GO FOR IT!

A self-help book about staying active as you age.

Prolific writer McHugh (Aging with Grace—Whoever She Is, 2011, etc.) has tackled topics as diverse as veterinary medicine, death and dying, and three mystery novels. Her half-dozen self-help titles deal with aging, a field in which, at 83, she’s highly qualified. In this text, she includes a number of photos of herself; she appears to have benefitted from her list of “10 ways to get more energy.” Her vivacity adds a personal touch to the recommendations she makes for this slender book’s 100 topics, most of which take up a single page and are based on her own experience. Some of the suggestions are dated (“Listen to the Beatles” or Judy Collins); some are luxuriously over-the-top for a person on a fixed income (“Swim with a dolphin” or travel to Greece); and some are creative (“Take a baby to lunch” or ride in a hot air balloon). But the genuine tenderness of her personal comments paired with her lavish imagination makes this book a breezy, lightweight read. It almost doesn’t matter that its premise is demographically flawed: A woman in her 50s, or even early 60s, is most likely still a career woman, without the leisure time to pursue these sometimes extravagant ways of feeling young. The target audience appears to be a married woman with free time and the funds to take advantage of her advice—an empty nester or perhaps a baby boomer—but that woman is probably not in her 50s.

Sound advice, no matter your age.