"When you cross into your sixties, your odds of dying or merely getting horribly sick on the way to dying, spike. Death is a sniper. It strikes people you love, people you like...it's everywhere. You could be next. But then you turn out not to be."

Point blank. That's how Nora Ephron shoots. Sometimes funny, sometime mundane, always to the point, "I Feel Bad About My Neck" is a collection of essays about life, aging, and perceptions of life from the lovely view of hindsight.

On the subject of children, Ephron notes how recent history has witnessed a shift from mothers and fathers being parents to mothers and fathers taking on the task of parenting. Ephron asserts that either way, your child reaches adolescence and suddenly, the result is the same.

"You love your child wildly, way more than your parents loved you. And yet they seem to have turned out exactly the way adolescents have always turned out."

Her best advice? If you have teens in the house, you should get a dog so that when you come home, someone is happy to see you. Other than that, "There is almost nothing you can do to make life easier for yourself except wait until it's over."

On the subject of politics, Ephron offers a razor-sharp essay titled, "Me and Bill: The End of Love" where she reveals her admiration and disappointment in former President Clinton with wit and caustic criticism.

"By the time Bill got involved with Monica, you'd have thought I was past being hurt by him. You'd have thought I'd have shrugged and said I told you so, you can't trust the guy as far as you can spit. But much to my surprise, Bill broke my heart all over again."

Many of Ephron's subjects are fairly narrow for the average reader. Most suburbanites can neither understand nor care about her insanely priced New York apartment, nor her torment over a local bakery going out of business. But many subjects are timeless as well as universal. An older woman's realization that she must exercise regularly, for example, is presented with humor.

"A few summers ago I decided to do some swimming, and within a week I had swimmer's ear. Have you ever had it? It's torture. Water rattles around in your ear and itches so much that it wakes you up at night, and there's absolutely no way you can scratch it short of plunging your finger into your brain stem. My own theory about Van Gogh is that he cut off his ear because he'd made the mistake of taking up swimming."

Recommendation: It's short; it's divided into sections; it's fun. Take this book on a trip and enjoy Ephron's journey.

* * *

Contact Kel Kanady at books_at_bulletin@yahoo.com.