Joan Bakewell…The tick of two clocks

It’s a wonderful read. Absolutely loved it.

Shinamae

I have taken the liberty of adding this to the list I'm keeping for possible books to read and discuss in 2022 - see thread on Books - New Monthly Book Club.

I haven't read this or the one before called Stop the Clocks. Have you?

I'm intrigued by Rachel Cooke's Guardian Review:

www.theguardian.com/books/2021/sep/05/the-tick-of-two-clocks-by-joan-bakewell-review-downsizing-memoir

which is positive but this extract struck me:

I felt like the woman in the Claire Bretécher cartoon my mother had hanging on our kitchen wall when I was a child (it showed a woman made visibly depressed by a visiting friend’s mild boasting): you could have taken away yet more of Joan’s stuff in the despondent black bags that had developed beneath my eyes. To be clear, I don’t begrudge her anything. Quite the opposite, in fact. I just wish that she hadn’t tried, via her periodic detours into such matters as retirement homes and social care, to make her experiences paradigmatic of those of her generation. Her old age, like so many things about her, is an exceptional case.

It looks interesting but I shall wait until the price drops. £9.99 is a lot to pay for a kindle book. I have downloaded a sample of Stop the Clocks, though. I like Joan Bakewell. She used to be known as 'the thinking man's crumpet'. Perhaps she still is.

I like the sound of this. One for my Christmas wish list.

Early

Shinamae

I have taken the liberty of adding this to the list I'm keeping for possible books to read and discuss in 2022 - see thread on Books - New Monthly Book Club.

I haven't read this or the one before called Stop the Clocks. Have you?

I'm intrigued by Rachel Cooke's Guardian Review:

www.theguardian.com/books/2021/sep/05/the-tick-of-two-clocks-by-joan-bakewell-review-downsizing-memoir

which is positive but this extract struck me:

^I felt like the woman in the Claire Bretécher cartoon my mother had hanging on our kitchen wall when I was a child (it showed a woman made visibly depressed by a visiting friend’s mild boasting): you could have taken away yet more of Joan’s stuff in the despondent black bags that had developed beneath my eyes. To be clear, I don’t begrudge her anything. Quite the opposite, in fact. I just wish that she hadn’t tried, via her periodic detours into such matters as retirement homes and social care, to make her experiences paradigmatic of those of her generation. Her old age, like so many things about her, is an exceptional case. ^

No I haven’t read “stop the clocks” Early but I shall now…?

NotTooOld

It looks interesting but I shall wait until the price drops. £9.99 is a lot to pay for a kindle book. I have downloaded a sample of Stop the Clocks, though. I like Joan Bakewell. She used to be known as 'the thinking man's crumpet'. Perhaps she still is.

She is absolutely amazing for 88, found it hard to believe she was that age ?

Great, Shinamae. Do please let me know which of the two you think might make for a better book group discussion.

I really enjoyed this book but wish I’d waited to buy it when the price came down. It is a slim volume for the price but her writing is wonderful.

Thank you for the recommendation Shinamae.
I am much younger than Joan, but am, for various reasons, finding myself in situations that are more familiar to women older than I.
I’ve just bought the Audible edition. It’s read by Maggie Ollrenshaw, who is one of my favourite readers

I loved “Stop the Clock” and look forward to reading this too.
Another firm recommendation from me would be Penelope Lively ‘s memoir “Dancing Fish and Ammonites “ - really good!

Great title Maw! I’ll have a look at that

Thanks, Maw.

Puzzled as to why my library consortium has ninteen pages of Lively titles but not this one, I eventually found it listed as:

Ammonites and leaping fish : a life in time

so it's had a title change at some point.

It's on Amazon as Dancing Fish and Audible as Ammonites if you are looking for audio FannyC.

https://www.gransnet.com/uploads/talk/202110/medium-773495-image.jpg https://www.gransnet.com/uploads/talk/202110/medium-389149-63b5ab39-43aa-4376-9119-594a515fc2ce.jpeg https://www.gransnet.com/uploads/talk/202110/medium-348013-d50e349c-f01f-4881-8d6f-7cfbd71806a1.jpeg

Good point Early - it got me thinking and I think my copy (paperback) is indeed “Ammonites and Leaping Fish” so I looked it out (wishing more of the books were in alphabetical order by author- the hardback novels are and the histories by period - and then there’s the rest!)
So this is mine , followed by two on the long river company’s website. I rather like the hardback cover!

Maw Seems it was published as Dancing Fish and Ammonites in the U.S. and Ammonites and Leaping Fish in the UK.