Books for the middle aged

October 30, 2019 5:01 PM

I am middle aged. I am looking for books with middle aged characters or about this stage of life.

I happen to not have children and I'll ask particularly for anything you can think of or enjoyed from that perspective. Beyond that I'm interested in any demographic (nationality/race/culture/religion/sexuality/any other categories I'm not thinking of) and in fiction of any genre as well non-fiction. It's also fine if kids are involved; I just would like to also have some suggestions that address middle age without children. Alas I am limited to English.

posted by 2 cats in the yard to Media & Arts (35 answers total)

Gail Godwin, The Good Husband. It's old, I guess, but it ticks your boxes. I'm a fan.
posted by DarlingBri at 5:10 PM on October 30, 2019 [3 favorites]

The protagonist in Saladin Ahmed's Throne of the Crescent Moon is middle-aged (or might be a little older; it's been a while since i read it) and has no kids. It's a wonderful book full of magic and adventure and characters who aren't all super young.
posted by mismatched at 5:39 PM on October 30, 2019 [4 favorites]

On the later side of middle aged - Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout.
posted by sallybrown at 6:30 PM on October 30, 2019 [3 favorites]

Also old, but the Rabbit Run series by John Updike fits your criteria.
posted by gingerjules at 6:37 PM on October 30, 2019 [1 favorite]

Pull of the Moon or Never Change, both by Elizabeth Berg.
News of the World by Paulette Jiles
A Year on Ladybug Farm by Donna Bell
More ideas here
posted by XtineHutch at 6:39 PM on October 30, 2019 [1 favorite]

The Inspector Gamache mysteries by Louise Penny have middle aged main characters that are so much more rich and interesting than the younger characters!
posted by selfmedicating at 6:51 PM on October 30, 2019 [7 favorites]

A non-fiction pick - "It's only too late if you don't start now" by Barbara Sher.
posted by AuroraSky at 6:53 PM on October 30, 2019 [1 favorite]

Monica Ferris writes a cozy mystery series about a middle aged woman who inherits a yarn shop: A Needlecraft Mystery
posted by soelo at 7:06 PM on October 30, 2019 [1 favorite]

Lois McMaster Bujold, Curse of Chalion and its sequel Paladin of Souls.
posted by humbug at 7:21 PM on October 30, 2019 [6 favorites]

Summer Hours at the Robbers Library, by Sue Halpern
Less, by Andrew Shawn Greer
The Nobodies Album, by Carolyn Parkhurst
Unless, by Carol Shields (also Larry’s Party)
posted by hurdy gurdy girl at 7:36 PM on October 30, 2019 [3 favorites]

The protagonists in T. Kingfisher’s delightful fantasy Swordheart are middle aged without children.
posted by bananacabana at 7:41 PM on October 30, 2019 [3 favorites]

Love Again, Doris Lessing. Lessing in general does older characters well.
posted by frumiousb at 7:48 PM on October 30, 2019 [3 favorites]

My old question was more broadly about aging in fiction so it spans both middle-aged and elderly, but there are some good recommendations here.
posted by matildaben at 8:00 PM on October 30, 2019 [2 favorites]

Try Barbara Pym.
posted by Scram at 9:07 PM on October 30, 2019 [8 favorites]

In the world of golden age British mysteries, Scram inadvertently reminds me of Josephine Tey’s Miss Pym Disposes, in which a woman of a certain age returns to her alma mater to literally judge the next generation and discovers a…murder? (Particularly recommended if you happened to have attend a women’s college, but probably great regardless.)
posted by mumkin at 10:08 PM on October 30, 2019 [3 favorites]

PoC author N. K. Jemisin's The Fifth Season and its sequels feature a PoC middle-aged protagonist.
posted by XMLicious at 11:29 PM on October 30, 2019 [5 favorites]

The Red Threads of Fortune is an east-Asian fantasy starring a 39-year-old woman, single/divorced, who was a mother but lost her daughter. The trauma of the child loss does play a big role, so YMMV if that's right for you or not, but she kicks plenty of ass regardless.
posted by Glier's Goetta at 2:50 AM on October 31, 2019 [1 favorite]

The protagonist of Elizabeth Moon's Remnant Population Is elderly and has a son but he is a minor character and absent for most of the book. She is able to accomplish what no one else has because of her life experience and skills.
posted by Botanizer at 5:39 AM on October 31, 2019 [3 favorites]

Ursula Le Guin, Always Coming Home
Joan Aiken, Foul Matter
Nora Ephron, I Feel Bad About My Neck
posted by Lawn Beaver at 7:10 AM on October 31, 2019 [3 favorites]

A Year in Provence by Peter Mayle
posted by BusyBusyBusy at 7:11 AM on October 31, 2019 [1 favorite]

Mary Gaitskill's work starting with the short story collection Because They Wanted To has had lots of characters who are women over 40 without children.
posted by sophieblue at 8:12 AM on October 31, 2019 [1 favorite]

A. S. Byatt has quite a bit in the way of narratives of middle age. I’m thinking in particular of “The Stone Woman,” which starts in middle age with the death of the protagonist’s mother.
posted by toodleydoodley at 9:11 AM on October 31, 2019 [2 favorites]

Less by Andrew Sean Greer is a fun read. It's about a minor novelist on the verge of turning 50. It also won the Pulitzer!
posted by zeusianfog at 10:42 AM on October 31, 2019 [1 favorite]

Mrs Dalloway
posted by Balthamos at 12:00 PM on October 31, 2019

The Bookshop is not a feel good book, exactly, but everyone is middle aged.

A lot of genre mysteries have middle aged protagonists and characters; the Agatha Raisin books by MC Beaton spring immediately to mind although honestly I don't love them.
posted by mygothlaundry at 1:18 PM on October 31, 2019 [1 favorite]

Lynn Abbey's Emma Merrigan series, fantasy.

Nancy Springer's Fair Peril, fantasy. (Protagonist does have a child.)

Volumes 2 and 3 of Virginia Woolf's diaries, and volumes 3, 4 and 5 of her letters.
posted by paduasoy at 1:36 PM on October 31, 2019 [1 favorite]

Martha Wells' Wheel of the Infinite features a middle-aged woman protagonist.
posted by henuani at 1:43 PM on October 31, 2019 [1 favorite]

Ann Patchett's State of Wonder. (And other books by her?)
posted by slab_lizard at 6:51 PM on October 31, 2019 [1 favorite]

And the middle and later books of the Aubrey-and-Maturin series by Patrick O'Brian.
posted by slab_lizard at 6:53 PM on October 31, 2019 [1 favorite]

Travels with My Aunt by Graham Greene.
posted by codhavereturned at 4:38 AM on November 1, 2019 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: Thank you all for helping me set up a great reading list! I'm familiar with a few of these but most are new, and I appreciate having all this new reading material. In particular, thank you matildaben for pointing out the list from earlier question, which I hadn't seen.
posted by 2 cats in the yard at 5:14 AM on November 2, 2019

The Adventures of Tanith Fairport (May be older than "middle" aged, depending on how you define it. )
posted by krieghund at 11:05 AM on November 4, 2019 [1 favorite]

Deep Creek: Finding Hope in the High Country by Pam Houston. A memoir. Most of it has Houston at age 50+. It's a beautifully written treatise on her bond with the land she bought when she was a young and flighty thing. Very much central to the writing is her experience as a woman and one who has made choices for herself, such as being childless. She does also get into her personal family trauma as well in case that is triggering.
posted by hotchocolate at 10:12 PM on November 4, 2019 [1 favorite]

Several / most of Anne Tyler's novels - certainly Breathing Lessons, Morgan's Passing and Ladder of Years.
posted by paduasoy at 11:35 PM on November 8, 2019 [1 favorite]

I am just reading a book with characters of this age plus a little older. It's a collection of short stories by K.D. Miller called Late Breaking which she has based on paintings by the Canadian artist Alex Colville. I'm quite enjoying it.
posted by urbanlenny at 5:55 PM on December 4, 2019 [1 favorite]