My 1st pick off the PBS Great American Read was a pleasure that I easily finished in 2 days. But now I want to read the sequels to find out what happened to everyone! And there are so many more books on the PBS list to tackle.....what to do??? Anyhow, this was an engrossing book that was full of so many interesting personalities that it was hard to put down. And, as I often find in good books, this one is full of stories that are as relevant today as they were in their own time.....in this case over 40 years ago. I'm just glad I knew enough to understand most of the slang and name-dropping.....I thought I might have a phone a friend a few times there!
This story might take a minute to tell. Bear with me. When my sister and I were little girls, my mother took us to a large baptist church in town. Even as a child, I never remember feeling welcome there. But I do remember the lovely older couple that kept my Sunday School class. They gave us saltines and kool-aid, and I remember thinking they would be nice grandparents to have. At Christmastime, the Sunday School class was set to have a random gift exchange. Every child was supposed to bring a gift that could be exchanged with any other child.....no specific gift designations. I received the gift of an Avon 7 bead necklace which was very popular at the time. I loved it so much and was thrilled to have it! I was somewhere between 5 and 7 at the time. (Back in the 1970's and 80's, Avon was a cosmetic company that was also known for it's inexpensive jewelry. I couldn't find a price on what this necklace would have cost back then, but apparently there is a lot of inte