Events

2012
Timeless Treasures

We invite you to celebrate an afternoon with the best of yesteryear. A benefit for the Personal Advocate Program of Elders in Action

Novels on Aging Book Club

Elders in Action will be hosting a book club devoted to exploring an emerging fictional genre: Novels on Aging. Over the last 50 years novelists have become much more interested in writing about older adults, and from a variety of perspectives. Their work provides rich resources for interpretations of the meaning of aging in cross-cultural and historical circumstances.

The club meets the third Friday of each month from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. in the Elders in Action Conference Room, Suite 290, 1411 SW Morrison, in downtown Portland. Contact Cynthia Arnott, NOA Book Club Coordinator, at cynthiaarnott@yahoo.com for more info and to sign up for the book club newsletter.

January 20th
The Last Days of Ptolemy Grey by Walter Mosley (2010)
The novel "is a beautiful meditation on love, frailty and old age. Filled with Walter Mosley's signature humor and narrative mastery, it is as much a page turner as it is a heart tugger. It is a novel that stays with you long after you read the last word and immediately urges you to read it again."- Edwidge Danticat

February 17th
Composing a Further Life: The Age of Active Wisdom by Mary Catherine Bateson (2010)
This work of non-fiction "weaves life stories into a follow-up book about what kind of projects adults in their 40s, 50s and 60s could take on, knowing they will live longer than previous generations.' Read more at http://www.marycatherinebateson.com/reviews.html

March 16th
Major Pettigrew's Last Stand by Helen Simenson (Random House, 2010)
When Major Pettigrew, a retired British army major in a small English village, embarks on an unexpected friendship with the widowed Mrs. Ali, who runs the local shop, trouble erupts to disturb the bucolic serenity of the village and of the Major's carefully regimented life. - Good review by Janet Maslin at http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/22/books/22book.html

April 20th
Turn of Mind by Alice LaPlante (2011)
Told from the perspective of Jennifer White, a brilliant mind spiraling into the abyss of Alzheimer's, Turn of Mind circles obsessively around the death of Jennifer's best friend Amanda. Amanda has been found murdered, with four fingers removed from her hand; Jennifer, a brilliant hand surgeon, is a suspect, but she cannot even remember that herfriend is dead, let alone whether she killed her. – See review at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/nov/22/alice-laplante-alzheimers-turn-of-mind

May 18th
This Is Getting Old: Zen Thoughts on Aging with Humor and Dignity by Susan Moon (2010)
"[Moon] does not shy away from any aspect ofaging, from sore knees to foggy memory, but also maintains a sassy sense of humor. Perhaps if more people were asopen about aging as Moon is, we shouldn't all be so uncomfortable with the idea. This is a great read for anyone pondering the future."- Sacramento Book Review Read more and watch video at http://www.shambhala.com/html/catalog/items/isbn/978-1-59030-776-2.cfm

June 15th
The Lost Dog by Michelle De Kretser (Australia, Sir Lanka, India 2008)
When a college professor loses his dog in the Australian outback, his search takes him not only through the wilderness,but also through his own personal history and that of his close friend, an artist with a scandalous past. - In a Guardian review, Ursula K Le Guin sees "great promise in a subversive and sensitive story of fear and hope." - See review at http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/04/books/review/McCulloch-t.html

The book club meets the third Friday of every month at Elders in Action in downtown Portland. For more information contact Cynthia Arnott (Book Club Coordinator) at cynthiaarnott@yahoo.com
Participation is free.