Hilarious.

RELEASE NOTES:

I just love bookcrossing today - it was so funny to hunt for this book and find it (cleverly hidden) behind a pillar of the church near the main entrance of it :) Thanks a lot, souram, for both of your books! I saw several other bookcrossers of Tampere walking near the church - greetings to Tarna, CatharinaL and Cazfi ;) I'll perhaps share this book with you after I've read it, if you were searching for it, too (?).
Thanks for visiting Tampere, souram, and for letting this book travel. It looks like one I'd like to read immediately...

I travelled yesterday to Italy and this book travelled wih me, I read it during the flight and here in Tuscany today! Warm-hearted book, which was funny as well as sad -this book gave me some humorous impressions of what it's going to be when you're 60 and grandma. If there is space in my suitcase, this book will perhaps return back to Tampere - otherwise it'll be released in Italy this week!

RELEASE NOTES:

I visited Pisa and OCZ Bar La Sapienza, I left the book in the bookshelf. Happy Reading!

Thanks a lot, I found the book at the OBCZ La Sapienza after reading the release note from lukutuoli.
I will read it and pass it to other bookcrosser from Pisa. If you don't mind I will add a label or 2 outside before releasing it definitively in the wild because for a non-bokkcrosser it is difficult to understand what to do after finding the book.
Thank you for releasing it.

I have gotten this book at ZenaMunz 2008 to be released in the Netherlands. And so it will be done.

People who want to read this:

Redfloor
Betje
Plinius
Barbje
Wandering
Bookguide
boekenxnl
enitnaj
Bookguide (voor haar expat club)

Got this book a few days ago in my mail. Looking forward reading it. Great for a holiday!

It took some time for me to finish this book. The idea is fun, like chicklit for grandma's, but it sounded a bit too much like chicklit. It's still about men and all. Also I found the grandma a bit too certain about things. Maybe that happens when you're sixty. But it wasn't a bad read at all!

Arrived today at my place. Fun to receive such a much-travelled book!

I let this book skip in line. At first, I liked this book, with its ideas about age and men. But later on, I found the book more and more like common chick-lit, with just the one difference: the granny part. Though, it was still a nice book for a quick, easy read.

The book will continue its travel. Plinius is next.

CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:

On its way to Plinius.

Thanks Betje!

I'm not going to finish this one - the blurb looks promising, but it is nothing but chicklit in a cardigan and comfort shoes. Perhaps readable when waiting for appointments, but I'm occupied with other things.

CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:

travels to Barbje today

The book arrived safely in Gouda today!

I'm sorry, but I just can't get 'into' the book. Maybe it's because it's very hard for me right now to relate to the protagonist, she being a grandma and me just becoming a mummy for the first time in the next 4 weeks or so. :-)

CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:

Op naar de volgende!

It has arrived! I'll read it in my Xmas holidays and keep it here until the end-of-year mail frenzy is over, so it won't get lost traveling to the next reader. Thanks for sharing and sending!

This is a nice in-between book - nothing more, nothing less. It made me think a lot about the BBC television show 'Grumpy Old Women', which I find hilarious, and it always makes me wonder if I'm a grumpy woman in a fairly young body?

Anyways, the book will be travelling along as I get the next readers' address.
Edit: sent on 5 January.

___________________________

p.48: I'm told that abroad the over-sixties have an even better time of it, wandering anywhere they like, their wrinkles a passport to free entrance.

Arrived safely today in my letterbox, surviving the snowy and icy conditions outside. I'm not at all grumpy today, as not one, but two books were waiting for me in my mail today. I have a couple of ringbooks waiting at the moment, but I will try and read it as soon as I can and pass it on to Boekenxnl.

CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:

Well, I just couldn't resist the temptation to read this straight away, and as Boekenxnl is the next one in the ring, I had a good excuse to let this book jump the queue, as there is a new year's meeting at the Blauw Boerke in Best on Sunday. And now I just "have to" go to the meeting, so I can hand over this boek ;-)

I really enjoyed this book, and could imagine it as a sit-com with a couple of well-known British comedy actresses in the main roles (although I have no idea of those actresses' names - senior moment?). Perhaps I enjoyed it so much because it is very British, so on that level I relate to it, particularly as I have a number of British friends, older than me, with whom I've had similar conversations. This is supposed to be a diary, and I felt that that device didn't always work, as the author sometimes forgot, and was simply relating the story. There are similarities to 'Bridget Jones' Diary', but apart from the obvious age difference, I felt that this was more than just chick-lit. Towards the end of the book, there are some more serious thoughts about not only age, death and relationships, but also about the deep and unexpected love of Marie for her grandson.

So this is more than just chick-lit or Grumpy-Old-Women-lit, although it's a quick read and humorous. It makes me wonder what music they sing along to old people's homes now: is it still 'We'll Meet Again', and 'Keep the Home Fires Burning'? Or is it The Beatles, Elvis Presley and other Sixties music? And when my generation gets there, will it be Abba, Queen and Sting (or maybe even The stranglers?). I just hope it won't be The Birdie Song and Aga Doo.

Here are a couple of bits I particularly enjoyed:
"what is wonderful is the sudden gift of long-term memory. Cracks seem to appear in the walls of my consciousness, revealing glimpses of the past as clearly as if they were happening in front of my eyes. Sometimes I feel intense emotions about these moments that I never, as far as I remember, felt at the time." p.116.
On being left behind:
"The idea he'll die soon is very hard to take in. And anyway, you can't really imagine someone's gone when they're not gone. It's afterwards, when you're alone and they're never co, ming back, that the pain starts stealing through.
But I do feel regret. It's not just sadness at the absence of (a friend), it's his take on everything. And at this particular period of life, that take is increasingly difficult to share with anyone.
When (a slightly older friend) dies, there will be fewer people who recall the things of my father's generation." p.194-5.

Actually, I would like to pass this book round to a couple of good friends who would relate to this book, so will ask if my name can be added again at the end of the ring. I will PM Iiwi.

got this book today at the meeting from Bookguide. Thanks. I forgot that I put my name down for this book.

I started the book last week but I don't think it is my book so I am gonna sent next one a PM to ask if she is interested.

Entinaj is next one on the list.

Bij de post!
Dank voor het opsturen Boekenxnl!
Mag nog even op de groeiende stapel TBR!

Finished reading yesterday...it took me some time, because I was very busy with other things than reading!
I liked the book, although Marie is quite a bit older than I am...but I´ll get there too, I guess.
Well the thing about Archie was a bit predictable, but other than that I found myself enjoying the journal entries Marie made, sometimes a bit touched, sometimes smiling.
Thanks for making this book into a bookring iiwi!
I´ll send a message to bookguide!

Hey! The boomerang book has come back to me so I can add it to the BCZ ForeignExchange bookboxes for the expat club. I might give it a bit of a push, and pass it on personally to someone soon;-)

Added to BCZ ForeignExchange: An English-language BookCrossing Zone based in the Nijmegen / Arnhem region of the Netherlands (Click here for more details.) If you would like to borrow or swap this or any other book on the shelf, click on the ForeignExchange link at the top of this Journal Entry to go to the bookshelf, and send a PM (Private Message) - click on the link underneath the bookshelf statistics.

Surprised to receive this book after ordering and paying for it from awesomebooks. I will return it to the book crossing community when finished.