October 10, 2023: Special Amazon Prime Deal Days Edition

A semi-monthly newsletter from Grand Plans designed to normalize and celebrate our glorious geri-destiny through information, stories, real talk conversation, smart planning and shared experience.

Geri-news you can use

I promised I wouldn’t spam you with emails — and that grand plan still stands — but I couldn’t let Amazon Prime Deal Days (Tuesday, October 10 through Thursday, October 12) pass without sharing opportunities to purchase some of the books and resources I think are total game-changers for navigating successful senior strolls. Plus, I love a sweet bargain. Fill your brain and shelves with useful info today — but be real, REAL careful about purging it all before your library becomes a dusty geri-hoarding hazard and your kids go berserk. Happy shopping and see you again at our regularly scheduled time Thursday, October 12!

Shelf Life

Speaking of geri-hoarding, his book recommendation is a two-fer and they are bother two-rrific, as in must-reads of ASAP proportions. In both books, the author Margareta Magnusson does a beautiful job celebrating and simplifying the process of aging, and how we can all embrace it and be more prepared for the outcomes. Reading her work is like sitting in a comfy chair listening to someone wiser and calmer and non-judgey explain what’s ahead and where you should go. I’d start with The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning and then get into The Swedish Art of Aging Exuberantly. These books will inspire and inform, and your children will thank you later for reading them!

Another great book recommendation is From Strength to Strength: Finding Success, Happiness and Deep Purpose in the Second Half of Life by Arthur C. Brooks. He talks a lot about the teaching, mentoring, giver of unconditional love role we all need to embrace as we age and advance in our work and careers. It’s so important! Also, Brooks is a big deal now that his book with Oprah Winfrey just came out. It’s called Build the Life You Want: The Art and Science of Getting Happier. As you might guess, it also is a super winner, soon-to-be-bestseller page-turner of epic proportions.

And here’s a catalog of other fantastic books on the Grand Plans bookshelf:

• Mothercare, by Lynne Tillman

• The Gift of Years, by Joan Chittister

• Breaking the Age Code, by Becca Levy

• Happy Go Lucky, by David Sedaris

• Being Mortal, by Atul Gawande

• Recipes for a Sacred Life, by Rivvy Neshama

• How to Care for Aging Parents, by Virginia Morris

• Stupid Things I Won’t Do When I Get Old, by Steven Petrow

• Getting Real About Getting Older, by Linda Stroh

• Lighter: Let Go of the Past, Connect with the President and Expand the Future, by Yung Pueblo

• I’ve Got Some Good News and Some Bad News: You’re Old, by David Bernstein

• Working Daughter: A Guide to Caring for Your Aging Parents While Making a Living, by Liz O’Donnell

• I Feel Bad About My Neck, I Remember Nothing and Heartburn, by Nora Ephron
  Honest Aging: An Insider’s Guide to the Second Half of Life, by Rosanne M. Leipzig

• Two Old Broads: Stuff You Need to Know But Didn’t Know You Needed To, by Dr. M.E. Hecht

• How Not to Be Old (Even if You Are), by Jill Orr
  The Happiness Hypothesis, by Jonathan Haidt

• Growing Old: Notes on Aging with Something Like Grace, by Elizabeth Marshall Thomas

• The Book About Getting Older, by Lucy Pollock

• I’m Glad My Mom Died, by Jeanette McCurdy

• The Inner Work of Age, by Connie Zweig

• The 36-hour Day, A Family Guide to Caring for People Who Have Alzheimer Disease and Other Dementias, by Nancy L. Mace and Peter V. Rabins

• The Happiness Project: Or, Why I Spent a Year Trying to Sing in the Morning, Clean My Closets, Fight Right, Read Aristotle and Generally Have More Fun, by Gretchen Rubin

• Knocking on Heaven’s Door: The Path to a Better Way of Death, by Katy Butler

• The Art of Dying Well, by Katy Butler

• When Your Aging Parent Needs Help, by Leslie Kernisan and Paula Spencer Scott

• Mom and Dad, We Need to Talk: How to Have Essential Conversations With Your Parents About Their Finances, by Cameron Huddleston

• What to Do When I’m Gone, A Mother’s Wisdom to Her Daughter, by Suzy Hopkins and Hallie Bateman

• Let’s Talk About Death Over Dinner, by Michael Hebb

• The Five Wishes, by Aging With Dignity

• The Book of Charlie: Wisdom from the Remarkable American Life of a 109-year-old Man, by David Von Drehle

• How Will You Measure Your Life? by Clayton Christensen

• Falling Into Grace: Insights on the End of Suffering, Adyashanti

• Heartwood: The Art of Living with the End in Mind, by Barbara Becker