Lots of Candles, Plenty of Cake

Excellent read in my 50th year.

This book was fine, but nearly as interesting as I was hoping for given the title and its status as a New York Times bestseller. It may just be that I'm not the target audience for the book, as Anna Quindlen is writing about being older and looking back at her life. I just had a hard time getting through it.

This was an “ok” read for me although I'm in her age cohort & have read her for years - and that captures what disappointed me. I felt like I've read this before.

Anna Quindlen is a little older than me, raised more kids than me, and worked more hours per week than me, but other than these few differences, Anna Quindlen is me.

If you are a Baby Boomer and you are a woman, then you are Anna Quindlen, too.

This book is subtitled A Memoir, but to me it reads more like a series of short essays about life. Very thoughtful essays. Wise essays, full of wise observations and speculations and suggestions that will speak to anyone who is happy every day that the women's movement came around when it did.

I would love to have Anna Quindlen as a friend. That, of course, is impossible, so I'm glad I was able to do the next best thing and spend a few hours with her book.

I love Anna Quindlen ... her writing always resonates with me, says what I would have said if only I'd learned to dig deep enough into myself and found the courage to speak what I uncovered there. About what it's like to be a mother, a woman in her 50s, a woman dealing with glass ceilings at work ... she covers them all. I'm only sorry it was a quick read, as I wasn't ready for it to end.