Some Assembly Required: A Journal of My Son's First Son by Anne Lamott
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I love Anne Lamott's writing, and she's almost exactly my age, so it was interesting to see how she's navigating the grandmotherly waters.

She's so self-effacing and flat-out hilarious, but to be honest, this wasn't my fave Lamott book. She's kind of meddlesome! Okay, this is her first grandbaby of her only child, and the kids are really young. Way too young to be parents. It would be hard to find the middle ground between trying to support them and stay the heck out of their biz. Rough balancing act. But I sense heartache on the horizon.

I wasn't sure why she included the trip to India. It's almost out of context from the rest of the book.

But you can't read Lamott without gaining some wisdom about human nature. Here's a gem: the idea of "tending to one's own emotional acre."

Here's another: As a grandma I'm constantly going back and forth between feeling like I'm growing an umbilical cord to my son's family (the babies, not him), and then guilty for running off and living my awesome carefree grownup life. Anne dealt with that dichotomy too. She writes, "I had no choice but to (live my life). It's always the same old problem: how to find ourSELVES in the great yammering of ego and tragedy and discomfort and obsession with everyone else's destinies."

Amen, sistah.

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The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business by Charles Duhigg
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I enjoyed this well-researched book. It was easy to read, the author has a pleasant voice (even funny at times), and I learned a lot. The only downside was that it's set up like this: the first 3rd is about habit in individuals, the second 3rd is about habit re: corporations/groups; and the last 3rd is about habit within society. Frankly, only the first part really gripped me. The second was interesting re Starbucks and a couple of other organizations, but I was running out of steam after that.

However, the book was worth its purchase price because I learned how to attack my bad habits, and that alone was worth the price of admission! I'm already eagerly experimenting with change, and I hope to see results soon. I feel empowered and enthused, so I'm grateful for that, and recommend the book.

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I Remember Nothing: and Other Reflections by Nora Ephron
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I laughed out loud while reading this fast, enjoyable little book. Ephron is an expert at making serious points dressed up in entertainment. For example, her account of graduating college and getting a job at Newsweek in the 1960s resonated for me. When we say we miss the good old days, here's what we're forgetting: a time when we girls could achieve a degree from a very good college and be rewarded with a job as mail clerk, while boy graduates would be hired as actual professionals, in this case reporters, the career ladder right in front of them and management beckoning with a smile. Ephron accepted the status quo. She reveled in just getting the job. Didn't we all?

She also speaks of the current day and getting old in a way that makes it hard for me to maintain my usual perspective of optimistic denial, but still, I laughed. Nora Ephron has every reason to feel happy, accomplished, loved and admired. When you've got all that going for you, you've got a pretty good perspective from which to view aging.

This is a good book for Boomers to pass around.

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Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail by Cheryl Strayed
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Sat down with Wild last night and couldn't let go until I'd read 97 pages. FABULOUS work. Can't wait to get back to it. More later.

Okay, I just finished it last night, and here are my reactions: first, Cheryl Strayed does a masterful job of making you feel the depths to which she sank in the aftermath of losing her mother, and as her siblings and step-dad spun away from each other in a grief spiral. Next, I was enthralled by her journey on the Pacific Crest Trail. As a native Californian, I've seen those trailheads all over the state, and wondered who would dare the journey. I wouldn't fear animals so much as a pack of humans lying in wait. Although this was in the mid-90s, and maybe it was safer then, I still can't believe her good luck in not being robbed, raped, or/and killed.

Having said that, one of the aspects of this story I enjoyed the most was her youthful vibrancy. Cheryl at 27 was smart, pretty and sexual, yet all of it was without artifice or pretense. She was a strong young animal - and I mean that with 100% admiration - on a quest. Her open-hearted reaction to people, particularly the Three Young Bucks who were like little brothers to her, and the sense of sharing and camaraderie on the trail helped heal her wounds. Without giving anything away, she has some scary moments that would have stopped me in my tracks, making a beeline back for safety, but she persevered. And I guess that's the reason I had such a great feeling when I finished this book: Cheryl's journey leaves you with the feeling that you can persevere, too.

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