Issue Date: August 28, 2005

In this article: Being over 40 got you down? Outta Here! name the announcers

News & Views

The meaning of midlife

Being over 40 got you down? Girlfriends to the rescue.

Where would a girl be without her friends to help her through the inevitable midlife crisis? That's what fortysomething friends Janice Kaplan and Lynn Schnurnberger ask in their latest novel, "Mine Are Spectacular!" (Ballantine, $23.95). Between them, the duo have married four times, raised three children and, together, written two books. Their first chicks-in-midlife novel was the hit "The Botox Diaries." In their latest novel, a trio of friends find adventure beyond the demands of family and work and buoy one another in their fight against gravity.

USA WEEKEND recently spoke with co-author Kaplan:

How's love different for women over 40?
Ashton Kutcher [becomes] interested in you. But seriously, all the good things about getting older -- more experience, confidence and wisdom -- can make love better, too.

And yet ...
And yet relationships get complicated when you're no longer a kid. Maybe you have kids yourself, and you're in a second marriage facing the complexities of relationships with your ex, your children, your husband's ex-wife, in-laws and stepchildren. Romantic young love seems so straightforward in comparison!

What's the secret to your and Lynn's success as writing partners?
Lynn and I sit in the same room and write every word together. If one of us wrinkles her nose at a line, we know we'd better make it funnier, fast.

Why do women seem to find it easier to share so much with one another than with the men in their lives?
Friendships are very important to women, and they want to be supportive of one another. If women were as nice to their husbands as they are to each other, nobody would ever get divorced!

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Outta Here!

Long before cable TV, baseball fans hunched over the radio listening to announcers call the play-by-play action. "You used your imagination, and it gave the game a fantastic aspect," says sportswriter Stephen Borelli, whose recent book, "How About That!" (Sports Publishing, $24.95), traces the career of sports broadcaster Mel Allen, the voice of the New York Yankees from 1939 to1964. Announcers like Allen and Harry Caray, a major-league broadcaster for 53 years (1945-98), captured the emotion and excitement of being there, a tradition that still draws fans around radios today. Test your memory by matching the announcer with the saying for which he was famous. Answers below.