders when he ll see her again. He spends his time working in the orchard, cooking and preserving his produce and, when it's on, watching the cricket. It s a full life. Things are changing though, with Australia and England playing a one-day match, and his new neighbours planting grapes for wine. His son is on at him to move into town but Mr Wigg has his fruit trees and his chooks to look after. His grandchildren visit often: to cook, eat and hear his stories. And there's a special project he has to finish. Trouble is, it's a lot of work for an old man with shaking hands, but he ll give it a go, as he always has.
Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch AlbomMaybe, like Mitch, you lost track of this mentor as you made your way, and the insights faded, and the world seemed colder. Wouldn't you like to see that person again, ask the bigger questions that still haunt you, receive wisdom for your busy life today the way you once did when you were younger? Mitch Albom had that second chance. He rediscovered Morrie in the last months of the older man's life. Knowing he was dying, Morrie visited with Mitch in his study every Tuesday, just as they used to back in college. Their rekindled relationship turned into one final "class": lessons in how to live.
The leisure seeker by Michael ZadoorianThis is the unforgettable cross country journey of a runaway couple in their twilight years determined to meet the end of all roads on their own terms. "The Leisure Seeker" is the story of John and Ella Robina, a couple married 50+ years - she has stopped her cancer treatments, he has Alzheimer's - who kidnap themselves from the adult children and the doctors who seem to run their lives, and steal off on a forbidden vacation. Each battling their own infirmities, John pilots their '78 Leisure Seeker RV (it's the one with the left turn signal blinking) along the forgotten roads of Route 66 on a journey of rediscovery.They're not searching for America, but for a past that they're having a damned hard time remembering these days. Yet Ella is determined to prove that, when it comes to life, you can go back for seconds-sneak a little extra time, grab a small portion more, even when everyone says you can't. It's the story of Ella and John: the people they encounter, the problems they overcome, the lives they have lived , the love they share, and how their heartbreak at watching friends disappear into nursing homes inspired them to face the colossus at the end of all roads on their own terms.
Grace's table by Sally PiperGrace celebrates her 70th birthday by gathering twelve of her friends and family around her table. This moving and often funny novel dissects the lives of women over three generations and celebrates the triumph of endurance.
The Old Man and the Sea revived Ernest Hemingway's career. It also led directly to his receipt of the Nobel Prize in 1954. This tale of an aged Cuban fisherman going head-to-head (or hand-to-fin) with a magnificent marlin encapsulates Hemingway's favorite motifs of physical and moral challenge.
