J. A. Hijiya hasn't led a life of adventure, suffered great tragedy, or pulled himself up by his own bootstraps to forge a corporate empire. His is a quieter life-with its own ups and downs, to be sure-but no more than you'd expect in a -normal- life. It's in life's ordinariness that Hijiya finds beauty, meaning, and no small measure of humor.

Hijiya jumps from topic to topic in a collection of eclectic essay memoirs, exploring the consequences of childhood polio with the same attention to detail and humor he brings to discussing sibling rivalry, a one-time obsession with tanning,...