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Loading... Alive, Alive Oh!: And Other Things That Matter
Work InformationAlive, Alive Oh!: And Other Things That Matter by Diana Athill
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Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book. No current Talk conversations about this book. I have enjoyed all of Diana Athill's books and hope she will publish her correspondence with Jean Rhys. This book is more of a hodge-podge than the others, but if you're still writing lively, honest prose at age 100, who cares? ( ) I wanted to read this memoir...book of essays...by a 98?-yo because I love memoirs and because I live with a 94-yo. lol Unfortunately, it was just ok for me. The writing was fine, I just wasn't that interested in what she talked about in the book. Because she IS a great writer, I want to try some of her other books. This is a book of essays written by a 95 year-old English woman. I couldn't quite get into some of these and i guess it was a little shocking to me to hear her talk of her lovers and her past abortions. When she is pregnant again, (by her married lover!) she decides to keep the baby but she does suffer a miscarriage in a strange twist of fate just soon after she decides to carry this baby to term. The miscarriage itself comes close to killing her due to bleeding. Since my own mother is 95, it was interesting to read about how she fit into the retirement home that she chose. But overall, not a great read for me. no reviews | add a review
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"A luminous, wise, and joyful insight into what really matters at the end of a long life, from the beloved author of the award-winning Somewhere Towards the End. What will you remember if you live to be 100? Diana Athill charmed readers with her prize-winning memoir Somewhere Towards the End, which transformed her into an unexpected literary star. Now, on the eve of her ninety-eighth birthday, Athill has written a sequel every bit as unsentimental, candid, and beguiling as her most beloved work. Writing from her cozy room in Highgate, London, Diana begins to reflect on the things that matter after a lifetime of remarkable experiences, and the memories that have risen to the surface and sustain her in her very old age. 'My two valuable lessons are: avoid romanticism and abhor possessiveness,' she writes. In warm, engaging prose she describes the bucolic pleasures of her grandmother's garden and the wonders of traveling as a young woman in Europe after the end of the Second World War. As her vivid, textured memories range across the decades, she relates with unflinching candor her harrowing experience as an expectant mother in her forties and crafts unforgettable portraits of friends, writers, and lovers. A pure joy to read, Alive, Alive Oh! sparkles with wise and often very funny reflections on the condition of being old. Athill reminds us of the joy and richness of every stage of life--and what it means to live life fully, without regrets" -- No library descriptions found. |
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Google Books — Loading... GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)828.91409Literature English & Old English literatures English miscellaneous writings English miscellaneous writings 1900- English miscellaneous writings 1900-1999 English miscellaneous writings 1945-1999 Individual authorsLC ClassificationRatingAverage:
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