Summer is well underway, but there
are still many weeks left to enjoy vacation reading. I’ve collected the
synopses for a handful of interesting, yet obscure books to get you started.
Fifty
Shades of Silver
In this erotic adventure, a
silver-haired senior struggles to undo the effects of salt water and
chlorine. Follow her trek from one
hairdresser to the next in an effort to remove frightening streaks of green and
orange. With her budget for beautification nearing depletion, she’s forced to
take a part-time waitressing job. Not only is this demeaning, it also cuts into
her beach and pool time.
Will she get her silver back and return
to the beach to reignite her relationship with the hunky sixty-something
lifeguard? Or will some other fox get to him during her absence… Fifty Shades of Silver is a real page-turner, the perfect summer
read.
The
Hunger Shames
Haymitch is a retiree who leads a
double life. By day, he’s a champion of healthy living and sensible eating. No
processed sugar crosses his lips. All his produce is organic. All his grains
are whole. But as we learn in this exposé, Haymitch leads a shameful double life.
After midnight, he slips out his back door to the fast-food court in a 24-hour mall.
The
Hunger Shames is not pretty, but we’re compelled to keep reading. Will the
crunchy granola fellow-retiree, Katniss, be able to reform his wayward ways? Or
will Haymitch corrupt Katniss… You won’t be able to put down this cautionary
tale.
Thinking,
Not-So-Fast
This is a revisionary look at
psychologist and Nobelist Daniel Kahneman’s bestseller, Thinking, Fast and Slow. The original explores two models of
decision-making—the quick, instinctive, emotional and subconscious "fast" way;
and the deliberative, logical, calculating and conscious "slow" one. Thinking, Not-So-Fast provides a melded
alternative that more appropriately reflects the decision-making of retirees.
"Not-so-fast" decision-making is emotional
and subconscious, yet it’s also calculating and slower. Most of what a typical
retiree does is subconscious, since memories and attention spans are about
thirty seconds long. Retirees often plan things down to the minutest details and
then make an emotional last-minute decision anyway. Despite (or perhaps because
of) the contradictions of this melded model, retirees should find it to be just
right. We recommend you read it not-so-fast.
I
Feel Bad About My Necking
The recent death of Nora Ephron reignited
interest in her books. It also unleashed a rash of spin offs, including I Feel Bad About My Necking. When Peggy
Sue’s high school diary surfaces, her entries spread like wildfire through her
retirement community. It turns out this mild-mannered senior led quite a
different life in her salad days.
In an effort to refurbish her
reputation, she makes a public confession of her sins. Yes, she was secretly
seeing Bobby and Donnie while she was going steady with Frankie. Yes, those
were her footprints on Bobby’s dashboard upside down. Yes, it was her spiked
heel that poked a hole in the roof liner of Donnie’s Corvette. And yes, it was her head
that hit Frankie’s car horn at 2 am and woke the entire neighborhood. But she
was in love with all three duck-tailed young men.
Peggy Sue insists that she regrets
her sordid past and would lead a virtuous life if she had a do-over. As if. I Feel Bad About My Necking is
guaranteed to have you searching for any journals about your own youthful
indiscretions. BTW, shredders are on sale at Staples this month.
Outliers,
Inliers and Other Factors for Success
Don’t confuse this book with Malcolm
Gladwell’s bestseller, Outliers. Both
books investigate factors that lead to success. Gladwell looked at the intersection of behavior and luck in the
lives of prominent men. The author of Outliers, Inliers evaluated 100 successful people on specific
physical characteristics. He determined that most
of them were “outies” (had protruding belly buttons). “Innies” were less likely
to stand out.
Both authors uncovered a 10,000 rule. Gladwell postulates
that one key to success is practicing for 10,000 hours. If you do a task for 20
hours a week for 10 years, you’ll get really good at it. Retirees, take heart.
You can also do it 50 hours a week for 4 years, if you don’t expect to be
around for 20 more.
Outliers,
Inliers found an inverse 10,000 rule. Those
who gained and lost at least 10,000 pounds over their lifetime were less likely to be successful than those
who maintained relatively stable weights. This book is filled with fascinating keys
to success and well worth the read.
Grab your beach chair,
your bottle of sunscreen and one of these books. Summer’s waiting!
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