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Still Life at Eighty: The Next Interesting Thing Paperback – February 28, 2023

by Abigail Thomas (Author)
4.1 out of 5 stars 174 ratings
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In her new memoir, Abigail Thomas ruminates on aging during the confines of COVID-19 with her trademark mix of humor and wisdom, including valuable, contemplative writing tips along the way.

As she approaches eighty, what she herself calls old age, Abigail Thomas accepts her new life, quieter than before, no driving, no dancing, mostly sitting in her chair in a sunny corner with three dogs for company—three dogs, vivid memories, bugs and birds and critters that she watches out her window. No one but this beloved, best-selling memoirist, could make so much over what might seem so little.

Memories fall like confetti, as time contracts, shoots forward, dawdles, and there she is, back in her twenties in Washington Square Park, drinking, having sex with strangers, falling in and out of love, believing in a better world. Whole decades evaporate as she sits in her chair, and a spider takes up residence beside her, who will become her boon companion for the next week.

Sometimes dread arrives, inhabits her body like a shadow and all she can do is write it away, pay attention to what catches her eye, sticks in her brain. Whatever keeps her in the moment.

Pull up a chair, have a cup of tea and enter Abigail Thomas's funny, mesmerizing, generous world.

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  1. Print length
    196 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Golden Notebook Press
  4. Publication date
    February 28, 2023
  5. Dimensions
    6 x 0.75 x 9 inches
  6. ISBN-10
    0967554128
  7. ISBN-13
    978-0967554129
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Editorial Reviews

Review

“Irreverent, wise, and boundlessly generous."—Elissa Schappell Vanity Fair

 "I want to grow old the way Abigail Thomas is growing old—with grace and with, humor and honest, dogs and dear friends."—Laurie Hertzel Minneapolis Star Tribune)

"I would follow Abigail Thomas on any journey she ever takes. The arrival of a new book from this master is always a cause for celebration, because I know right away that I'm about to learn something important about the art of writing and the art of living, both. I come to her books as though to a feast, and leave fulfilled and transformed."—Elizabeth Gilbert

"Abigail Thomas is the Emily Dickinson of memoirists, and so much of this book's wisdom is between the lines and in the white spaces. It may only take you two days to read, but the impact will stay with you for a long, long time. Abigail Thomas fills memory with living breath."—Stephen King

"It's so very rare for a memoir to tell the naked truth about aging--its terrors and its treasures, its indignities and its mysteries. Who else but Abigail Thomas to lift the veil and show us how she is navigating her eighties. Here she is, sitting still in her chair, traveling on a river that flows both ways--backwards slowly on the tides of memory, forward at a fast clip onward toward the open ocean. And sometimes, because of friends, because of dogs, because of children and home, writing and a wisteria vine, time stands still, and life is life, Abigail is Abigail, and once again we get to marvel with her, wonder with her, laugh and cry and rage with her. Thank you, Abigail, for the potent words to get us all through."—Elizabeth Lesser

About the Author

Abigail Thomas worked as both a book editor and book agent before writing her own first collection of short stories, Getting Over Tom. Her second and third books An Actual Life, and Herb’s Pajamas, were works of fiction. Thomas’ memoir, A Three Dog Life, was named one of the best books of 2006 by The Los Angeles Times and The Washington Post, and received the 2006 Inspirational Memoir Award given by Books for A Better Life. She is also author of the memoirs Safekeeping, Thinking About Memoir and What Comes Next and How to Like It. In her new book, Still Life at 80, Thomas ruminates on aging during the confines of COVID-19 with her trademark mix of humor and wisdom, including valuable, contemplative writing tips along the way. She lives in Woodstock, New York.


Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Golden Notebook Press
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ February 28, 2023
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 196 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0967554128
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0967554129
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 2.31 pounds
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6 x 0.75 x 9 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.1 out of 5 stars 174 ratings

About the author

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Abigail Thomas

Abigail Thomas

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Abigail Thomas, the daughter of renowned science writer Lewis Thomas (The Lives of a Cell), is the mother of four children and the grandmother of twelve. Her academic education stopped when, pregnant with her oldest daughter, she was asked to leave Bryn Mawr during her first year. She’s lived most of her life on Manhattan’s Upper West Side, and was for a time a book editor and for another time a book agent. Then she started writing for publication. Her first three books “Getting Over Tom,” “An Actual Life,” and “Herb’s Pajamas” were works of fiction. Her memoir, “A Three Dog Life,” was named one of the best books of 2006 by the Los Angeles Times and the Washington Post. It won the 2006 Inspirational Memoir Award given by Books for A Better Life. She is also author of “Safekeeping,” a memoir, and “Thinking About Memoir.” Her new book "What Comes Next and How to Like It" will be published by Scribner on March 24, 2014.

Customer reviews

4.1 out of 5 stars
174 global ratings

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Customers say

Customers find this memoir to be a wonderful read that is utterly honest and hilariously irreverent. They appreciate the writer's style, with one customer noting it's written in small installments, and many find it heartwarming and poignant. The book receives positive feedback for its approach to aging, with one customer specifically recommending it for those over 70. The pacing receives mixed reactions from customers.

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ReadabilityWriter's styleHeartwarmingHumorHonestyAge rangePacing
13 customers mention "Readability"13 positive0 negative

Customers find the book to be a wonderful and terrific memoir, with one customer noting it is very readable in small installments.

"Good lamp table book—and good for aspiring writers of any age but particular for seniors." Read more

"This is a lovely book that is completely honest without the silliness but it will make you smile...." Read more

"...A delightful read." Read more

"...It was a short read so I didn't have to skim it till the very end. I give her a Two stars mostly because of her love of dogs and critters!!" Read more

13 customers mention "Writer's style"13 positive0 negative

Customers appreciate the author's writing style, with one customer noting the clarity with which memories are addressed, though some find the content rambling.

"...So not eighty. This is a collection of flash memoir – some chapters are a mere paragraph, others three pages long; the threads of a life..." Read more

"...She has inspired me to writer and to welcome this introspective time in my life as I have just turned 66...." Read more

"...What a treat to have another amazing memoir from a writer who can so perfectly capture a moment and turn it into a piece of writing that you just..." Read more

"...It’s an easy read, from the heart. I found myself thinking “yes! I know exactly what she is talking about!”..." Read more

11 customers mention "Heartwarming"11 positive0 negative

Customers find the memoir heartwarming and wonderfully poignant, with one customer highlighting its crisp stories and another noting its profound sense of grace.

"I must love her clear, crisp stories of her life...." Read more

"...to have another amazing memoir from a writer who can so perfectly capture a moment and turn it into a piece of writing that you just want to melt..." Read more

"...It’s an easy read, from the heart. I found myself thinking “yes! I know exactly what she is talking about!”..." Read more

"...written a raw, honest, hilarious, insightful, poignant, tragic, beautiful memoir. I want her to live forever, and keep writing about it...." Read more

11 customers mention "Humor"11 positive0 negative

Customers find the book hilarious and irreverent, with one customer noting that the words are poetic.

"...Just know, that it’s trademark Abigail Thomas – irreverent, outrageous, unexpected. So not eighty...." Read more

"...It brings chuckles, as well as empathy, to one approaching that milestone age in a few years." Read more

"Abigail Thomas has once again written a raw, honest, hilarious, insightful, poignant, tragic, beautiful memoir...." Read more

"...No one is this unpretentious, unapologetic, irreverent, and utterly honest about what it means to be alive and to age in a body...." Read more

10 customers mention "Honesty"10 positive0 negative

Customers appreciate the book's honesty.

"...paragraphs, what you will find, however, will be transparency and authenticity – you’ll find a woman who has come to terms with being referred to as..." Read more

"This is a lovely book that is completely honest without the silliness but it will make you smile...." Read more

"Abigail Thomas has once again written a raw, honest, hilarious, insightful, poignant, tragic, beautiful memoir...." Read more

"...No one is this unpretentious, unapologetic, irreverent, and utterly honest about what it means to be alive and to age in a body...." Read more

9 customers mention "Age range"9 positive0 negative

Customers appreciate the book's approach to aging, describing it as honest and welcoming humanness, with one customer specifically recommending it for those over 70.

"...situations presented ! It makes you think about aging and real situations that shall happen or perhaps not, but be prepared" Read more

"I love memoir -- and especially one that embraces old age. I'm not familiar with this author and didn't know what to expect...." Read more

"Highly recommend to anyone over 70. Many laughs, a few tears." Read more

"This book promotes respect for our elders. Everything I think about her experience, there’s a similar situation in the book" Read more

12 customers mention "Pacing"8 positive4 negative

Customers have mixed opinions about the pacing of the book, with some finding it revealing and getting right to the point, while others describe it as boring to read.

"Abigail Thomas’ short essays weave a rambling, raw, but real glimpse of what turning eighty often entails, especially as viewed through the lens of..." Read more

"...has once again written a raw, honest, hilarious, insightful, poignant, tragic, beautiful memoir...." Read more

"...Otherwise -- not very engaging for me. Also, I so wish she hadn't inserted politics into this book --- I don't read a book for political views...." Read more

"Highly recommend to anyone over 70. Many laughs, a few tears." Read more

The ultimate memoir by a brilliant writer
5 out of 5 stars
The ultimate memoir by a brilliant writer
What a terrific memoir, Abigail Thomas’s writing is as always graceful, proud and witty. At last someone comments that “ journaling” is not a literary term! This is a brilliant memoir and I’m an admirer of her other memoirs. Three Dog Life was the first Abigail Thomas memoir I read and I’ve been enthralled ever since!
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Top reviews from the United States

  • kkn
    5.0 out of 5 stars Slices of life written with a twinkle in the eye
    Reviewed in the United States on June 4, 2025
    Verified Purchase
    Good lamp table book—and good for aspiring writers of any age but particular for seniors.
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  • Keato
    5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant
    Reviewed in the United States on April 17, 2025
    Format: KindleVerified Purchase
    This book was like spending time with myself, my family, my friends, the natural world, rainy days, pets, lovers, and life. Abigail Thomas is a treasure, and I wish great joy for her.
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  • Amazon Customer
    4.0 out of 5 stars Abigail Thomas's eighty is nothing you've experienced before ...
    Reviewed in the United States on May 2, 2023
    Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
    It’s rare that an author invites us to enter the sacristy of her mind as unapologetically as Abigail Thomas. After two short story collections, one novel, and four works of nonfiction, including the memoirs Safekeeping: A Three Dog life; What Comes Next and How to Like It; and Thinking About Memoir, Thomas has primed us to embrace her unconventional, quirky, and irreverent lifestyle.

    Thomas’s newest memoir, Still Life at Eighty; The Next Interesting Thing, is a fresh take on what it means to age in a society that embraces youth. For Abigail Thomas, eighty is letting go – not of life, but of all the expectations with which life burdens us. Throwing out her makeup, taking a nap in the middle of the day, and not feeling guilty about something or everything, Thomas has eighty down. Even during a pandemic. Even at her annual check up when her doctor asks her to count backward by sevens. Even when her beloved dog dies. And despite youthfulness that smacks her in the face – she’s relieved, she writes, when she sees a young woman on the street with her whole life in front of her – relieved because her first thought is thank God that isn’t me.

    Thomas muses about small things. The pandemic has forced her indoors, away from people. She focuses on a one-winged wasp, the squirrels burying the carrots she threw out for them yesterday, she learns how to spatchcock a chicken and spatchcocks chicken three days in a row, never eating the chicken, but delights to learn the root of the term from her American Heritage Dictionary of Indo-European Roots, where she also learns the root for death – she thinks it means to flow – but then she realizes she is looking at the wrong reference, dead is dead, she says.

    On her eightieth birthday, Thomas gets a tattoo. For her sixtieth birthday, she had a salamander tattooed on her right arm, so this one will go on her left, just the initials FTS, because the salamander hurt too much. Because we’re on the radio, I’ll leave the interpretation up to your imagination. Just know, that it’s trademark Abigail Thomas – irreverent, outrageous, unexpected. So not eighty.

    This is a collection of flash memoir – some chapters are a mere paragraph, others three pages long; the threads of a life all woven together with Thomas’s wit and wisdom. You won’t find the secret of life buried here among the sentences and paragraphs, what you will find, however, will be transparency and authenticity – you’ll find a woman who has come to terms with being referred to as elderly … because, frankly, Abigail Thomas’s eighty is nothing you’ve experienced before.
    19 people found this helpful
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  • vwinks
    3.0 out of 5 stars A diary of someone turning 80
    Reviewed in the United States on April 3, 2025
    Format: KindleVerified Purchase
    Not what I expected…more of a diary of what goes through an 80 year olds mind on a daily basis…with bizarre attractions to bugs, etc.
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  • Leagan-rafferty
    5.0 out of 5 stars Just Ordered this book. I'm a great fan of hers.
    Reviewed in the United States on August 27, 2024
    Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
    I must love her clear, crisp stories of her life. She has made me think about my life and not having a mother figure to look up to, she has filled that void for me.
    I will be waiting by my front door for Amazon tomorrow to get the book. And I will dive in once I tuck myself in bed with my two dogs.
    She has inspired me to writer and to welcome this introspective time in my life as I have just turned 66.
    I was mired in grief the past three years having lost two younger siblings to tragic ends and some how I missed knowing she had written this book.
    My next review will be of the book itself.
    5 people found this helpful
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  • becky
    1.0 out of 5 stars This is just plain boring to read.
    Reviewed in the United States on March 24, 2025
    Verified Purchase
    If I were musical I would play a very soft boring song for a long time. I expected more actual life experiences, not bugs and silliness. I considered this a poor excuse for a reason to write a book about the next interesting thing. I wanted to read about inspirational accomplishments: losing weight or running a marathon, not an overweight cane carrying bore. I wanted to love this book and pass it on to other friends my age. Instead I passed it on to the trashcan where it belonged.
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  • amyg
    5.0 out of 5 stars Another must-read memoir from a writer who is *still* in her prime
    Reviewed in the United States on February 28, 2023
    Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
    As a long time fan of Abigail Thomas' writing, I pre-ordered "Still Life at 80" as soon as I heard about it. What a treat to have another amazing memoir from a writer who can so perfectly capture a moment and turn it into a piece of writing that you just want to melt into.

    Thomas' chapters on aging and death are like deep breathing exercises -- she has a way of inviting you into her day, offering up whimsical details only to side-swipe you with such a heartbreaking thought you want to reach out to her and share your own stories. Or she does just the opposite, taking your from heartbreak to laughter without the slightest warning of what's to come.

    It is especially satisfying to read someone who has reached a point in her life with so much wisdom ... and the ability to look back at it all with a clear eye, giving herself -- and by extension the reader -- a profound sense of grace.

    Reading Abigail Thomas has always been a bit like going to church for me (or, at least, what I wish church had been like when I still attended services) and this memoir is the Christmas or Easter version of mass. If you loved her previous memoirs, you are going to love this one just as much or more. If you've never read Abigail Thomas, I am so very jealous you'll get to experience her work for the first time.
    28 people found this helpful
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  • B. Thomas
    5.0 out of 5 stars Honest Aging
    Reviewed in the United States on January 18, 2025
    Verified Purchase
    This is a lovely book that is completely honest without the silliness but it will make you smile. I am not 80 but I recommend it for anyone especially those over 55. It’s an easy read, from the heart. I found myself thinking “yes! I know exactly what she is talking about!” It helps to know you are not alone in this process of aging.
    3 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

  • Sherri Davis
    5.0 out of 5 stars Loved it!
    Reviewed in Canada on January 5, 2025
    Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
    A beautiful and honest memoir.
    Report
  • Knitlady
    1.0 out of 5 stars Book review
    Reviewed in Canada on November 4, 2024
    Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
    Not very interesting- writing style didn’t appeal.
    Report