No! I Don't Want to Join a Book Club: Diary of a Sixtieth Year

Dont harass her about parasailing or taking Italian language courses. Forget about suggesting she join a gym. Marie Sharp may be a little creaky in the bones as she heads toward the big 6-0, but shes fine with it. She would rather do without all the moving-to-Florida-bicycling-across- Mongolia-for-the-hell-of-it hoopla that her friends insist upon. Shes already led an exciting life: She came of age in the 1960s, after all. Now, with both a new grandchild and a new man on the horizon, all she wants to do is make the most of what she considers the most interesting stage of her life. In this wonderfully astute novel based on the authors own experiences, No I Dont Want to Join a Book Club is the funnyand often poignantfictionalized diary of an older woman . . . a decade or two past her prime and content to leave it all behind her. So dont tell her to take a gourmet cooking class, and whatever you do, dont you dare tell her to join a book club. Fresh and truly unique, moving gracefully on in years has never been more hilarious than in this forthright grandmas take on the third phase of life.

—The Washington Post

“Screamingly funny…reads like an AARP-issued Bridget Jones’ Diary….This is the kind of book you gobble up, then re-read so you can hoot out loud all over again.”

—USA Today

“Marie’s wicked sense of humor makes this a fun read. . . . This novel is more than a light romp. Marie shows great heart and wisdom as she experiences joys and sorrows.”

—The Herald Sun

“So funny and human, so full of cranky wisdom and plucky resistance to the ordinary ways of facing old age. I’m thinking of reading No! I Don’t Want to Join a Book Club once a year from here on in to cheer myself up. If you’re over fifty, you should read it, too.”

—The Buffalo News

A screamingly funny and poignant story about embracing life beyond middle age

Marie Sharp is heading toward sixty and is just fine with it. She’s already had plenty of excitement in her life: sex and drugs in the freewheeling sixties, career and children, marriage and divorce. Now she’s ready to settle into a quiet, blissfully boring routine. No Italian classes or gym memberships or bicycle trips across Europe, thank you very much! Marie just wants to put her feet up and “start doing old things.”

She’s even sworn off men! But as it turns out, life still has some surprises in store, the biggest of which is a new grandson on the way. What’s more, Archie, her old childhood crush, suddenly reenters her life, and her closest friend falls seriously ill. Armed with a biting sense of humor, Marie wrestles with a life that refuses to follow her plans—and may still offer more possibilities than she realizes.