The Sense of an Ending by Julian Barnes

This is a short but very thought provoking book, and I think it should come with a label that says only people over 50 should read it.  I say that because so much of the book is about looking back on your life and your relationships, how we remember the events in our lives, and what we choose to forget.  It is beautifully written, and I'm already planning on reading another book by this author.  In the first part of the story, Tony tells about his life as a young man and his relationships with his friends and a girl named Veronica.  Then in the second part of the book, Tony looks back at that time as a 60-year-old man and events occur that make him reflect back on that time and examine what he remembers. 

At one point, Tony writes about how you look forward to your life when you are young.  And then he writes, "What you fail to do is look ahead, and then imagine yourself looking back from that future point.  Learning the new emotions that time brings.  Discovering, for example, that as witnesses to your life diminish, there is less corroboration, and therefore less certainty, as to what you are or have been."  As I read, I would often stop and reread sentences or paragraphs that struck me as incredibly written.  This is a book I will plan to read again someday - and I very rarely do that.  Highly recommend.  -June