You're Old, I'm Old ... Get Used to It! by Virginia Ironside

Review by Brenda Seward

The irreverent and deliciously funny author of No! I Don't Want to Join a Book Club, Virginia Ironside has once again delivered us a dose of down to earth wit with her upcoming release.

You're Old, I'm Old...Get Used to It! talks about the simple, unvarnished realities of getting older with wit and humor. The book, which started out as a stage show, titled (in typical tongue-in-cheek fashion) The Virginia Monologues debuting at the 2009 Edinburgh Fringe Festival and now touring the U.K, discusses everything from memory lapses, frequent naps to her new relationship with drugs in a charmingly irreverent and almost celebratory way.

In this latest effort, Ironside takes a different view that most of the books on aging. She doesn't deliver any 'keep your chin up' platitudes such as " You're only as old as you feel..." and " age is just a number". Indeed, she comes very close to mocking that sort of advice. Instead, she offers her own funny, sometimes self-deprecating take on the realities of the process. She does this in an easy to browse format, broken down into categories such as: Ailments, Spare Time, Death, Sex, Downsizing and Old Friends. By far, my two favorite chapters were Boring for Britain and Never Again

 

In Boring for Britain, Ironside delivers the liberating observation that with old age you earn your place in, as she phrases it, "your anecdotage". As she explains, "This gives you permission, as far as I can see, to bore anyone with hearing distance completely rigid for the rest of your (or possibly their) life. A curse for them but, no question, a great pleasure for you." I must confess, there is a tiny part of me that can't wait to reach the age where I can act as though I am the utmost authority on any given subject, less because of my level of experience but mostly by virtue of the number of years I've been kicking around. Not only that - but I can do it with age-secured impunity.

 

One of the other chapters I truly enjoyed was Never Again. This chapter is basically a list of all those milestones, first times and rites of passage we all endure in life. That some of these events are filled with happiness and glory does not diminish the fact that more often than not they are also filled with pain, stress, and turmoil. In fact, a lot of these milestones we only remember fondly when viewed through the long lens of years past. There's a certain freedom in knowing you don't have those hurdles to jump anymore. You've passed those tests, crossed those bridges and you can sit back and enjoy the view.

Virginia Ironside's book is a great roadmap to getting happily across that bridge and finding yourself a nice comfy spot on the other side.

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Review by Brenda Seward

Simple Pleasures Books & Gifts

http://www.simplepleasuresbooksandgifts.com

You're Old, I'm Old... Get Used To It! will be released October 11, 2010 by Viking Press