Nanaville
Adventures in Grandparenting
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- 10,99 €
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- 10,99 €
Publisher Description
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • A bighearted book of wisdom, wit, and insight, celebrating the love and joy of being a grandmother, from the Pulitzer Prize–winning columnist and #1 bestselling author
“This tender book should be required reading for grandparents everywhere.”—Booklist (starred review)
“I am changing his diaper, he is kicking and complaining, his exhausted father has gone to the kitchen for a glass of water, his exhausted mother is prone on the couch. He weighs little more than a large sack of flour and yet he has laid waste to the living room: swaddles on the chair, a nursing pillow on the sofa, a car seat, a stroller. No one cares about order, he is our order, we revolve around him. And as I try to get in the creases of his thighs with a wipe, I look at his, let’s be honest, largely formless face and unfocused eyes and fall in love with him. Look at him and think, well, that’s taken care of, I will do anything for you as long as we both shall live, world without end, amen.”
Before blogs even existed, Anna Quindlen became a go-to writer on the joys and challenges of family, motherhood, and modern life, in her nationally syndicated column. Now she’s taking the next step and going full nana in the pages of this lively, beautiful, and moving book about being a grandmother. Quindlen offers thoughtful and telling observations about her new role, no longer mother and decision-maker but secondary character and support to the parents of her grandson. She writes, “Where I once led, I have to learn to follow.” Eventually a close friend provides words to live by: “Did they ask you?”
Candid, funny, frank, and illuminating, this is the perfect gift for new parents and grandparents. With the same insights Quindlen brought to motherhood in Living Out Loud and to growing older in Lots of Candles, Plenty of Cake, this new nana uses her own experiences to illuminate those of many others.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In this wise and endearing book, former New York Times columnist Quindlen (Alternate Sides) addresses the subject of grandparenting, sharing her own experiences and advice. Despite having raised three children, Quindlen admits that as a grandmother, or "Nana" which she became at age 64 she is "totally green." She dotes on her toddler grandson, Arthur, and has strong opinions about how he should be raised, yet remains cognizant of her proper place; when it comes to decision-making, she observes, she is neither president nor vice president, but something akin to speaker of the house. She concludes that the grandparent's role consists not so much of "doing" as "hanging back" and respecting the parents' choices. The book is filled with Quindlen's playful sense of humor (if her baby daughter had wanted to sleep upside down "like a bat," she would have let her), along with thoughtful reflections on how parenting and grandparenting have changed (for instance, fathers are more involved, there's a lot more baby gear to buy, and more people are living long enough to become grandparents). This heartfelt and delightful work will especially appeal to readers already living within their own versions of "Nanaville."
