Mid Century Wish

Well, here we go again, and I am glad the ball has started to roll on my new challenge of reading 100 books for 2012. truth be told, I started reading Wally Lamb's "Wishin' And Hopin'" on the last days of 2011 but finished it the next year. I know Wally Lamb's work, having read "She's Come Undone," And "I Know This Much Is True," and think well of his work. Oprah Winfrey is a fan of his, too, having chosen SCD as one of her initial picks for her then book club. I remember that was such a devastating novel. "Wishin' And Hopin'" is a much lighter read, set in the mid century, written in the point of view of young Felix Funnicello, who is a third cousin of Annette. It is written so well, you get inside the mind of a fifth grader, in that cusp of a period between innocence and puberty. It is a sweet sort of story, a snapshot of his fifth grade year, startin with the beginning of the school year at St. Aloysius Gonzaga Elementary School and ending at their Christmas pageant.  The Catholic School experience of his is slightly reminiscent of mine, and I even had pangs of nostalgia as he described reading about St. Gonzaga's life story, which I also had to read during my Elementary years. There were several laugh out loud moment here, and I found myself laughing like a fool in my lonesome while I was reading this. It is the perfect book to start the year with! 

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