Two genial, upbeat guides for life’s later chapters.
Tips for women for growing older with panache.
Hecht, a retired orthopedic surgeon who died at the age of 93, just months before this book was published, and award-winning actor Goldberg, who is 66, share wisdom, anecdotes, and pithy one-liners on a host of topics that concern aging women. Among the many issues they cover are dealing with inevitable aches and pains, addressing hearing impairment and short-term memory loss (something Hecht experienced), choosing what to wear, caring for aging skin, dating, making new friends, remaining independent when needing outside assistance, and napping when necessary. Most of the advice comes from Dr. Hecht, with Goldberg adding her “two cents” to selected chapters. Hecht rings in on matters medical, social, psychological, and practical to help readers navigate the challenges of growing older. “Connections, continuous learning, and being socially active,” she advises, are crucial to health and happiness. She enthusiastically celebrates the pleasures and surprises of excursions. As for dating, while Goldberg prefers meeting on Zoom rather than in person, Hecht is open to dating and sharing activities, including sex. She warns against using dating services and apps, though, suggesting that it’s better to meet someone through friends or by participating in groups. Hecht brings considerable authority to her advice about navigating the medical system: finding a doctor or surgeon, making the most of visits, getting a second opinion, and dealing with one’s fear of surgery (or even fear of going to the dentist). She offers a set of exercises to do in bed that make getting up easier, and she encourages aerobic, toning, and range-of-motion activities, such as swimming, yoga, and golf, which keep the body fit. Most of all, the authors urge readers to forget assumptions that come with being 60 or 70 or 90: “You’re a guru,” the authors insist. “You are not a number.”
Two genial, upbeat guides for life’s later chapters.Pub Date: Nov. 8, 2022
ISBN: 978-0-7852-4164-5
Page Count: 240
Publisher: Harper Horizon
Review Posted Online: Sept. 13, 2022
A conversational, pleasurable look into McConaughey’s life and thought.
All right, all right, all right: The affable, laconic actor delivers a combination of memoir and self-help book.
“This is an approach book,” writes McConaughey, adding that it contains “philosophies that can be objectively understood, and if you choose, subjectively adopted, by either changing your reality, or changing how you see it. This is a playbook, based on adventures in my life.” Some of those philosophies come in the form of apothegms: “When you can design your own weather, blow in the breeze”; “Simplify, focus, conserve to liberate.” Others come in the form of sometimes rambling stories that never take the shortest route from point A to point B, as when he recounts a dream-spurred, challenging visit to the Malian musician Ali Farka Touré, who offered a significant lesson in how disagreement can be expressed politely and without rancor. Fans of McConaughey will enjoy his memories—which line up squarely with other accounts in Melissa Maerz’s recent oral history, Alright, Alright, Alright—of his debut in Richard Linklater’s Dazed and Confused, to which he contributed not just that signature phrase, but also a kind of too-cool-for-school hipness that dissolves a bit upon realizing that he’s an older guy on the prowl for teenage girls. McConaughey’s prep to settle into the role of Wooderson involved inhabiting the mind of a dude who digs cars, rock ’n’ roll, and “chicks,” and he ran with it, reminding readers that the film originally had only three scripted scenes for his character. The lesson: “Do one thing well, then another. Once, then once more.” It’s clear that the author is a thoughtful man, even an intellectual of sorts, though without the earnestness of Ethan Hawke or James Franco. Though some of the sentiments are greeting card–ish, this book is entertaining and full of good lessons.
A conversational, pleasurable look into McConaughey’s life and thought.Pub Date: Oct. 20, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-593-13913-4
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: Oct. 27, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
The lessons to draw are obvious: Smoke more dope, eat less meat. Like-minded readers will dig it.
The chef, rapper, and TV host serves up a blustery memoir with lashings of self-help.
“I’ve always had a sick confidence,” writes Bronson, ne Ariyan Arslani. The confidence, he adds, comes from numerous sources: being a New Yorker, and more specifically a New Yorker from Queens; being “short and fucking husky” and still game for a standoff on the basketball court; having strength, stamina, and seemingly no fear. All these things serve him well in the rough-and-tumble youth he describes, all stickball and steroids. Yet another confidence-builder: In the big city, you’ve got to sink or swim. “No one is just accepted—you have to fucking show that you’re able to roll,” he writes. In a narrative steeped in language that would make Lenny Bruce blush, Bronson recounts his sentimental education, schooled by immigrant Italian and Albanian family members and the mean streets, building habits good and bad. The virtue of those habits will depend on your take on modern mores. Bronson writes, for example, of “getting my dick pierced” down in the West Village, then grabbing a pizza and smoking weed. “I always smoke weed freely, always have and always will,” he writes. “I’ll just light a blunt anywhere.” Though he’s gone through the classic experiences of the latter-day stoner, flunking out and getting arrested numerous times, Bronson is a hard charger who’s not afraid to face nearly any challenge—especially, given his physique and genes, the necessity of losing weight: “If you’re husky, you’re always dieting in your mind,” he writes. Though vulgar and boastful, Bronson serves up a model that has plenty of good points, including his growing interest in nature, creativity, and the desire to “leave a legacy for everybody.”
The lessons to draw are obvious: Smoke more dope, eat less meat. Like-minded readers will dig it.Pub Date: April 20, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-4197-4478-5
Page Count: 184
Publisher: Abrams
Review Posted Online: May 5, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2021
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