Retirement Reinvention by Robin Ryan

I was surprised at how much I liked RETIREMENT REINVENTION by Robin Ryan.  A veteran career counselor (20+ years) with extensive speaking and writing accomplishments, she decided to write this book after battling cancer in order to provide some advice on planning happy years of retirement. She includes sections on making a plan, where to live (two homes or one?), giving back, travel and education. I especially liked her emphasis on finding something fun to do. Ryan encourages her readers by suggesting they craft a new life with purpose and that they explore new ideas such as the many, many hobbies and part time work or volunteering options listed in her book. In fact, she asks: “What would you do if you weren’t afraid?” and advocates: “do what you love simply because it will make you happy.”

Subtitled “Make Your Next Act Your Best Act,” RETIREMENT REINVENTION offers great advice for baby boomers about having a “fun job and leisure stage” in your life. Ryan says, “This is the best time of your life, because this is the moment that you’re living right now.” That reminded me of John Leland’s recent talk on PBS NewsHour regarding "Learning how to think about death changed how I live;" he also talks about Happiness is a Choice You Make here.  

And one more important point: Robin Ryan is making a difference by donating her book profits to breast cancer research.

Nomadland by Jessica Bruder

NOMADLAND by Jessica Bruder explores the lives of retired or near-retirement age Americans who have decided to be “houseless” and instead travel around looking for work. Bruder, an award-winning journalist who teaches at the Columbia School of Journalism, focuses on Linda May, a woman in her sixties who optimistically takes on a variety of seasonal jobs like cleaning at campsites and working at Amazon warehouses in order to make ends meet. Recently, The New York Times also featured a photo essay on “Overnight in Walmart Parking Lots.”  Although some of those travelers were doing so for pleasure, Bruder instead profiles a new type of migrant worker, growing since the 2008 recession and driven to living in cars, vans or RVs due to some combination of issues like job loss, divorce, or health care costs.  She weaves in some surprising statistics such as that there are “only a dozen counties and one metro area in America where a full-time minimum wage worker can afford a one bedroom apartment at fair market rent.”    

We have purchased a copy of NOMADLAND – which could possibly be used in Literature Circles with Evicted and/or considered as a summer reading assignment for Senior English classes; it received starred reviews from Booklist, Kirkus and Library Journal.