Alternately lyrical and laugh-out-loud funny.New York Times ';Deliciously readable . . . Donald Hall, if abandoned by the muse of poetry, has wrought his prose to a keen autumnal edge.' Wall Street Journal His entire life, Donald Hall has dedicated himself to the written word, putting together a storied career as a poet, essayist, and memoirist. Now, in the ';unknown, unanticipated galaxy' of very old age, he is writing essays that startle, move, and delight. InEssays After Eighty,Hall ruminates on his past: ';thirty was terrifying, forty I never noticed because I was drunk, fifty was best with a total change of life, sixty extended the bliss of fifty . . .' He also addresses his present: ';When I turned eighty and rubbed testosterone on my chest, my beard roared like a lion and gained four inches.' Most memorably, Hall writes about his enduring love affair with his ancestral Eagle Pond Farm and with the writing life that sustains him every day: ';Yesterday my first nap was at 9:30 a.m., but when I awoke I wrote again.' ';Alluring, inspirational hominess . . .Essays After Eightyis a treasure . . . balancing frankness about losses with humor and gratitude.' Washington Post ';A fine book of remembering all sorts of things past,Essays After Eightyis to be treasured.' Boston Globe