What I learnt from The Secret Diary of Hendrik Groen

This has to be my favourite book of 2016. It has to be one of my favourite books of all time to be fair. It's funny, thought provoking and it made me want to be part of the Old But Not Dead Club. Well, it at least made retirement homes more appealing.

If I have the group of friends that Hendrik has when I'm at his age and I get to do some of the fun stuff his club does I think I will be content.

At first glance I thought this was a true story - a memoir of an old man living in a retirement home in Holland. It is not. It is a fictional tale of a year in the life of Hendrik Groen, about the hum drum of life in a retirement home but also about how he goes about making life more exciting for himself and others around him, setting up the Old But Not Dead Club and organising regular outings with other residents.

The book is written in diary format. I laughed. I cried and I reflected on what life could be like as an older person in a retirement home.

I am so looking forward to the second book when Hendrik is 85. I've seen the Dutch version of the book but the English translation is not out for a few months yet.