Lots of Candles, Plenty of Cake: A Memoir of a Woman's Life

I bought this for a friend moving into retirement after reading my own library copy. I absolutely loved it. Anna Quinlan is a great author, incredibly gifted, with a well crafted writing style, using phrases you want to write down/underline for your own use at a later date. It is clearly a Baby Boomers reflective perspective, but I can see younger folks enjoying it as well. I loved her exploration of the “sandwich generation”, those caring for adult children due to economic factors, as well as caretaking elderly parents in need of assistance at the same time. Her detailed understanding of women’s advancement in the workforce (& glass ceilings) is worth the entire book’s read as well. I savored it at night a few chapters at a time and wished it kept on. Try it, you’ll like it Mikey or Michelle or . . .

This memoir consists of chapters or essays written by Anna Quindlen as she reflects back on her life. If you've read her before, you know she is skilled at expressing her observations of the world around her. She is now 60 years old. She is still married to her college sweetheart, she has 3 healthy and happy chlldren and she herself is in good health and exercises. And she knows how lucky she is to be where she is at.Anna Quindlen's mother died when she was in her early 40's and Anna was only 19. This (obviously) affected Anna's life in many ways, not the least of which she became mindful and aware of death and loss at such an early age. Once she reached the age at which her mother died, she viewed every day beyond that as a gift of sorts.I really enjoyed this book, and there were chapters that had me shaking my head in agreement and understanding. I am younger than she is (not by much), but her observations about friendship, health, family and ultimately death are all things I have experienced and thought about as well. I find that as I have gotten older I have sought out books like this - maybe because it's human nature to want to feel that what we are experiencing and thinking is not all that unique to us but shared by others. It's both comforting and enlightening and although we are not hardwired to be thankful every moment of every day, books like this remind us to make the life we have now as rewarding as possible.There was one passage in the book where the author talks about her mother dying in her 40's and how she (the author) had felt at the time, that her mother had lived a full life. Now she realizes her mother really only lived half her life. This made me smile in recognition, because I had a best friend die at the age of 16 from leukemia. There were three of us and we were called the Three Musketeers. When Beverly died, my other best friend and I actually had a conversation where we said "At least Beverly lived a full life." Because she had gotten her driver's license! But so are the thoughts of youth.As Ms. Quindlen points out, these years of our lives truly can be the best - if we stay in good health and focus on what we have. I think she's right.

This audiobook is suberb reading for any parent (a great one to share with your spouse, if he is the reflective type). Anna Quindlen has an extraordinary talent for describing the emotions that day-to-day struggles bring, poignantly reminding us of the trials and triumphs with equal parts humor and contemplative appreciation for the blessings we too often take for granted.She attempts to impart the lessons that, as she admits, cannot be retold, only experienced; but anyone who is close to or in the middle of looking back on the first 50 or so years of their life, their family, and the first 30 years of their "career" choices, will appreciate her accurate and heartfelt re-telling anyway.

I read this book in two days. Anna Quindlen covers a lot of ground in a mere 182 pages. It could be said that she is still for all intents and purposes a journalist. The writing is honest, straightforward, and dry. There are no secrets. Although she has been described as funny, I didn't see any humor here. But I didn't shed any tears, either. Rather than tell us about her life she, like a good journalist, summarizes the last few decades, showing us how feminism evolved and women's lives changed. She includes her life in the mix but only in a superficial manner. Her three grown children are probably happy with the book--she doesn't provide us with a glimpse into the trials and tribulations of raising three children while pursuing a writing career. If anything, she makes her children sound almost ideal.In fact, she writes as though she has led a charmed life--good marriage, happy children, and successful career. She admits that perhaps her religious faith has failed to develop as much as the other aspects of her life and she blames this to some degree on the authoritarian Catholic Church in which she was raised. Although she still believes in God, she has ceased believing in life after death. This, to me, is the saddest part of the whole book. Her mother died in her early forties, and she doesn't believe that her mom is enjoying eternal life. In fact, she became quite angry when a guest at her mom's funeral told her that her mom was in a better place. She even writes that perhaps it was more important in days past for people to believe in an afterlife because their lives on earth were often so fraught with "plagues, starvation, and slavery." Where has Anna Quindlen been all these years? Doesn't she know that there are still people who are suffering from malnutrition, who are in pain, who are in slavery? What about natural disasters? And even if one's life has been relatively free of terrible trauma, why wouldn't a person long for communion with a supreme being and complete happiness after life on a very imperfect earth?I noted that one of the book reviewers wrote that Quindlen made her feel "inadequate" because of Quindlen's extremely busy life--balancing motherhood and career. She asked if volunteering counts. I say that there are countless women whose lives don't resemble Quindlen's. Some have been volunteers. Some have been reluctant members of the work force who'd rather be at home.There is an upper-class feel to the book. It didn't make me laugh but there was one line that made me smile. She was writing about health and fitness. She stated that she wanted to continue to be capable of taking a case of wine from the deliveryman and carrying it to the kitchen without undue exertion. This, my friends, is not quite the type of memoir for every woman. It is very well-written, but will there be that many women who identify?

I really enjoyed this book. It is beautifully written, insightful and thought provoking. It would appeal to people of all ages, who I think would resonate with different parts depending on their stage in life. This book is well worth spending time with.

This is the perfect gift for a woman turning 60! My friend sent it to me and I have enjoyed reading it over and over. Each page gave me a gem to tuck away and help me cope with depleting energy, saging body parts and loss of friends and family. She talks about the fact that as we age we are actually happier and more settled in our own skin. Her style is warm and conversational and I felt like she was speaking directly to me. If you are looking for the perfect gift for a loved and trusted friend pick up Lots of Candles, Plenty of Cake by Anna Quindlen

wußte nicht, daß es eine biographie ist, gut geschrieben, für mich persönlich zu viele alltags-weisheiten, alles natürlich auf amerikanische lebensumstände bezogen, die nicht unbedingt für europäische verhältnisse zutreffen

This was a great read from a favorite author...

This book is a collection of thought provoking essays. Because I have read them all together while waiting for a delayed aircraft the theme of aging seems a little over dominant. However - reference the title and this is apt. These essays are well written and structured. The author posits her theme is a clear fashion but with personal and literary references which give it an erudite yet sincere aspect. She brings to the fore common life experiences at which I found myself nodding my head. I have just finished one of her novels and I can see how her life especially her childhood experiences have brought depth and richness to her writing. I will be seeking her work out again.