My Life in the Middle Ages: A Survivor's Tale Book

I met James Atlas at the Miami Book Fair when he was touring for this book 14 years ago. I guess that meant that it sat on my shelf unread all this while. I hadn't really given it a second thought until I listened to Atlas on a free Audible selection about Philip Roth. I liked his story about his old friend and decided to pick up my dust-collecting copy of this book.

Atlas had written in my copy "Middle age is NOT your forties." Now than I am 56, perhaps I am better stationed to appreciate his topics. Well, I have to say that Atlas is a better writer than he appears to give himself credit for. This amounted to a series of loosely connected essays. He begins and ends with his father's death and packs between tales of getting fired, divorce# of friends, the decline of his body. I especially related to his chapter about accumulating books he likely will never read. Overall, I'm glad to have finally gotten around to this title although I was also relieved to have finished it. The last few chapters felt like a spiral toward depression. I'm glad that Atlas appears to have made it through middle age in better spirits than he had when he finished this book. That gives me reason for optimism in my next 14 years, too.