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Somewhere Towards the End: A Memoir (2008)

by Diana Athill

Other authors: See the other authors section.

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6713634,043 (3.62)49
An esteemed memoirist and one of the great editors in British publishing examines aging with the grace of Elegy for Iris and the wry irreverence of I Feel Bad About My Neck.
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» See also 49 mentions

English (33)  Italian (2)  Spanish (1)  All languages (36)
Showing 1-5 of 33 (next | show all)
Pleasant enough but unessential. ( )
  elahrairah | Feb 1, 2024 |
Original "Somewhere towards the end"
  betty_s | Sep 27, 2023 |
I really enjoyed this. I'm 72 with asthma and the corianus virus is coming. I have enjoyed my life and am hoping for more time. ( )
  mahallett | Mar 10, 2020 |
I look forward to hearing conversations and varied wisdoms from senior citizens. Now that I am in my mid 60s, they often serve as a guide on what I can look forward to or from. I enjoyed Ms. Athill's book. It was very honest and touching in many places. She looks upon her life with little regret even as a mistress.

My notes from the book:

Not being able to take dogs for a walk
Sixties- within hailing distance of middle age
Faith-the decision to act as though you believe anything that you have no reason to believe. (Diana is an atheist.)
It's dying (not death) that I am afraid of.
No one past 80 has the right to complain about death.
Re-reading old favorite books
Two regrets: 1) childlessness and 2) never having the guts to escape the narrowness of my life.
God will forgive me, that's his job. ( )
  writemoves | Jun 17, 2019 |
This is such a gentle, gentle-womanly piece of writing. She is not an idle gossip and any hint of criticism is handled very tactfully. I held off reading it for quite a while because reviews had made it sound focussed upon a loss of sexuality with age. The book deals with sex very lightly, and is a well-rounded consideration of many aspects of growing old and dying. It is a straightforward, unsentimental and philosophical retrospective of life, if a little rambling.
  joannajuki | Jan 7, 2019 |
Showing 1-5 of 33 (next | show all)
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» Add other authors (3 possible)

Author nameRoleType of authorWork?Status
Diana Athillprimary authorall editionscalculated
Dyer, PeterDesignersecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Edelstein, JillPhotographersecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
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Epigraph
It ain't no sin
To take off your skin
And dance about
In your bones.

- Edgar Leslie
Dedication
For Sally, Henry, Jessamy and Beauchamp Bagenal
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Near the park which my bedroom overlooks there came to stay a family which owned a pack of pugs, five or six of them, active little dogs, none of them overweight as pugs so often are.
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An esteemed memoirist and one of the great editors in British publishing examines aging with the grace of Elegy for Iris and the wry irreverence of I Feel Bad About My Neck.

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W.W. Norton

2 editions of this book were published by W.W. Norton.

Editions: 039306770X, 0393338002

 

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