06/13/2016 On the day he turns 60, journalist Brown (The Boy in the Moon) starts keeping a diary. Brown probes the daily details of his first-year as a sexagenarian in an attempt to stave off his fear of breaking down physically and mentally as well to get to know his current self, which is different from his former self but retains shadows of it. In a memoir that is occasionally funny or momentarily poignant but more often simply wearisome, Brown lets down his guard to share his deepest anxieties about his aging life. Unsurprisingly, he provides a litany of the physical challenges of aging: the urge to pee, a crippling plantar fasciitis that hobbles him, aging eyes that require glaucoma drops as well as graduated lenses. He compares himself to celebrities who’ve turned 60—Jay Leno, whose “skin is clear but the color of my dining room table”; Tom Petty, who at 63 “looks younger and more relaxed than I do”—as a way of comforting himself. In the end, he longs to be less afraid as he moves forward, and he wants to be younger and stronger as the years progress, but he realizes time is “running out faster than I can know.” Those turning 60 will appreciate and find resonance with Brown’s honest grappling with his aging. (Aug.)
"Shortlisted for the 2016 RBC Taylor Prize for Literary Non-Fiction A CBC Best Book of the Year A Globe and Mail Best Book of 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."
"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 “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.”—Los Angeles Times “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.”—Forbes “Brown asks all the right questions in Sixty , an account that is by turns witty and poignant. I laughed aloud.”—The Wall Street Journal “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.”—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 “Provides readers, baby boomers in particular, with examples of how to live thoughtfully and observantly.”—Library Journal “Those turning 60 will appreciate and find resonance with Brown’s honest grappling with his aging.”—Publishers Weekly “I’ve decided to keep a journal. I was inspired by reading 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 (starred review)
2016-05-31 A journalist's diary of age 60.In 2014, Brown (The Boy in the Moon: A Father's Journey to Understand His Extraordinary Son, 2011, etc.) arrived at one of the crossroads of life that even the most self-assured among us cannot help but eye warily. No longer a young man, nor even middle-aged, but on the cusp of "heading into the last turn, or for the back nine, or toward the clubhouse (someone should make a list of all the euphemisms we employ to denote the onset of aging)," the author looked back on a resolution he made at 50 to take note of the details around him and the processes unfolding within him. For 10 years, that resolution got lost in the daily shuffle of obligations. As 60 approached, he found a dearth of levelheaded explorations of that age. Displeased with the cheerleading of seniorhood as just another "new and ever-younger future," an assessment that "mostly made me want to run shrieking from the room," Brown found new motivation to try his hand at it. The subjects that find their ways into these pages aren't surprising: the author mulls over his own flagging ambitions as a writer, wondering where the drive to swing for the fences went and why he didn't harness it when it was active. He considers the writing of others—not just about aging, but also the importance of being present in one's current environment. Conversations with lifelong friends often turned into the airing of the newest physical grievances. Young editors at the newspaper told him to develop his Twitter presence and build his list of followers on YouTube. His reactions reflect the knowledge of someone who understands technology well enough to acknowledge the shifting paradigms while also dismissing much of it as ridiculous. If that sounds cantankerous, the author is not. 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.