Cassandra of
Indie Reader Houston hosts a weekly meme called 5 Best Books where participants list what they feel are the five best books on a given topic. This week's topic is about Growing Older.
One book immediately popped into my mind:
Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen. I adored this book in large part because of how authentic I felt it was regarding aging. Gruen captures the inevitability, the loss, the desire to still be free, the wisdom and history, and just the essence of growing older. It is both heartbreaking and heartwarming, just like aging.
His Dark Materials trilogy by Philip Pullman is a wonderful look at growing older as a main thematic point in the book is that it must happen to all of us. Part of the conflict in the book is between those who want humanity to stay young and innocent forever and those who realize that becoming an adult is a necessity.
My next choices may seem a bit odd: First up,
The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde. Focused on the desire to be young and beautiful forever, DG takes this desire and compounds it by also including the problems of excess. The main character can do whatever he wants without any physical change to his youth and beauty.
Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers by Mary Roach looks at the end of growing older: our actual death and what happens to us after. Perfectly snarky and humorous, this non-fiction accounting of the possibilities we have after we die really drives home the myriad ways death does not remove our usefulness.
Finally, my last choice is...errr, I have no clue. I've been wracking my brain with no luck on a fifth, so I am stopping at four.
What do you think should be the fifth book on my list?
Perhaps it's more coming-of-age but I think Harry Potter would qualify. :D
ReplyDeleteI was going to mention The Curious Case of Benjamen Button, but that is actually growing young!
ReplyDeleteHow 'bout the Hunger Games trilogy. Certainly years pass by the end of the series but more importantly, the MCs display a sense of resigned loss and acceptance of pain and imperfection that comes with growing older...
ReplyDeleteI took the whole "growing older" thing as "coming of age". That's mostly what's on my list. I think that both HP and Hunger Games would count in that situation. I'm impressed that you were able to find four without going that route. I think a good coming of age story would round it all out. Glancing at your review list, I would suggest Persepolis or Coraline for number 5.
ReplyDeleteHere's my list - http://indiereaderhouston.com/blog/archives/1228
Great picks! I don't find Dorian Gray an odd choice at all... in fact, the only reason I didn't put it on my list was because I used it last week for the 'Books You Didn't Want to End' list. Love that book. Here are my 5 picks: http://www.thelitwitch.com/?p=3065
ReplyDeleteI love the you included Dorian Gray and Stiff in this list. There are a lot of other books you could include that are more coming of age, I think, rather than books about aging, but I really loved this list.
ReplyDeleteI really liked "The Dangerous Sports Euthanasia Society" by Christine Coleman. It's about a woman whose children want to pack her away out of their lives into some assisted living place, but she is not ready to go, and sets out to prove she is not the old codger they think she is. It's really a wonderful story. Also, "The Last Days of Ptolemy Grey" by Walter Mosley is a great book about aging!
ReplyDeleteA.) I LOVE this post... this subject is on my brain so much lately, so this is very timely for me. B.) I keep hearing that Water for Elephants is a must read (can't believe I haven't read it yet -- I actually own it, it's just sitting there on my shelf!). And I've been wanting to read Stiff since it came out. Though I admit I'm a little scared. :)
ReplyDeleteYou have some great choices on you list. I love the idea of this meme but I always freeze up when I have to come up with lists of books like this.
ReplyDeleteGreat choices!
ReplyDeleteThis reminds me of my "wisdom of age" challenge to find great books with older protagonists. The Giver comes instantly to mind and one of my favorites that would fit this category is Mrs. Palfrey at the Claremont by Elizabeth Taylor.
Water for Elephants, yes! I'll have to revisit the His Dark Materials trilogy...I don't remember that theme at all! It has been a decade or so since I read them all, though, so I guess that's understandable!
ReplyDeleteFor some reason I always think of coming of age stories--and I always think of She's Come Undone. Have no idea why my mind draws a blank for any other book!!
ReplyDeleteAlexander McCall Smith's Botswana series about the No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency always makes me think about what it's like to grow older. The main character, Mma Ramotswe, has been through a lot of what she sees, and has the detachment of age.
ReplyDeleteInteresting list. Stiff is of course the ultimate destination of growing old. The books sounds a little macabre to me. :-)
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