Turning 80 is in the air. It happened to me – and a friend – recently; others of us are having almost 80 and 80 plus birthdays – all within two months. It seemed an appropriate time to read The Virtues of Aging by Jimmy Carter. He and Rosalynn were in their 70’s in 1998 when he wrote it. He is currently 97, exercising daily, eating carefully, painting, making wine, among many other things.
His advice can be summed up easily – stay active, physically and mentally; involve yourself in social activities; be open to new experiences. Savor all opportunities for pleasure and adventure. Old is when we accept substantial limitations on what we can do. True, some of his suggestions are dated (seniors should spend time learning to use the internet), but the general concepts in the book resonate.
The mention of technology made me wonder how often in the past the old might have turned to the young for information. Was it some oldster who advocated trading in the horse for a car, or like today, did the young lead the way? We’re usually told that it is the old who pass on their wisdom, and President Carter laments that the young no longer listen, but maybe having knowledge go both ways isn’t that unusual – and something else to keep us young.
I also liked his comment that education should prepare us for a whole life, not just the working years. Hurray for the liberal arts and being introduced to art, music, and literature, all interests that can stay with us for a lifetime, plus philosophy and sociology to help with lifelong community/political choices.
Following President Carter’s advice to find things that make us happy, I’m suggesting three light mysteries – to be read for fun. And in the first, there is someone who agrees with him on staying connected.
“Are you getting involved in something?” Jamie asks his wife, Isabel Dalhousie. “That’s the way it always starts…somebody…asks you….” In A Distant View of Everything by Alexander McCall Smith, Isabel has again responded to an old friend’s request to solve a problem.
She is the publisher of the philosophical Review of Applied Ethics, and it is this subject which forms the backbone of Smith’s novel. The thin plot – straightforward and solved with a few phone calls and lunches – is the thread that binds the main character’s stream of consciousness. Isabel muses on general philosophical problems such as overpopulation, what it feels like to be a fox, the purpose of statues, how easy it is to misjudge a situation. Her focus however is on what one must or can do to help others in trouble and it is this which causes her to become involved in mysteries. Despite her philosophical bent, she is a practical woman with a husband and two small children who volunteers in her niece’s deli. In the novel we watch Isabel attempt to apply her philosophical principles to everyday life.
This is not a book for someone who wants a compelling fast-moving plot. It is meant for the philosophers among us who enjoy a slow moving, thoughtful ramble with a small amount of mystery. The novel is number eleven in the Isabel Dalhousie collection, one of McCall Smith’s many popular series.
A ninety-year-old woman who loves to read mysteries and helps to write them is a congenial main character for a reader who has just turned 80 and also loves mysteries. Although Peggy Smith is dead when we meet her in Postscript Murders by Elly Griffiths, much of the story revolves around her.
Several mystery writers who have used her help as a “murder consultant” are also found dead; all have received a mysterious postcard saying, “We are coming for you.” Three improbable sleuths, a home health carer from the Ukraine, an ex-monk who would like a girlfriend, and a retiree in a rest home join forces to solve the crimes.
This is the second in the Brighton England series starring DS Harbinder Kaur, the gay Indian detective who tries to keep the three new friends safe while the police investigate in this charming literary mystery.
How many iterations of the Sherlock Holmes story can there be? The latest I know is Elementary, a Netflix special where Dr Watson has been turned into a female drug counselor and Sherlock is a recovering addict.
In the 90’s, Laurie King had a different idea.
In her imaginative novels, starting with The Beekeeper’s Apprentice, she gave Sherlock a young wife, the brilliant talented Mary Russell. Twenty years later, in The Murder of Mary Russell, she changes her mind and kills her off – or does she?
This cozy mystery is full of feints and misdirection, starting with the title. It is not Mary who is the main character, but Mrs. Hudson, the reliable motherly housekeeper who has been with Sherlock since his story started. But why would such a respectable woman have a visit from an unsavory character claiming to be her son, telling tales of shipwreck and hidden treasure?
Doubly fun, this “historical fiction” creates a lively back story for one of the popular supporting figures in the Sherlock saga.
Birthday celebrations plus the holidays have made me wonder why we say special words before drinking. Why alcohol? Why not before something traditionally special to eat, like honey or meat?
Do all cultures have the ritual of a toast? Prost! Salut! Or the most recent that I have learned, Okole Maluna! (Bottoms to the Moon or Bottoms Up).
I think the answer must be complicated and I’ll let you think about it – but not during the next Cheers worthy occasion.
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Lying here with Covid with eyes blurred by fever, I am convinced that I must get well and begin reading again. I so miss the feeling of accomplishment when the final page is reached