Don't know where this came from but reading it now. About a not-exactly-a-teenager-anymore widower getting back into the dating game. The fact that this author is exactly the same age as my mother amuses me somehow.

I read this novel in August and had intended to review it for it for The Book Mine Set's mini challenge that month to review a book by an author who had not been reviewed in any of the nine previous years of the Canadian Book Challenge. It seemed, after a cursory look over previous years, that Dave Williamson was one such author but I thought that I must have missed something. Williamson is a well-known author, at least in these parts, having authored several novels and at least one book of short stories that I myself have read and might even have reviewed, not to mention countless book reviews for The Free Press. But I didn't get around to checking the lists again and didn't get this review done for August anyway. So there you go.

I enjoyed reading this novel. Williamson writes in a style that is easy to read. No jumping up to grab a dictionary for unknown words. No stumbling over awkward punctuation or unusual grammar or structure. No great awe at the poetry or beauty of the language. While the story flips back and forth in time, you're never at a loss as to where you are. Dialogue rings true. Vocabulary and structure are neither dumbed down nor smarted up. It's a comfortable tea and bathrobe adult sort of read.

Now when I say adult, I don't mean "smut" adult. Although it's true that our hero spends a heck of a lot of time trying to get into one woman or another's pants. No, I mean a person of a certain age. Someone with a certain amount of experience and maturity. Someone who can truly appreciate the fine art of getting into some woman or another's pants. Whether one is 17 years old or 70.

This novel opens on New Year's Eve at a house party. Everyone knows each other and has for decades. But the group is getting smaller. Bob Jenkins, known to everyone as just Jenkins, is in his seventies and has been widowed for the last two years. He had a long and happy marriage with his wife Barb. But now what? What should Jenkins do with the rest of his life? Rather than linger (malinger?) within the walls of the house he shared with Barb, waiting for the children and grandchildren to visit, Jenkins figures that maybe he should get out there. Maybe he should start...dating? Certainly Barb had given him permission, wanted him to, but how does he go about doing that at seventy years of age. And for that matter to what end?

As it turns out, it's not all that hard for Jenkins to get back into things. There are plenty of women takers. Friends are apt to set things up; a former girlfriend comes back to town; there's an older lady looking for companionship and an attractive younger gal too. That there were plenty in the pool of potentials for Jenkins shouldnt be surprising. Given the difference in life expectancy between men and women and other societal expectations an elderly man is not going to be lonely for long if he doesn't want to be. And it appeared Jenkins didn't want to be. What was a bit surprising to me was that Jenkins was so up for the task shall we say. I had the impression, what with all the viagra promotion and the like, that a certain amount of patience, understanding and support, chemical or otherwise, were required in the sack as men aged. Apparently not so for Jenkins. That's not to say that Jenkins didn't have a lot of other things to worry about as he forays back into the world of courting. In fact he frets a lot. Before, during and after. Whether or not he should curtail his liquid consumption before bed for fear he'd have to get up in the night to pee. What to do about his support stockings: leave them on or take them off even if it means they'll be ruined because he forgot to bring the special gloves to take them off with. How to return his drunken date home to her son when the son had given him strict instructions not to let her drink.

And as he gets ready for each date as an older man he hearkens back to his younger pre-marriage days and the angst and rituals and expectations of dating and, joy of joys, eventually actually caressing a boob.

I really have no idea how young people manage to pair off nowadays but if you grew up in the 50s and 60s you will be thoroughly entertained, delighted and amused at Jenkins' dating education and you will be touched by the courtship of Jenkins and Barb.

As I said I enjoyed this novel but at the same time I wondered what sort of story Barb would tell if it were she who survived Jenkins. I imagine she would be able to clear up for me the difference between good girls and nice girls in the 50s and 60s but what would she be looking for in her own 70s?

To the finder of this book:
I hope you enjoy your new read.

Welcome, also, to the wonderful and wacky world of BookCrossing! Here you'll find a unique and worldwide community of book lovers sharing their books. This book is now yours! Read it, enjoy it. Keep it or pass it on to someone you know, return it to any Little Free Library or even release it into the wild. It is all up to you.

If you make a journal entry (you can do it anonymously or as a BookCrossing member) all previous readers of this book will be notified by e-mail and can follow this book on its travels. BookCrossing is free to join, completely confidential (you are known only by your screen name and no one is ever given your email address) and it's a whole lot of fun!

Time for a new adventure for this book.

To the finder of this book:
I hope you enjoy your new read.

Welcome, also, to the wonderful and wacky world of BookCrossing! Here you'll find a unique and worldwide community of book lovers sharing their books. This book is now yours! Read it, enjoy it. Keep it or pass it on to someone you know, return it to any Little Free Library or even release it into the wild. It is all up to you.

If you make a journal entry (you can do it anonymously or as a BookCrossing member) all previous readers of this book will be notified by e-mail and can follow this book on its travels. BookCrossing is free to join, completely confidential (you are known only by your screen name and no one is ever given your email address) and it's a whole lot of fun!