How to Prepare for Your High School Reunion, and Other Midlife Musings: And Other Mid-Life Musings

Blooming: A Small-Town Girlhood and Ivy Days drew an affectionate reader response to Toth's reminiscences of her early days in Ames, Iowa, and at Smith College. Here we have her selections from published pieces on the daunting prospect of facing old classmates and other aspects of growing older. With the ability to amuse without malice, she makes one laugh exuberantly at her observations on familiar quirks in human nature. The title piece depicts Toth and nervous companions, intent on making their best impression at a high-school reunion. But she arouses compassion, as well, in other essays, notably ""I Wish Words Would Help,'' about a dying friend. During their anxious years as young mothers, the two had shared reassurances: ``This is just a stage; it will be all right.'' Now such supportive phrases have lost their magic, and Toth bemoans that she can find no substitutes. But she does have exactly the right words to engage readers in her experiences as a wife, parent, sometimes frustrated writer, tyro skier, disenchanted traveler, etc. Among the most memorable entries is Toth's appreciation of the late E. B. White. (May)