2025 Reading Challenge discussion

This thread is to discuss How to Age Disgracefully by Clare Pooley.

Pages: 352 pages

Length: 1 month (March)

Participants: Elaine, Beth, Thieryn

Everyone reads at their own pace during a Buddy Read. Because participants can be at different parts of the book at different times, it is extremely important to mark spoilers so that the book is not ruined for someone who is not as far along as others!!!

Mark spoilers by placing {spoiler} before the text and {/spoiler} after the text but use the < and > instead of the { and }.

Here are some questions to help get the conversation started! Feel free to look up discussion questions specific to this book or come up with your own. Just make sure any questions that contain spoilers are under spoiler tags.
Discussion questions are not required but may be a fun way to talk about the book and get to know each other!

Prior to starting:
What prompted you to join this buddy read?
Have you read this author before? What do you think of their other books?

Mid-read:
What character or ideas do you relate to the most and why?
Do you have any favorite quotes or scenes?

After reading:
What was enjoyable or not-so-enjoyable about this book?
Did this book change your perception about anything, either within the book (character development) or in real life?

I have this one on hold at my library but won’t get a copy until mid- to late March most likely.

Can I join this ? I need to read it this month for a book group

Denise wrote: "Can I join this ? I need to read it this month for a book group"

The more the merrier!

I just read this recently and was disappointed by it. I posted a review if you'd like my thoughts spelled out more (no spoilers) https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... but suffice it to say I thought it was going to be better than it was. Yes, I'm a bit of an outlier on this, but not the only one--even some readers who have read and liked her two previous novels were disappointed, although not all as much as I was :)

I started reading it and its ok so far. I got a few laughs. I feel it will probably end the same way,,,ok with a few laughs

I read more of the book and still feel the same...its a funny but overall underwhelmed

This one isn't for me...The prologue was intriguing, but I am not liking most of the characters narrating chapters. DNF

I expect to finish this later this week. Other books were more interesting and I read those instead. I wish this book didn't have the prologue, because I feel I know already on page 70 or so how they get there so I don't need to read it. I think without the prologue i would be more interested in seeing where it goes

I just finished this. Unlike you, I really enjoyed this. The prologue worked for me... I enjoyed seeing that glimpse into the "future" with the majority of the story told as flashback until the very end. It felt very "The Thursday Murder Club" to me (aside from this not being a mystery)... the humor and strong older characters. Being at the cusp of this age group myself, I was cheering for all of the seniors, especially Daphne. And I'm a sucker for a found family trope, so this book was a success for me.

Denise wrote: "I read more of the book and still feel the same...its a funny but overall underwhelmed"

Underwhelmed is a good word for it! I just read this in 2025, and have a review of it. I've read a number of funny books featuring primarily geriatric characters, and this was the most disappointing (I've quite enjoyed some of them.) https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... There are no spoilers in that.

Finished today. It got better about 60% in and I finished quickly after that. There were a lot of funny moments and I enjoyed that the characters used the stereotypes people have against the elderly against them to engage in their antics. It was sufficiently entertaining in the end, but too neatly tied up and a few of the antics were just too over the top.