Bright Side

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It's only natural that a book about octogenarians will have its share of sad and moving moments, but the main message it conveys is that however limited life expectancy is, the Old But Not Dead Club will do its utmost to enjoy it! His memoirs are a delight. Self deprecating in a typically English way, but refreshingly honest and upfront. He doesn't hide from his mistakes or blame others, which makes a change from a lot of other celebrity memoirs. Hendrik Groen is a marvellous character. He is like a naughty schoolboy. There are some very funny parts in this book but it is also very touching. I could actually see some of the events playing out in my head as I was reading some of the antics Hendrik and the members of the Old-But-Not-Dead club got up to. The second installment of the later life of Hendrik Groen finds everyone’s favorite Dutch hairy-eared Dutch pensioner returning to his diary after taking some time off. He is now 85.

Bright Side by Kim Holden - AbeBooks Bright Side by Kim Holden - AbeBooks

Bradbury keeps good company, including two other Canadian journalists I have long admired: Ian Brown and Johanna Schneller. Hendrik and his best friend Evert continue to get up to mischief – their stirring of trouble delights the group. Well something has to brighten their day, doesn’t it! With death getting closer to them all, a lot of the residents spend time going to funerals. But Hendrik no longer goes – he’ll be at his own soon enough he thinks! I'm a big fan of Monty Python so I was eager to read this memoir. I really enjoyed it! Say no more, say no more, nudge, nudge! Now I will state here that yes there are sections of this book which do feel like that when it just becomes one long list of who who turned up out the blue and what exotic place they all got whisked off to. These are people and places I will never meet or see.I encountered the song before I saw the movie. My first year in high school we had a headmaster who always started the assemblies with a piece of classical music. One day the seventh form decided to sabotage him and swapped out his chosen piece of pompous boredom for "Always Look on the Bright Side of Life". My enduring memory of this occasion is the majority of the other teachers trying not to laugh out loud. Few succeeded. Forgotten the title or the author of a book? Our BookSleuth is specially designed for you. Visit BookSleuth Eric’s kind heart is obvious, as shown through his endearing friendships with George Harrison and Robin Williams, not to mention all the Pythons. He’s had a rich life full of love and good friends. Laughter really does bring people together. I’d love to hang out with him sometime. I’ll even supply the booze. So, to say that there is some repetition in plot points from the first book would be a fair criticism. But it would also be fair to point out that you don’t really notice until the end of the book, and then you don’t really care.

Bright Side: Twelve Months, Three Heartbreaks, and The Bright Side: Twelve Months, Three Heartbreaks, and

Idle had little trouble painting a dire picture of his early life. His father beat the odds as a tail gunner in the Royal Air Force only to die in an accident hitchhiking home for Christmas in ‘45. Eric was two. Then his student years were spent in boarding school – evidently a glum affair even for a clever and popular lad. Hendrik records the goings on inside the care home and also his thoughts on the world outside. Hendrik is a lovable old man who has a streak of devilry and his writing gave me many laugh out loud moments as he recounts his exploits with the aptly named group of residents called 'Old-But-Not-Dead Club'. This book is at times sad as he writes about the autumn years of him and his friends but it is often hilarious as he encounters new adventures.Hendrik is such a warm and genuine character - you do really feel for him. I can only hope there is a third diary; you do begin to care for Hendrik and hope he has many more tales to tell and adventures to go on.

CHASING THE BRIGHT SIDE - Jess Ekstrom CHASING THE BRIGHT SIDE - Jess Ekstrom

Now this was exceptional! I have always loved the Monty Python boys, and their work, but if hard pressed I would usually declare myself a Michael Palin girl. Palin's diaries of the Python years, by the way, are a great read as well. The book is also a little more nuanced in character than the first one. More is hinted at about the director, so she becomes something more than just a “no” party pooper. Hendrik himself finds a new friend that reveals new facets about his person as he shows the reader that it is possible to never stop growing as a person. Yup, another geriatric fiction novel for me. We will just ignore the implications of this recent genre-love.

When chewing on life’s gristle, don’t grumble, give a whistle. And always look on the bright side of death. Hendrik Groen is 85 years of age in this, his second episode of life in the slow lane, living in the care home in Amsterdam and writing in his diary daily with his various exploits. The Old-But-Not-Dead Club is still going strong, although one or two members have left – a couple of new things have also been added to their agenda. Going to different restaurants every three weeks for a culture change; and the planning of a trip away, where the eight elderly members will stay overnight in a hotel for two nights. Hendrik is now 85 years old set in 2015 and it tells of the life in a Care home in Amsterdam, and as a founding member of the Old-but-Not-Dead-Club. It tells of the outings they go on and also the fine dining restaurants and the relationships he has with the other members of the club and the other people in the Care home. They still try and have fun and live life to the fullest the best way they can. But Hendrik finds out that his best mate Evert has Cancer, an another of the residents has dementia. Not only that, they think that home future is unstable and maybe one day close.