Our library in Hewett Centre is open every Sunday after service during Coffee Hour in Hewett Centre, and our Library Team offers related reading lists based on the topic of the Sunday service. Here is their list for the upcoming service featuring members of the Elders group on Sunday, July 20, 2025 at 11 a.m. All are welcome in Hewett Centre after the Sunday service to check out some books and to have coffee and conversation.
VanU library books related to this Sunday’s sermon:
1. On the Brink of Everything: Grace, Gravity, and Getting Old, by Parker J. Palmer, 2018, 155.67 [From LibraryThing: “… Drawing on eight decades of life — and his career as a writer, teacher, and activist — Palmer explores the questions age raises and the promises it holds. “Old,” he writes, “is just another word for nothing left to lose, a time to dive deep into life, not withdraw to the shallows.” But this book is not for elders only. It was written to encourage adults of all ages to explore the way their lives are unfolding. It’s not a how-to-do-it book on aging, but a set of meditations in prose and poetry that turn the prism on the meaning(s) of one’s life, refracting new light at every turn. …”].
2. Aging as a Spiritual Practice: A Contemplative Guide to Growing Older and Wiser, by Lewis Richmond, 2012, 294.3 [From LibraryThing: “Offers a Buddhist perspective on aging well, with anecdotes of the author’s experiences with illness, aging, and transformation, and guided meditations.”].
3. The Seasoned Soul: Reflections on Growing Older, by Eliza Blanchard, 2012, 204.4 BLA [Published by Skinner House Books. From LibraryThing: “Youth is a gift of nature. Aging is a work of art. No matter where we are on the path, growing older is a journey we all share. These eighty-seven elegant essays reflect on aging, using wise and inspiring quotations from many cultures and religious traditions. They will help you tap into your own resources, lightening your spirit and the spirits of those around you. Throughout, they provide guidance and encouragement, for navigating life changes, dealing with fear, retaining dignity and passion, and living a life of meaning. …”].
4. Come of Age: The Case for Elderhood in a Time of Trouble, by Stephen Jenkinson, 2018, 305 JEN [From LibraryThing, the publisher’s description: “… explores the great paradox of elderhood in North America: how we are awash in the aged and yet somehow lacking in wisdom; how we relegate senior citizens to the corner of the house while simultaneously heralding them as sage elders simply by virtue of their age. Our own unreconciled relationship with what it means to be an elder has yielded a culture nearly bereft of them. Meanwhile, the planet boils, and the younger generation boils with anger over being left an environment and sociopolitical landscape deeply scarred and broken. Taking on the sacred cow of the family, Jenkinson argues that elderhood is a function rather than an identity — it is not a position earned simply by the number of years on the planet or the title “parent” or “grandparent.” As with his seminal book Die Wise, Jenkinson interweaves rich personal stories with iconoclastic observations that will leave readers radically rethinking their concept of what it takes to be an elder and the risks of doing otherwise. …”].
5. The Oxford Book of Aging, by Thomas R. Cole, 1994, 362.6 COL [From LibraryThing: “… The ancient and medieval vision of aging as a mysterious part of the eternal order of things has given way to the secular, scientific, and individualistic outlook of modernity. No longer seen as a way station along life’s spiritual journey, old age has been redefined as a problem to be solved by science and medicine. Older people have been moved to society’s margins, and, as a result, we have become uncertain about what it means to age. … offers some two hundred and fifty pieces that illuminate the pleasures, pains, dreams, and triumphs of people as they strive to live out their days in a meaningful way. Fiction, poetry, memoirs, essays, children’s stories, reflections by philosophers, historians, and psychologists, African and Japanese legends, excerpts from the Koran and the Bible, scientific and medical tracts …”].
6. Aging Well: Surprising Guideposts to a Happier Life from the Landmark Study of Adult Development, by George E. Vaillant MD, 2003, 362.6 VAI [Gift of Phillip Hewett. From LibraryThing: “In an unprecedented series of studies, Harvard Medical School has followed 824 subjects — men and women, some rich, some poor — from their teens to old age. Harvard’s George Vaillant now uses these studies … and the subjects’ individual histories to illustrate the factors involved in reaching a happy, healthy old age. He explains precisely why some people turn out to be more resilient than others, the complicated effects of marriage and divorce, negative personality changes, and how to live a more fulfilling, satisfying and rewarding life in the later years. He shows why a person’s background has less to do with their eventual happiness than the specific lifestyle choices they make. And he offers step-by-step advice about how each of us can change our lifestyles and age successfully. …”].
7. Successful Aging: A Neuroscientist Explores the Power and Potential of Our Lives, by Daniel J. Levitin, 2020, 612 LEV [From LibraryThing: “… turns his keen insights to what happens in our brains as we age; why we should think about health span, not life span; and, based on a rigorous analysis of neuroscientific evidence, how you can make the most of your seventies, eighties, and nineties today, no matter how old you are now”].
8. The Last Gift of Time: Life Beyond Sixty, by Carolyn G. Heilbrun, 1997, 921 HEI [From LibraryThing: “… inspirational reflection on aging and the gift of life in your 70s and beyond. When she was young, distinguished author and critic Carolyn Heilbrun solemnly vowed to end her life when she turned seventy. But on the advent of that fateful birthday, she realized that her golden years had been full of unforeseen pleasures. Now, the astute and ever-insightful Heilbrun muses on the emotional and intellectual insights that brought her “to choose each day for now, to live.” There are reflections on her new house and her sturdy, comfortable marriage, sweet solitude and the pleasures of sex at an advanced age, the fascination with e-mail and the joy of discovering unexpected friends. Even the encroachments of loss, pain, and sadness that come with age cannot spoil Heilbrun’s moveable feast. They are merely the price of bountiful living.”].
9. Still Here: Embracing Aging, Changing, and Dying, by Ram Dass, 2001, 305.26 [From LibraryThing: “… In 1997, Ram Dass suffered a nearly incapacitating stroke that affected his speech and movement. The next two years he devoted to his healing and recovery. Drawing on this experience Ram Dass once again has produced a thought-provoking book that speaks to the soul. It is an appealing selection for those seeking insights and reassurance about the mature seasons of our lives.”].
10. Seasons of Life: Our Dramatic Journey from Birth to Death, by John Kotre and Elizabeth Hall, 1990, 155 KOT [From LibraryThing: “Throughout the ages and in every culture, people have used the seasons as a metaphor to mark life’s transitions and to help understand the purpose and meaning of our mortal journey. In the last few decades, there has been an astonishing growth in our knowledge of human development through the entire life span; at the same time, there has been dramatic change in the timetables of our lives. Seasons of Life, …, interprets the fascinating work and discoveries of hundreds of social scientists and, through the personal stories of dozens of ordinary individuals, reveals the rich drama of life’s passages at the end of the twentieth century. …”].
11. Finding Meaning in the Second Half of Life: How to Finally, Really Grow Up, by James Hollis, 2005, 155.6 HOL [From LibraryThing: “What does it really mean to be a grown-up in today’s world? We assume that once we “get it together” with the right job, marry the right person, have children, and buy a home, all is settled and well. But adulthood presents varying levels of growth and is rarely the respite of stability we expected. Turbulent emotional shifts can take place anywhere between the age of thirty-five and seventy when we question the choices we’ve made, realize our limitations, and feel stuck – commonly known as the “midlife crisis”. Jungian psychoanalyst James Hollis believes that it is only in the second half of life that we can truly come to know who we are and thus create a life that has meaning. …, Hollis explores the ways we can grow and evolve to fully become ourselves when the traditional roles of adulthood aren’t quite working for us. …”].
12. How We Die: Reflections on Life’s Final Chapter, by Sherwin B. Nuland, 1994, 616.07 NUL, [Gift of Arthur Hughes. From LibraryThing, on the book jacket: “… Sherwin B. Nuland, a surgeon and teacher of medicine, tells some stories of dying that reveal not only why someone dies but how. He offers a portrait of the experience of dying that makes clear the choices that can be made to allow each of us his or her own death.”].