28 - A Book with a Main Character Who's 42 Years Old

[L Y N N]

A Book with a Main Character Who's 42 Years Old

Wow. That is soooo specific. I have no idea how we're going to find these books, but I have faith in the Popsugar group members to pull us through getting a list!! As I tell my students, "We are TOUGH! We can do this!" 😋

Nonfiction? Oof! I'm just as baffled as with fiction!!

Listopia is HERE

[Marianne]

I was checking out Lily and the Octopus to see if it would fit another prompt to discover on page 1 that a main character is 42!

[Jean]

The main female character in Fast Women is 42! I read it quite a while ago, but remember thinking it was a fun book!

[Anna]

I found these with internet searches

Rebecca
Open House
Thirst for Salt

[Ron]

Gonna have to dig deep for a NF book on this one.

[Nadine in NY]

Popsugar suggests The Good Part and that looks good enough for me.

[Dedra ~ A Book Wanderer]

Nadine in NY wrote: "Popsugar suggests The Good Part and that looks good enough for me."

I adored The Good Part!

[Linda]

Strange Sally Diamond

[Denise]

I already had The Ferryman on my TBR list, and someone in the listopia wrote that the NYT review said the main character is 42, so I'll go with that.

[Jen W.]

The Benevolent Society of Ill-Mannered Ladies says right in the blurb that the MC and her twin sister are 42.

[Dania]

Just started reading Tis the Season for Revenge and Damien says he’s 42!

[Rachel]

How about biographies and autobiographies of people who are currently 42? For example, Roger Federer turned 42 in August, so you could read The Roger Federer Effect: Rivals, Friends, Fans and How the Maestro Changed Their Lives or The Master: The Long Run and Beautiful Game of Roger Federer.

[JoJo]

I just bought The Ferryman today at a charity shop for only $4, i will probably read it for this prompt.

[Ron]

Finding a nonfiction pick for this one is a bit difficult.

[Ellie]

For these character age ones I'm just going to hope I stumble across one and if that doesn't happen by October I'll just come back and see what everyone else read and hope there's something I want to read!

[Jennifer W]

I don't know of any books off the top of my head, but Theodore Roosevelt was 42 when he became President.

[Brandon]

Jennifer W wrote: "I don't know of any books off the top of my head, but Theodore Roosevelt was 42 when he became President."

Theodore Rex by Edmund Morris covers T. Roosevelt's presidential years, so that could be a good choice.

[Gina]

Finally found a memoir that'd work for this! The Unwinding of the Miracle: A Memoir of Life, Death, and Everything That Comes After by Julie Yip-Williams. She's 42 at her death, which this book goes up to and past.

[Psyche]

According to Wikibooks, Agatha Christie's detective Hercule Poirot was born in 1894, making him 42 years old in 1936.

There were two Hercule Poirot books published in 1936: The ABC Murders and Cards on the Table. I would think either of those could possibly work for this prompt then.

[Amanda]

Trespasses by Louise Kennedy seems to work from reviews I read!

[Jackie]

Psyche wrote: "According to Wikibooks, Agatha Christie's detective Hercule Poirot was born in 1894, making him 42 years old in 1936.

There were two Hercule Poirot books published in 1936: The ABC Murders and Ca..."

You're a genius! That's totally what I'm going to do.

[Karen]

The Sex Education of M.E. by L.B. Dunbar - lol - I actually have this on my Kindle - the dude providing the education is 42 and is also, a POV character.

Was in the mood for something light and saucy, but DNF'd - but apparently now is its time.

[The Pampered Librarian]

I'll be reding Thirst for Salt. I just happened to find it at my Library's "book by donation" table!

[Jaimi]

According to the Amazon blurb anyway, How Stella Got Her Groove Back counts!

[Khalisti]

It's one of the 4 I'm struggling with, as I REALLY want to find something on my TBR list (950+ books...). Would it be a stretch to consider a NF book, writen when the author was 42?...

[Sonia]

Jen wrote: "The Benevolent Society of Ill-Mannered Ladies says right in the blurb that the MC and her twin sister are 42."

Just read this and loved it!!

[Anja]

The benevolent society of ill mannered ladies by Allison Goodman
Just started it,and the main character happens to be 42!
Entertaining read so far.

[L Y N N]

Marianne wrote: "I was checking out Lily and the Octopus to see if it would fit another prompt to discover on page 1 that a main character is 42!"
OMG! I have been wanting to read that book in forever!! GREAT!! Thank you!!

[L Y N N]

Rachel wrote: "How about biographies and autobiographies of people who are currently 42? For example, Roger Federer turned 42 in August, so you could read [book:The Roger Federer Effect: Rivals, Friends, Fans and..."
Ooohhh...great suggestion regarding biographies of someone currently 42 years old!

[L Y N N]

Jaimi wrote: "According to the Amazon blurb anyway, How Stella Got Her Groove Back counts!"
Huh. I enjoyed that one!

[Melinda]

Jacob Strane is 42 in the 2000 story line of My Dark Vanessa by Kate Elizabeth Russell

[Jamie]

Does Small Mercies fit this prompt? Wondering because it’s on the list but sometimes the list isn’t accurate. For example Strange Sally Diamond is listed, but one of the top reviews opens with a quote from the book, “I am 44 and I don’t know what I want to be when I grow up.“

[Laura Ruth]

One nice thing about Upton Sinclair's Lanny Budd series is that it covers the character over most of his lifetime. I'm reading Presidential Mission for this one, but be warned: it's something like 1100 pages.

[Ellie]

Jamie wrote: "Does Small Mercies fit this prompt? Wondering because it’s on the list but sometimes the list isn’t accurate. For example Strange Sally Diamond is listed, but one of the top reviews opens with a qu..."

In the first chapter it says Mary Pat "was only forty-two" so I think you're good. Please can all books be this obvious with their character ages?!

[Irene]

Psyche wrote: "According to Wikibooks, Agatha Christie's detective Hercule Poirot was born in 1894, making him 42 years old in 1936.

There were two Hercule Poirot books published in 1936: The ABC Murders and Ca..."

I think this is an error. In Three Act Tragedy, Poirot says he retired at the beginning of WW1 (in the year 1914), and he's definitely already old in the first Poirot book, The Mysterious Affair at Styles, which is set in 1916, as a retired police captain and refugee. If 1894 is correct, then he would be just 22 in that book, making him younger than his much younger sidekick Hastings.

I think the 1894 year comes from people calculating his age to be in his 70s-80s in his final appearance, but Christie herself noted that she messed up by making him too old to begin with (in her words, "What a mistake I made there. The result is that my fictional detective must be well over a hundred by now"). She didn't realize how many books there would be in the series so by the time the last book he's actually something like 120, lol.

Edit: Also, in Peril at End House, Poirot says

“I had a bad failure in Belgium in 1893. You recollect, Hastings? I recounted it to you. The affair of the box of chocolates.”

In The A.B.C. Murders, the year is explicitly mentioned as being 1935. So he definitely can't be only 42 in it.

[Lisa Marie]

State of Wonder by Ann Patchett

[Shaina]

I just finished Someone at a Distance by Dorothy Whipple. The wife Ellen is 42. A 5-star read.

[Denise]

I read Bloomsbury Girls with a book club, and the store owner/one of the love interests is 42. We all thought the book was just ok, but if you like books about bookshops and can tolerate just ok, this could work for you

[Jackie]

I was thinking about the Poirot problem (and of course it makes zero sense whatsoever that he would be 42 even in the first book)...but you know who could have been 42? Captain Hastings. And lo and behold, he is said to be 30 in The Mysterious Affair at Styles, so that puts him at about 42 for either Peril at End House or Lord Edgware Dies. I went with Lord Edgware Dies because on the second page Hastings says that he is describing events from the previous year. Ta-da!

[Irene]

That's so brilliant! I'm assuming that means Lord Edgeware Dies is set around 1928? (If my math is correct - Hastings was 30 in 1916, when Book 1 was set, so I'm assuming he'd be 42 in 1928). Thanks for figuring that out, I couldn't find out what year Lord Edgeware Dies was set but I already own it so now I'll probably definitely read it for this prompt! :D

[Erin]

Since I Could Die Tomorrow, Volume 1- this just popped up on hoopla, a manga where the main character is 42. Haven't read it though, so can't recommend one way or another

[Regina]

Rizzoli and Isles #8, Ice Cold. Isles’s age is mentioned as being 42. Happy accident for me today!

[Ron]

Regina wrote: "Rizzoli and Isles #8, Ice Cold. Isles’s age is mentioned as being 42. Happy accident for me today!"

Oh, awesome! I own every R&I book so I might just have to get to this one.

[Isabella]

I'm reading Misery for another prompt and just found out Paul is 42 years old:

"[...] a trip the kid of twenty-four he had been when he had sold his first novel might have taken, but not one for a man two years past his fortieth birthday."

[Irene]

If anyone is interested in fantasy, I just found out while previewing The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin that the protagonist is 42 years old (at least at the start of the book!).

From the prologue:

The woman’s name is Essun. She is forty-two years old.

[Erin]

Oh good to know! The Fifth Season is one of the books I really want to get to this year- I’ve been intimidated by the series but I love her short stories, so maybe it won’t be too over my head. Now I have more of a push!

[Anshita]

I am reading The Secret Lives of Church Ladies for this prompt. One of the short stories, 'How to Make Love to a Physicist' features a main character who is forty-two years old. Also, the book features Black characters and is written by a Black author. It works for Black History Month as well.

[Paula]

I read Dennis Lehane’s “Small Mercies” for this. I highly recommend it. Great book!!

[Rose]

One thing I have noticed this year with this prompt and the 24 year old one is that I am noticing how often a characters age is mentioned in books. Maybe I just kinda skimmed over that part or didn't connect it long term. But a lot of books mention ages - reading one now where the narrator is 50 and his wife 29.....doesn't fit this prompt but interesting how often I notice ages in books this year....

[Celine]

Can someone let me know if What You Did can fit this prompt? I read that one of the character is pregnant at 42 and since it's supposed to be a story about friends from college I was wondering if the main character is the same age.