I'm Not Rappaport - Herb Gardner

 

I picked this up at a used book sale out in Carefree last spring and finally got around to reading it in a couple of nights.  Written 20 years ago I was pleasantly surprised how the theme centered around the lives of a pair of older men surviving in a world where they are largely irrelevant. It was different to read a play, to imagine the characters and see pictures of the actors that performed the play on Broadway.  An enjoyable read and a thoughtful commentary on aging.

Quotes:

page 47 - [Nat's lecture to Danforth on older people] "you collect old furniture, old cars, old pictures everything but old people. Bad souvenirs, they talk too much. Even quiet, they tell you too much; they look like the future and you don't want to know. Who are these people, these oldies, this strange race? They're not my type, put them with their own kind, a building, a town, put them someplace. You idiots, don't you know?  One day you too will join this weird tribe. Yes, Mr Chairman, you will get old; I hate to break the news. And if you're frightened now, you'll be terrified then. The problem is not that life is short it's but that it's very long; so you better have a policy....don't you understand? The old people, their the survivors, they know something, they haven't just stayed late to the party....you tell him that he is unnecessary, that he is a sin, that is a sin against life, that is abortion at the other end."

Published: 1986  Read: August 2026  Genre: Play 

The Greta Garbo Home for Wayward Boys and Girls - Steven Gaines

 This was another weird book.  The author writes a memoir of his life in the New York scene of the 1970s.  Basically, hedonistic, careless name-dropping and over the top debauchery.  It's a miracle he's still alive.  He's written many books, including one on the Beatles and others about celebrities like Andy Warhol and Halston just a tell-all with a nasty wit.  To me it is a sad testament to a life with no purpose.  Not recommended!  That's what I get for picking a random book at the library.

Published: 2024  Read: December 2024 Genre: Memoir

I Remember Nothing - Nora Ephron

Subtitle: and other reflections

I enjoyed one of the author's other books, I Feel Bad About My Neck, and her smart, snappy writing here is as good as that in her screenplays for When Harry Met Sally and Sleepless in Seattle among others.  This book is in the same spirit, though a bit more unfocused.  I laughed out loud when she explained her addiction to mobile Scrabble games.  Her life took her to all parts of the world and encounters with countless interesting people.  I enjoyed her sharing a part of it.  Sadly, she passed away shortly after the publication of this book.

Published: 2010   Read: December 2019  Genre: Memoir

The Bookstore - Deborah Meyler

Oh, this was a good read!  A young English woman comes to NYC to study art history on a scholarship to Columbia and takes a job in a bookstore.  She falls in love with Michael, a suave, rich, intoxicating man who loves her, leaves her, loves her and leaves her again and pregnant.

She learns some life lessons through it all, finding true friends through the bookstore.  A feel good book that was like having a very good fresh bagel and coffee.  I liked her dedication: "To my father..who taught me how to be happy".  Well said.

Published: 2013  Read: June 2016  Genre: Fiction