Alive, Alive Oh! and other things that matterDiana Athill (Granta, 144 PP, £12.99)Tablet bookshop price £11.70 • Tel 01420 592974 Most of us are not in our late nineties, and a great many of us never will be. Diana Athill’s report from the far reaches of life is as compelling as an explorer’s descriptions of a remote place we are never likely to visit.The title refers to the fourth of the 11 essays here. In her forties, Diana Athill had a ­dangerous miscarriage and was grateful to survive it. She describes it in more graphic detail than some readers might care for, but it was a life-changing experience for her and is still part of her delight at being alive.Her ruminations cover very personal memories, as when she recreates her grandparents’ garden