GEEZING ALONG AT 80

An octogenarian takes a lighthearted view of questions he faces in his 80s, such as “How Have I Lived So Long, Yet Learnt So Little?”

Debut memoirist Anastasi has accomplished what only a skilled writer in the genre can do—hook the reader with a purely personal life story that in less capable hands might have interested only family and friends. He’s writing for his cohort and those on the cusp of it as well as for young people who, he notes, consider themselves immortal—so, pretty much everyone. Anastasi tells an amusing tale in a format that fits him to a T: a mixture of memoir and musings that recount some of his exploits in the impish voice of the rascal he clearly was in his school days. A former writer for the Army and sportswriter at the old Washington Daily News, he hasn’t lost his touch for punchy writing. (When someone says at an open-coffin visitation that the decedent “looks so good,” Anastasi muses, “Well, I’ve seen him looking better!”) His sense of humor aside, his book has serious passages about widespread concerns, among them health, personal connections, and insomnia. Anastasi also touches lightly on his work as a public information officer for the federal government, which led to his writing a Mother’s Day speech for President Gerald R. Ford. He takes some contrary stances that are hard to argue with, such as that people his age have earned the right to eat and say anything they want and to skip exercise. Something of an icon among the 80-plus crowd, Anastasi proudly says that his photo was on the cover of GQ—not the tony men’s magazine but Geezer Quarterly. Anecdotes highlight his Italian American perspective, including a wry critique of various styles of pre-funeral viewings of the deceased. Family snapshots bring to life the memories in a book that, with just 73 pages, is a breezy read.

A fun memoir by a man who’s grown old without growing grumpy.