Around the Year in 52 Books discussion

While there's some debate about what constitutes "senior citizen", this week, we are looking for characters in the later stages of life, after kids are raised and out of the house. However you define "senior citizen" is up to you!

17 Books Featuring Charming Elderly Protagonists: https://www.bookbub.com/blog/books-wi...
25 Books with Older Protagonists: https://the-bibliofile.com/books-olde...
5 SFF Books Featuring Middle Aged and Elderly Characters: https://www.tor.com/2021/03/04/five-s...
15 Seasoned Romance Novels: https://www.buzzfeed.com/tabbykibugi/...
Books with Grandparents as Important Characters: https://readingladies.com/2020/09/13/...

ATY Listopia: https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/1...

What are you reading for this prompt?

I am reading The Secret in Their Eyes about a retired detective revisiting a cold case and Out Stealing Horses where a 67 year old man revisits an incident in his past. So the same sort of idea in both.

I don't have many options for this at the planning stage. I feel like the age of characters is not always obvious from book descriptions so it could be one where I slot the book in after reading, especially as the prompt doesn't specify *main* character.

I only have one that is obvious to me right now - Lillian Boxfish Takes a Walk. I have been meaning to read it for a while so I may end up using it for this prompt.

My recommendations would be:
Three Things About Elsie
A Man Called Ove
The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox

I’m going for Bag of Bones

Oh Lillian Boxfish is excellent. Definitely recommend.

If you're looking for a lighter read, Thank You for Listening and The Unmaking of June Farrow both feature protagonists who are close to their grandmothers.

This is one that I’m going to need help. I have not cared for the books the past two times I had this prompt. I’m pretty sure I’m the only person who didn’t like Lillian Boxfish Takes a Walk (there is nothing wrong with it I just didn’t like it. If that makes sense). A Natural History of Dragons was the other book I’ve previously read and should have loved, but nonetheless didn’t.

I’m hoping to read The Hearing Trumpet by Leonora Carrington. The narrator is a 92 year old woman. Definitely can consider her a senior and I think her age is an important aspect of the story.

A few I can recommend:

The Housekeeper and the Professor
The History of Love
The Last Days of Ptolemy Grey
Cold Sassy Tree
The Giver
Water for Elephants

I'm probably going to go with a Miss Marple or Hercule Poirot Agatha Christie mystery.

Jennifer W wrote: "A few I can recommend



Thank you, The Housekeeper and the Professor sounds interesting. Hopefully, it will go on sale because none of my libraries have it. I might end up doing a reread of The Giver though it is hard for me to do a character prompt that is not based on the protagonist.

This is an easy one for me, the legend that is Grandma Mazur is one of my favourite literary characters, so I'll be reading Fortune and Glory by Janet Evanovich.

Jillian wrote: "Jennifer W wrote: "A few I can recommend



Thank you, The Housekeeper and the Professor sounds interesting. Hopefully, it will go on sale because none of my libraries have it. I mi..."

It was delightful! Definitely my favorite of that list. I actually wanted to get a copy of my own after I read it, but I forgot to add it to my Christmas list last year, which is just a smidge ironic given the subject matter....

I have a lot of good options, but it is more difficult to find one written by a POC (that I haven't already read). Since that's my BIO challenge for AtY, I'm still looking. And I prefer to focus on the main character, which limits it more.

Chrissy wrote: "I have a lot of good options, but it is more difficult to find one written by a POC (that I haven't already read). Since that's my BIO challenge for AtY, I'm still looking. And I prefer to focus on..."

Tess Gerritsen has a new series starting in January about retired spies, The Spy Coast, so I'm guessing they'll be senior.

Chrissy wrote: "I have a lot of good options, but it is more difficult to find one written by a POC (that I haven't already read). Since that's my BIO challenge for AtY, I'm still looking. And I prefer to focus on..."

A Gathering of Old Men or The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman both by Ernest J. Gaines? I haven't read either of them, but I want to.
The Last Days of Ptolemy Grey that I mentioned above would definitely work, too.

I preferred Gathering of Old Men (I did a study on him in college and read his entire works lol).

If you're looking for something more contemporary, I'm fairly certain Deacon King Kong featured an older guy - it's hard to say that he was the main character since it's an ensemble cast, but he was definitely a focal point.

I'm reading Major Pettigrew's Last Stand for this prompt.

One idea I haven't seen mentioned yet: P. G. Wodehouse's books about Lord Emsworth and Blandings Castle. I think they are funnier than the Jeeves and Wooster novels (though I love those too!). Lord Emsworth is "just shy of sixty" and while, at 64, I certainly don't find that anywhere near old, he's definitely presented as a senior in the books.

I started reading The Reading List: A Novel by Sara Nisha Adams, and I didn't know what it was about. I liked the cover. It is about a lonely London widower aged at least 70 (and could be 80 or 90, according to what some people in the book are saying) and a teenage girl brought together by the love of books. The author, along with the widower is a POC, Indian to be specific.

Therese wrote: "I started reading The Reading List: A Novel by Sara Nisha Adams, and I didn't know what it was about. I liked the cover. It is about a lonely London widower aged at least 70 (and could be 80 or 90,..."

I really loved that book, and it was a big hit with my book club too. If you didn’t get to it yet, there is a very tough part on the middle. It made me mad at first, but our group discussion was enormously helpful. Feel free to message me if you want to discuss it.

NancyJ wrote: "Therese wrote: "I started reading The Reading List: A Novel by Sara Nisha Adams, and I didn't know what it was about. I liked the cover. It is about a lonely London widower aged at least 70 (and co..."
I was trying to help add books to this prompt for those who might be struggling. Thank you for your offer, though.

I'm planning to read The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo for this prompt. It was really hyped up on Booktube and Booktok, so I'm looking forward to seeing what all the fuss is about. I want to see if Taylor Jenkins-Read's writing is suited for my taste as most people say good things about it but one conservative vlogger said that her books aren't for her. I don't know what that is about.

I'm continuing with the Hendrik Groen series and reading On the Bright Side: The New Secret Diary of Hendrik Groen, 85 Years Old

I'm also doing another challenge that has a prompt "written under a pseudonym" and I LOVE double (triple, quadruple, etc) dipping between challenges. Could also work if you have a prompt for a translated book, and I think it counts as epistolary too (these books are in diary form).

I had more for this prompt than I thought I would! My possibles are:

- The Wife's Tale: A Personal History by Aida Edemariam
- Mr Loverman by Bernardine Evaristo
- The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox by Maggie O'Farrell
- The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman
- Lillian Boxfish Takes a Walk by Kathleen Rooney
- Mrs Mohr Goes Missing by Maryla Szymiczkowa

I read The Witches by Roald Dahl for this prompt. The book is about a young boy and his elderly grandmother who tells him stories about witches and how to spot them. He finds himself surrounded by witches later in the story and him and his grandmother explore ways of taking them down.

I read The Brilliant Life of Eudora Honeysett by Annie Lyons. Eudora is 85 and has no family and is concerned about the potential circumstances other death......until she "finds" her family in a grieving widowed neighbor and a 10 year old who cannot take "no" for an answer, and their extended family. There are sad/bittersweet parts but overall I enjoyed it!

I will probably read Killers of a Certain Age by Deanna Raybourn.

I really loved Lillian Boxfish Takes a Walk and so many others.

I just read The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield for a different challenge. It fits this prompt as well as a few others. It has a spookier vibe than most of the others on the list. If you like gothic but not horror, this one is in that sweet spot.

I want to read Major Pettigrew's Last Stand, The Elegance of the Hedgehog, The Story of Arthur Truluv, and maybe a nonfiction book.

I read Olive, Again by Elizabeth Strout, the second in a duology. I know Olive Kitteridge is not everyone's cup of tea, but I get a kick out of her when she shows her humanism.

Gail W wrote: "I read Olive, Again by Elizabeth Strout, the second in a duology. I know Olive Kitteridge is not everyone's cup of tea, but I get a kick out of her when she shows h..."

I agree. Her self awareness and reflection were refreshing.

For the cozy mystery fans out there, the main character of Better Off Read is a sprightly septuagenarian. It's also a first in series.

I highly recommend An Unnecessary Woman by Rabih Alameddine. I couldn't put it down.
I also second the recommendation for Deacon King Kong.
For myself, I might go with The History of Love.

I'm currently reading The Vanishing of Margaret Small and loving it :)

I looked all over for The Vanishing of Margaret Small and can't find it. HELP!!

The Jinn Daughter

has a grandfather that was involved in the jinn wars, which killed or imprisoned jinns...even though his granddaughter is half-jinn...

Gail W wrote: "I read Olive, Again by Elizabeth Strout, the second in a duology. I know Olive Kitteridge is not everyone's cup of tea, but I get a kick out of her when she shows h..."

I love Olive, I really think people misunderstand her

Pam wrote: "I’m hoping to read The Hearing Trumpet by Leonora Carrington. The narrator is a 92 year old woman. Definitely can consider her a senior and I think her age is an important aspect of th..."

I'm just seeing this Pam, but I read The Hearing Trumpet for the disability prompt last year (the main character is deaf), and it would definitely fit well for this one too. It's quite a wild, surreal book (the author was also a well-known surrealist artist), so just be aware that though it may start as a grounded narrative, it will not stay that way. I do hope you enjoy it. I'm hoping to track down more of the author's work myself...

Any of Richard Osman's novels would work:
The Thursday Murder Club
The Man Who Died Twice
The Bullet That Missed
The Last Devil to Die
based on a group of elderly citizens who find their own way of dealing with murder mysteries.

For this prompt, I read:
The Pole by J.M. Coetzee - 3* - My Review (it also is partially set in Barcelona, so qualifies for the "beautiful cities" prompt as well)

Elizabeth Is Missing by Emma Healey had great promise, but the mystery that was finally solved in the last few pages proved a bit of a letdown. I also got bored and depressed reading about Maud, the most unreliable narrator you'll ever meet. I gave the book four stars for the generally good writing, but overall, it really deserved 3.5.

I read Afterlife by Julia Alvarez. The main character is a retired widow who ends up being drawn into her neighbor's undocumented immigrant workers' life while dealing with her missing sister that she and her other two sisters are trying to find. It was quite good. I really enjoyed it.

Didn't plan on using it for this, but VenCo had a very fun senior citizen character, Stella (even though she's dealing with issues caused by aging, she's also bright and vibrant).

For this prompt, I read by Bernardine Evaristo.

I read Barbara Isn't Dying by German author Alina Bronsky. I found it displayed on the new books shelf at the library and had never heard of it. It is a wonderful book and I highly recommend it!

I read Arthur and Teddy Are Coming Out by Ryan Love. Arthur is 79 years old when he decides to come out of the closet.

I read Once & Future, Vol. 1: The King is Undead.

The book I chose for this prompt




short and sweet review: 4.0
This was a wholesome book. I really enjoyed the storyline. I finished this book in less than 24 hrs. Aja and Walker were a match made in heaven. I love how they meet through grams and help each other cope.

I read Mrs. Nash's Ashes. I had some problems with the contemporary romance, but I enjoyed reading about Mrs. Nash's life.

The grandfather is an important character in ...

✔ - 22Feb24
A Hundred Flowers – Gail Tsukiyama – 4****
In this novel, Tsukiyama turns her attention to the mid-to-late 1950s and Mao’s Cultural Revolution in China. The story focuses on the Lee family, who do their best in difficult times to continue moving forward. The uncertainty is palpable. Yet, they face their circumstances with grace, dignity and courage.
LINK to my full review

Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman. Set at an English retirement home, handful of residents form a club to solve cold-cases and end up with a shiny new murder in their own backyard. Laugh-out-loud funny. 4 stars

I am reading The Lisle Letters a non fiction book edited by Muriel St Clare Byrne. There are a few senior citizen characters, the main one being Lord Lisle, the Deputy of Calais from 1533 to 1540, to whom or from many of the letters originate.

No One Writes to the Colonel and Other Stories by Gabriel Garcia Marquez