Cover of Suddenly Sixty And Other Shocks Of Later Life

Suddenly Sixty And Other Shocks Of Later Life

The Decades of a Woman's Life seriesNext:I'm Too Young To Be Seventy(2005) →

From the bestselling author of Forever Fiftycomes a new collection of poems that tickle, console, and offer the pleasure of instant recognition — the perfect book for any woman anywhere in the vicinity of sixty. Judith Viorst's "decade" books of verse — including It's Hard to Be Hip Over Thirty, How Did I Get to Be Forty,and Forever Fifty— have delighted millions of readers worldwide who relish her wit, warmth, and wisdom. Now here she is with Suddenly Sixty,a funny and touching book that speaks directly to the sixty-ish woman, inviting her to laugh about, sigh over, and come to hopeful terms with the complex issues of this decade of life.

Read more

Among the poems in this charmingly illustrated collection are those exploring the joys — and strains — of children and grandchildren, and the intimacy of old friends who've "known each other so long/We knew each other back when we were virgins." There are poems that tip their hat to mortality, wrestle with a husband's retirement — "He's coming with me when I shop at the supermarket/So I won't have to shop alone. I like alone." — and acknowledge the fact that at this stage of life we'd "give up a night of wild rapture with Denzel Washington for a nice report on my next bone density test." Offering plenty of laughs, a few tears, and cover-to-cover truths, these are poems for everyone who would "rather say never say die than enough is enough." Every woman who has reached this decade will — rueful and smiling — find herself in the pages of this book.

Audience
adult

Click a tag to see books like this one that share it. Point at it (on a phone, tap it) for less of it instead.

Read it? Sign in to help tag it.

Liked Suddenly Sixty And Other Shocks Of Later Life? Here’s where I’d start.

These suit anyone who liked Suddenly Sixty And Other Shocks Of Later Life. Sign in and mark a few books for picks shaped around your own taste.

  1. The Anthology of Really Important Modern Poetry: Timeless Poems by Snooki, John Boehner, Kanye West, and Other Well-Versed Celebrities Shares poetry, humor, nonfiction
  2. The Funny Side: 101 Humorous Poems Shares poetry, humor
  3. Meeting the Madwoman: An Inner Challenge for Feminine Spirit Shares nonfiction, women
  4. The Lives and Times of Archy and Mehitabel Shares poetry, humor

“People who read Suddenly Sixty And Other Shocks Of Later Life tend to reach for these next.”

  1. Ogden Nash's Zoo
  2. The Sacred Prostitute: Eternal Aspect of the Feminine (Studies in Jungian Psychology by Jungian Analysts, 32)
  3. The Heroine's Journey: Woman's Quest for Wholeness
  4. Awakening the Heroes Within: Twelve Archetypes to Help Us Find Ourselves and Transform Our World

“If you want more of the same (humor about women), start with these.”

  1. You Made Me Late Again!: My New Collection
  2. 101 Two-Letter Words
  3. Holy Tango of Literature
  4. Haiku for the Single Girl

“If it was the poetry that hooked you, try one of these.”

  1. O, What a Luxury: Verses Lyrical, Vulgar, Pathetic & Profound
  2. Egghead: Or, You Can't Survive on Ideas Alone
  3. Now We Are Sixty
  4. The Annotated Archy and Mehitabel

“These start from a similar idea, even if they go somewhere else with it.”

  1. Say Uncle
  2. You Might Be from Nova Scotia If . . .
  3. Talking Like the Rain: A Read-To-Me Book of Poems
  4. The Drunken Driver Has the Right of Way: Poems