Cover of Slowing Down

Slowing Down

George Melly is 79 nudging 80. You'll probably think, 'That's not old these days'. And it's true, George is still swinging and singing, fly-fishing, flirting, and for now just playing at senility. But it's not as if he were the Queen Mother. He walks very slowly nowadays. He's losing control over his bladder, and his bowels. He no longer, being quite deaf, enjoys noisy parties. He's been seriously ill once, and not quite well often. And he's constantly being probed and tinkered with at St Mary's Hospital: like an old car in and out of the garage. Sex has walked out on him, but Irish Whiskey, in only slightly diminished quantities, remains a good friend. This remarkably cheerful book is his diary of it all. An extraordinary, darkly funny, frank, and larger-than-life account about how feels to be growing old and irresistibly Slowing Down.

Audience
adult

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These suit anyone who liked Slowing Down. Sign in and mark a few books for picks shaped around your own taste.

  1. The Warmth of the Heart prevents your Body from Rusting: Ageing without growing old Shares aging, old age, nonfiction
  2. No Time to Spare: Thinking About What Matters Shares old age, aging
  3. Let Evening Come Shares old age, aging
  4. O.J. in the morning, G&T at night Shares biography, aging

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

  1. Bobby Wonderful: An Imperfect Son Buries His Parents
  2. At Eighty-Two: A Journal
  3. Shobhaa at Sixty: Secrets of Getting it Right at Any Age
  4. Death in Slow Motion: A Memoir of a Daughter, Her Mother, and the Beast Called Alzheimer's

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

  1. Backcloth
  2. Dictionary National Biography Compact Ed 2 Vols
  3. A carnival of losses
  4. Iris Murdoch As I Knew Her

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

  1. Just a Little Nudge
  2. I Can Barely Take Care of Myself: Tales From a Happy Life Without Kids
  3. Dances with Trout
  4. Mr. Noisy