Alive, Alive oh! and Other Things That Matter

Locations
Call Number: 921 Athill, Diana
On Shelf At: Downtown Library

Location & Checkout Length	Call Number	Checkout Length	Item Status
Downtown 2nd Floor 4-week checkout	921 Athill, Diana	4-week checkout	On Shelf

"First published in Great Britain by Granta Publications" [2015] -- Verso title page.
My grandparents' garden -- Post-war -- 'Oh tell me gentle shepherd, where ...': thoughts on the attempted revolution in Trinidad and Tobago -- Alive, alive-oh! -- This bit ought not to be true -- The decision -- A life of luxuries -- Lessons -- Beloved books -- Dead right -- What is.
"A luminous, wise, and joyful insight into what really matters at the end of a long life, from the beloved author of the award-winning Somewhere Towards the End. What will you remember if you live to be 100? Diana Athill charmed readers with her prize-winning memoir Somewhere Towards the End, which transformed her into an unexpected literary star. Now, on the eve of her ninety-eighth birthday, Athill has written a sequel every bit as unsentimental, candid, and beguiling as her most beloved work. Writing from her cozy room in Highgate, London, Diana begins to reflect on the things that matter after a lifetime of remarkable experiences, and the memories that have risen to the surface and sustain her in her very old age. 'My two valuable lessons are: avoid romanticism and abhor possessiveness,' she writes. In warm, engaging prose she describes the bucolic pleasures of her grandmother's garden and the wonders of traveling as a young woman in Europe after the end of the Second World War. As her vivid, textured memories range across the decades, she relates with unflinching candor her harrowing experience as an expectant mother in her forties and crafts unforgettable portraits of friends, writers, and lovers. A pure joy to read, Alive, Alive Oh! sparkles with wise and often very funny reflections on the condition of being old. Athill reminds us of the joy and richness of every stage of life--and what it means to live life fully, without regrets" -- Provided by publisher.

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COMMUNITY REVIEWS

Amazing woman! submitted by Jannana37 on February 27, 2016, 12:26pm Diana Athill wrote this book in her late 90s and it was published when she was 98. She uses her perspective to write about the things that really mattered in her life, and her words will serve as an inspiration to me to be more mindful, i.e. pay more attention to and rejoice in what's around me, Because she is nearly 40 years older than I am and grew up in Britain, she writes about many things that are very foreign to me; but her writing is so clear that I understand her sense of wonder and appreciation for the particular place or thing.

I plan to read this book a second time before I return it to the library, and I have already reserved her previous memoir, written when she was in her early 90s.

I highly recommend this book!