Full Moon: Reflections on Turning Fifty

The 50th birthday, in the view of Hauser, a Minneapolis-based writer (Girl to Woman) and Public Radio commentator, is ""especially poignant because it is the first decade marker that offers no comfort when we doubt it."" Her own arrival at that marker is charted in this collection of 13 reflective essays, one for each cycle of the moon, in which she journeys toward appreciation of age and aging, celebrating life's cycles and, she hopes, arriving at acceptance and understanding of self. These graceful meditations--on her husband, Bill, who is 27 years her senior; on the death of a friend from breast cancer; on the comfort of having a ""grown-up child""--are dotted with wry humor and complemented by the delicate art of California-based Barbara Van Arnam. Author tour. (Oct.)