Judith Viorst 
How Did I Get to Be Forty 
And Other Atrocities

And so youve reached that time in life when youre stating to pick investments over adventure, clean over scenic, comfortable over intense; when, even though in your heart of hearts youre only seventeen, the rest of you is (how did it happen?) forty. The wise and witty lady of Its Hard to Be Hip Over Thirty is here to get you through these forty-ish years with poems that reflect our common shared experience. So let her help you take a look at that decade of sagging kneecaps and college reunions and fantasies of love in the afternoon: at Maoist kids, cholesterol counts, adult-education courses and other atrocitieswhich somehow just dont hurt so much when you laugh. A marvelous book filled with insight and warmth, How Did I Get to Be 40 & Other Atrocities is Judith Viorst at her best.