Judith Viorst, 88, has written over 40 books, most famously the children’s classic “Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day,” which has sold more than four million copies, and more sober titles like “Necessary Losses,” about the psychological boons of loss. She also has been chronicling her own life stages since she was in her 30s with arch and witty poetry collections. Like Ms. Athill, Ms. Viorst is terrific on the evolution and contortions of sexual desire; like Nora Ephron she also nails the quotidian. She writes of slyly ogling a tattooed young man mowing a lawn (“You think I’m out here on the porch just reading my novel? You are so wrong”) and also of losing her memory, her keys and her friends.

Source: New York Times May 04, 2019 09:56 UTC