Kristin van Ogtrop

As I spent time in airports and on planes, I was able to read uninterrupted. First up was Kristin van Ogtrop's memoir Did I Say That Out Loud-Midlife Indignities and How to Survive Them. Ogtrop, was the former editor of Real Simple magazine, and her essays on such things as her climb up the corporate ladder from joy to agony as magazines folded up publication, to the time she nearly died from accidentally swallowing a plastic fork tine, to the vacation home her family bought with her sister's family will have you laughing and crying. It makes a good pairing with Sara Arnell's midlife crisis book from a few weeks ago, There Will Be Lobster. While I've been reading books about midlife crisis, I don't think I'm in one. (right?)… (altro)

My reactions to this book are mixed. I picked it up wanting some humor and there are some stories that I did find humorous. Others I felt she tried too hard, or just wasn't interested. Surprisingly, while I wanted humor the stories I liked the most, where I felt she was writing from real emotion, weren't humorous.

Rebel Love, on the loss of a pet, was bittersweet, honest and insightful. I fell in love with Rebel, the unruly let with a big heart. Her thoughts on her mother, her parents aging, were great. I could definitely relate. Her letter to her son on his graduation, also funny, sad.

Enjoyed her lists, things that irritated her, found have been my list, with a few substitutions. Probably could be the list of many. There are other lists to which I could relate. Definitely worth reading but as I said my view was mixed but that's not to say you would feel the same.

ARC from Edelweiss.… (altro)