"Brown asks all the right questions in Sixty , an account that is by turns witty and poignant. I laughed aloud."
"A spark of humor shines through even these serious topics, which he handles gracefully. Well considered and illuminating, Sixty allows readers to delve deeply into the real meaning of maturity."
"Sixty may find [Brown’s] biggest audience yet; there are so many of us in the same creaky boat. Written with [Brown’s] trademark gutsy candour, and full of self-deprecating wit. . . . Edifying . . . accessible."
"A rich new book . . . Brown can’t help but turn some of the absurdities he faces into humor . . . The laugh-out-loud passages are tempered by a poignant theme Brown comes back to time and time again: regret."
"A compelling take on the joys and agonies of growing older. . . . Brown peppers this memoir with crisp, self-deprecating asides, and a wry point of view that holds up to the very end. Where Brown really reels you in is with his sincerity. His insights, quips and candid assessments of aging are to be enjoyed by any Boomer nearing or having passed the big 6-0."
"I’ve been reading Ian Brown since before I needed reading glasses. He’s wise—poetic even—and willing to be unabashedly petty, which is what makes this book so funny and almost too true."
"Growing old has its burdens and pleasures. Ian Brown captures them both so beautifully that he almost makes the reader wish for sixty. There is a lot of wisdom in these pages."
"Ian Brown is so wise and insightful and funny about the indignities of turning sixty that he makes those of us who haven’t yet reached that harrowing birthday believe that maybe it won’t be so bad. Surely, once we get there, we’ll all be as wise and insightful and funny as Ian is. We won’t, of course: This book, like its author, is one of a kind. A wonderful, inspiring, occasionally cringe-inducing chronicle of a very human year."
"I would read anything Ian Brown writes. This is a particular pleasure: Humane, funny, dark, wry, and utterly engrossing."
"Thoughtful, heartfelt, fearless, impossible to put down . . . Brown manages to be both hilarious and serious . . . His ultimate message—to pay attention, to keep our eyes open, to look at ‘what is coming down the road’—is vital."
starred review Quill & Quire
"Finding out Ian Brown has turned sixty is like finding out my bad little brother has turned sixty: I’d expect him to have a disarming, slightly disreputable take on this least interesting of birthdays (long now in my rearview mirror). And with Sixty , I’m certainly not disappointed. Ever the witty, ever the mischievous, observant and likable, Ian Brown has written a book that other sixty-year-olds can keep on their breakfast table, to dip into with their Ovaltine. It’s a splendid companion book to aging—a condition when ordinary companionship is, frankly, not always that agreeable."
Shortlisted for the 2016 RBC Taylor Prize for Literary Non-Fiction A CBC Best Book of the Year A Globe and Mail Best Book [2015] “Mr. Brown is charming, thoughtful and edifying company. There’s loads to identify with in Sixty . More than that: There’s loads to flat-out adore. . . . Brown’s reflections on friendship are soulful and worth committing to heart. So are his meditations on marriage and parenthood.”—The New York Times Los Angeles Times Forbes Sixty , an account that is by turns witty and poignant. I laughed aloud.”—The Wall Street Journal Sixty allows readers to delve deeply into the real meaning of maturity.”—Booklist “Brown's humor is pointed inward as often as outward, and he neither glosses over nor languishes on the fact that he has fewer years ahead of him than behind.”—Kirkus Library Journal Publishers Weekly Sixty: A Diary of My Sixty-First Year , by Canadian journalist Ian Brown. It’s a good read.”—Leonard Downie Jr., former executive editor, The Washington Post , on the occasion of turning 80 “I would read anything Ian Brown writes. This is a particular pleasure: Humane, funny, dark, wry, and utterly engrossing.”—Susan Orlean, author of The Orchid Thief “Finding out Ian Brown has turned sixty is like finding out my bad little brother has turned sixty: I’d expect him to have a disarming, slightly disreputable take on this least interesting of birthdays (long now in my rearview mirror). And with Sixty , I’m certainly not disappointed. Ever the witty, ever the mischievous, observant and likable, Ian Brown has written a book that other sixty-year-olds can keep on their breakfast table, to dip into with their Ovaltine. It’s a splendid companion book to aging—a condition when ordinary companionship is, frankly, not always that agreeable.”—Richard Ford “I’ve been reading Ian Brown since before I needed reading glasses. He’s wise—poetic even—and willing to be unabashedly petty, which is what makes this book so funny and almost too true.”—Sarah Vowell , New York Times –bestselling author of seven books, most recently Lafayette in the Somewhat United States “Ian Brown is so wise and insightful and funny about the indignities of turning sixty that he makes those of us who haven’t yet reached that harrowing birthday believe that maybe it won’t be so bad. Surely, once we get there, we’ll all be as wise and insightful and funny as Ian is. We won’t, of course: This book, like its author, is one of a kind. A wonderful, inspiring, occasionally cringe-inducing chronicle of a very human year.”—Paul Tough , author of Helping Children Succeed: What Works and Why “Growing old has its burdens and pleasures. Ian Brown captures them both so beautifully that he almost makes the reader wish for sixty. There is a lot of wisdom in these pages.”—Ari L. Goldman, author of The Late Starters Orchestra "Sixty may find [Brown’s] biggest audience yet; there are so many of us in the same creaky boat. Written with [Brown’s] trademark gutsy candour, and full of self-deprecating wit . . . Edifying . . . accessible.”—Plum Johnson , award-winning author of They Left Us Everything , in the Globe and Mail “Thoughtful, heartfelt, fearless, impossible to put down . . . Brown manages to be both hilarious and serious . . . His ultimate message—to pay attention, to keep our eyes open, to look at ‘what is coming down the road’—is vital.” —Quill Quire
…a great, fat rosebush of a book that's beautiful and pungent and, at moments, deceptively prickly…As I read Sixty, I kept thinking, why have so few people done this well? It really is a splendid idea, a frank account of getting older…Mr. Brown…is well suited to the task, taking a microscope to his grizzling soul and reporting everything he sees, even the bacteria crabbing along its surface…Mr. Brown is charming, thoughtful and edifying company. There's loads to identify with in Sixty. More than that: There's loads to flat-out adore. Mr. Brown's reflections on friendship are soulful and worth committing to heart. So are his meditations on marriage and parenthood. He reads and quotes promiscuously…And prose snobs will love him. To borrow a phrase he uses about Robin Williams, his writing quicksilvers along; his capsule descriptions are sublime.
The New York Times - Jennifer Senior
06/13/2016
2016-05-31
