I never tire of this book....
_________
Nor these words from Seventeenth Summer;
"And then, I, Angie Morrow, who had never done anything like this before, who until last Monday night had never even had a real date, could feel his cheek on mine, as warm and soft as peach fuzz. And I knew if I moved my face just a little, just a very little...
In the movies they always shut their eyes but I didn't. I didn't think of anything like that, though I do remember a quick thought passing through my mind again about how much he smelled like Ivory soap when his face was so close to mine....I remember that behind him was the thin, yellow arc of moon, turned over on its back, and I remember feeling my hands slowly relax on the rough lapels of his coat.
Sitting on the cool grass in my new sprigged dimity with the little blue and white bachelor's buttons pinned in my hair, Jack kissed me and his lips were as smooth and baby-soft as a new raspberry."
Ahhhh....I was a dreamy teenager....that was as lovely and romantic as it got back there in the innocent 40's. It suited me just fine in the 70's.
I read this whole book out loud to my sister and some friends one summer night. We were sleeping out in the back yard.
This is how we would sleep out. Grab the t.v., a radio, a light, sleeping bags and pillows and sleep right there on the cement patio. We would fall asleep after midnight and wake wet with dew on our faces and sleeping bags at sunrise.
A funny aside...I have reread Seventeenth Summer with Emma and was so surprised by the smoking and beer drinking in the book. It didn't even phase me when I was a teen...and now as a mother, I cringe a little at those parts of the book.
I mostly remember the innocence and nostalgia of the book. I remember Angie's mother napping in the afternoons and her little sister playing on the sidewalk. And I remember her boyfriend Jack...who is a baker's son.
I happened to be a baker's daughter at the time....and I later married a baker.
Memories,
Donna
