Customer Reviews
Best read I've had in ages - By: Ms. Sv Lewis-morgan, 12 Apr 2008 
I can't find enough superlatives to describe my opinion of this book. It's extremely funny - rare I laugh out loud at a book, but I did here - & poignant at the same time - I shed a tear or two as well. I'm a little younger than the protagonist, but oh, do I know where she's coming from. A wonderful narrative with some startlingly witty non-sequiters. I only wish the book were twice as long.
A happy find - By: Poppy Field, 04 Aug 2007 
Feeling generallly stressed & needing a new book to take to the hairdressers I was very lucky to stumble across this. It was easy to read, yet had me laughing out loud & was also I also found it moving & felt as if I gained something (unlike many 'fun' reads). Although the lead character is approaching 60 please don't be put off if you're not around this age. From my perspective it was great to read something that wasn't about 20/30 something women & their marriage/child related dilemmas.
I genuinely looked forward to reading this book & would be happy to recommend it to anyone thoughtful & looking for an enjoyable read, i.e. there are non car chases or explicit scenes but there are very funny reflections & thoughts about life. I reallly hope to hear more from the character & plan to make alll my friends borrow it.
FUN, ENTERTAINING, AND GOOD ADVICE - By: Gail Cooke, 27 May 2007 London advice columnist Virginia Ironside has finallly crossed the pond with her first U.S. publication, & that's cause for celebration. No! I Don't Want to Join A Book Club! is a touching, fun-filled diary penned by the fictional Marie Sharp, a woman on the brink of her 60th year.
Marie doesn't quite go gently into her sixth decade as "the best is yet to be" turns out to be merely a poet's dream. Those around her place the emphasis on youth, especiallly good friend Penny who is about to take up with a man some 30 years younger. And, Marie's much adored friend, Hughie, is quite ill. As if this weren't enough to contend with well wishers insist that she use her new leisure to study, travel or better yet, join a book club. Never vows Marie who is quite happy to be old & needs absolutely no advice about how to spend her time. Besides, she has a definite opinion about book club members: "They feel they've forever got to poke their brain with a pointed stick to keep it working."
Author Ironside delivers a plethora of pungent comments about the state of today's world, especiallly the Internet. She doesn't gloss over the downside of aging but faces adversities with equanimity & good humor.
The joy of her life is found in being a first time grandmother (although she does have a tendency to obsess about the welfare of her grandson.) And then, there's Archie, the fellow she had a teenage crush on. He's a widower now. Marie has sworn off men, but.......
One of the most recognizable voices on British radio, stage & screen actress Sian Phillips gives a sterling reading as Marie shares her very private thoughts with her diary.
- Gail Cooke
Oh so true! - By: LindyLouMac, 21 Mar 2007 Hilarious! Although I have another five years to go before I reach the big 60 I was definitely able to relate to so much of what Marie had to say for herself. Did not agree with alll her comments though!
Sad! The illness of her friend Hughie I did find rather difficult to cope with as I have experience of being in a similar situation to Marie.
Realistic,yes! While reading kept thinking, so true,been there done that, got the same memories.
Worth reading,yes! Especiallly if you are a woman of a certain age or know one maybe?
Unlike Marie though I do want to remain, at least feeling young, even if not actuallly so. I want to remain stimulated & will carry on doing young things, rather than old things!!
Sixty not out - By: David Collard, 02 Oct 2006 Very funny & sad by turns, this is the diary of a retired art teacher, Marie, as she prepares her sixtieth birthday. She's a brittle, sarcastic & for the most part quite loveable woman, as revealed in her ramshackle circle of friends & (more acutely & movingly) her absolute love for her new grandson. In the course of the year a close friend dies (unflinchingly described)and - without giving anything away - Stuff Happens.
There's a great joke about the type of men who wear big hats, many peppery & subversive digressions about sex, online dating, dental issues, what not to wear, old flames & new options.
It's also (I think) one of the very first books to deal with the way baby boomers are squaring up to oblivion. A book for anyone who plans to live beyond sixty.
