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The Summer of a Dormouse: A Year of Growing Old Disgracefully

john mortimer

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"The time will come in your life when the voice of God will thunder at you from a cloud, 'From this day forth thou shalt not be able to put on thine own socks'". So writes the playwright, novelist and erstwhile QC, John Mortimer. And as a septuagenarian, he is writing from experience. But it's not the effort it takes to put on socks, or the need to use people as props to stop falling over, or the sad fact that one may be compelled to buy a "Decorative Window Film" to prevent against walking into glass doors that Mortimer objects to. "The real trouble with old age", he says, "is it lasts for such a short time". The Summer of a Dormouse is a wickedly funny journal in which Mortimer wryly observes the absurdities of old age. After all, "No one should grow old who isn't ready to appear ridiculous". And Mortimer freely admits he often does. Such as the time he unintentionally pirouetted down some marble steps after getting out of a hotel bathtub and crashed into a set of shelves. "I fell amongst splintering glass and a hailstorm of cotton-wool buds, aware of a torrent of destruction". However, in spite of his partial immobility, failing eyesight and frequent tendency to topple over, Mortimer deals with his increasing decrepitude with formidable fortitude. Even a death threat fails to faze him: "Some one's offering to kill me--why on earth should they bother?" Sharp and dark, The Summer of a Dormouse is an upbeat account of a man not afraid to stare mortality in the face. --Christopher Kelly

224 pages, Paperback

First published January 1,2000

This edition

Format
224 pages, Paperback
Published
January 1, 2001 by Penguin Books
ISBN
9780140291124
ASIN
0140291121
Language
English

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john mortimer

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Community Reviews

Rating(3.9 / 5.0, 30 votes)
5 stars
9(30%)
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13(43%)
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30 reviews All reviews
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AngelicCharizard
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 17,2025
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"No one should grow old who isn't ready to appear ridiculous".

Read by the author, very rarely a wise decision.

There is a reason for a 2* rating being available to us and this book highlights that perfectly.

This was not terrible, there were some whimsical moments and a few smirkables however I would not recommend this on to anyone.

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Patler23
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 17,2025
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Another of the amusing "aging memoirs" which tickle me of late, this by the creator of the Rumpole series of books and tv about his years as a playright. He quotes Lord Byron "when one subtracts from life infancy (which is vegetation), sleep, eating and swilling, buttoning and unbuttoning -- how much remains of downright existence? The summer of a dormouse."
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lzsncr
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 17,2025
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Humane, witty, wise, full of anecdote and resounding namedrops. To act in old age like John Mortimer, spiritually and intellectually at least, should be the ambition of us all.
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apajen
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 17,2025
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John Mortimer wrote this book when he was 77, not losing a step with his with, charm, and ability to write a beautiful sentence. The books is a memoir of one year's happenings. He's so kind when he writes that he speaks of one rich man's wife as a "gifted shopper."
Mortimer is dead now, but people will go on reading his books because he was so talented.
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Heroang
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 17,2025
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Intimations of mortality? Embrace it and find another way of putting your socks on!
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Aki-Akabane
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 17,2025
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More a collection of cocktail party anecdotes than reflections upon living near the end of life, The Summer Of A Dormouse is nevertheless entertaining, especially to fans of Mortimer's by turns progressive and reactionary worldview. On the subject of how to live a good life it has little to say except what we already knew: Old age is more bearable with the aid of fame, fortune, family and happy memories of mis-spent youth, but even these comforts are eventually inadequate as our ability to perceive pleasure is blunted by age and infirmity.
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Gerhakiki
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 17,2025
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I’m not sure what I think about this other than I read it and I enjoyed it. I don’t know the bloke, beyond recognising the name I hadn’t a scooby what he was about. He was ex lawyer, author, playwrite, oxfordian, posho etc etc.

He talks about (I think) the year 1999 and how he feels in his aging years. The approach to death and just general shit. Politics, the arts, gossip, writing, etc.

I think if I knew more about him I probably wouldn’t like him but I enjoyed his book and he is quite funny at times. I’m sure he was a lecherous old perv by the way he talks about certain things but that requires more research.

Anyway he’s dead now rip.

Probably would read another of his earlier autobiographies. The best parts are when he harks back to his days in law with courtroom tales.

If this book was a cricketer it would be Sam Billings. Posh, pretentious, well spoken, but ultimately quite charming and likeable. Can spin a yarn and bats with great flare at times and great care at others.
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blazingraz36
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 17,2025
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I rarely read memoirs and was only moved to read this one because of my great love of Horace Rumpole. This book won't be a disappointment. Mortimer was in many ways a creature from another time, that type of old-school liberal soul who happily would disagree with you but would also be willing to buy you a glass of wine to talk it over.

This is very much a book about ideas and principle as much as it is a book about growing old "disgracefully." We'll all get there, if we're lucky, and it's nice to know that even if a day comes when we can no longer put on our own socks, we don't have to give up being who we are.

If you like intelligence, principle, and a good story well told, you'll like this.
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