I Remember Nothing (copy)

Nora Ephron’s done it again with her new book I Remember Nothing.” I loved her last, I Feel Bad about My Neck, and was a little leery of another book complaining about aging. Could she write about something else? Should she write about something else?

I almost fell out of my reading chair when she admitted her age near the end of the book. I had sat the book cover down and was looking at her face thinking she looked great for being in her early fifties. That was a joke! She is 69 and looks spectacular for her age.

In essence, she has earned the right to talk about old age and I should not criticize her for continually coming to the same trough. What I would like to see from her is a book about aging well, though. Her secrets need to be told!

Who cares if you cannot remember your sister’s name or recognize her when she greets you on a street corner? If one looks sassy and stylish they can pull off any odd encounter with grace. This is how I picture her from her article which shares the same title as the book.

Can you imagine not being able to recognize someone you see on a constant basis? In fairness, she was at a street corner in another city where the last person she expected to see was her sister.

It is crazy the famous people she has forgotten but the minutia she recalls on the same day as the meeting. Her first example is Eleanor Roosevelt. She was dying to meet Mrs. Roosevelt having idolized her as a child. A photo of her mother and Eleanor hung prominently in the family home and even today she can picture her mother wearing a corsage and the First Lady sporting pearls.

Ephron can visualize the trip taken to see her with interns from Wellesley and Vassar. She remembers the room in Hyde Park. She also remembers getting lost and the bad turn that started it all, but sadly she remembers nothing of the iconic lady.

As a young reporter, she was sent to cover the Beatles in 1964 as they embarked from the plane. She spent the whole weekend following their every move and writing her observations. She even stood back stage at the Ed Sullivan Show that Sunday night and recollects the obnoxious teenage girls all screaming. Ask her about the Beatles themselves though and she draws a blank.

It is scary the things one forgets, but Ephron makes it all fun while looking great at the same time.

I Remember Nothing (copy)

http://maggiereads.blogspot.com/2011/02/i-remember-nothing-copy.html