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What Members Thought

Becca
Nov 20, 2013 rated it liked it
Shelves: holidays
I really enjoyed this fun, nostalgic story about a fifth grade boy in the 60's. It read kind of like a mash-up of A Christmas Story and The Best Christmas Pageant Ever, but the "Christmasy" part is really only in the last third or so of the story. I loved the audiobook version and while I don't normally mention or even notice things like this, there is some swearing in the context of 10-12 year olds testing the boundaries, so if you have a problem with that kind of thing, this probably isn't the ...more
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Ellen Librarian
Mar 15, 2010 rated it really liked it
This was a fun, quick read that will probably appeal to any baby boomer, especially one that went to parochial school. The plot centers around 5th-grader Felix Funicello, distant cousin to the Mouseketeer Annette Funicello, as his class at St. Aloysius Gonzaga prepares for the school Christmas pageant in 1964. It's the middle of the Cold War, LBJ is the president and segregation is on the wane. There's enough nostalgia for a class reunion memory book. Too much, for my taste. It threatened to ove ...more
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Wes F
Dec 18, 2013 rated it liked it
Had some pretty funny stuff in it--and a bunch of slap-stick stuff as well.
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Sera
Dec 03, 2010 rated it did not like it
Shelves: audio, hated-it, children-ya, library
One word - "merd". Two words - "mercifully, short". ...more
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Kay Green
Dec 09, 2018 rated it liked it
Shelves: bookclub
Cute in parts. I liked it because it was about life in a catholic school in the 60's and the main character was about the same age as me. I loved the expressions he used, which were the same as my childhood.
There were a lot of similarities between St Aloysias in New London and St Mary's in Middletown. Both in CT ...more
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Kaley
Nov 29, 2009 rated it it was amazing
Shelves: 2009
Wally Lamb does it again! Wonderful characters, hilarious stories. I don't think I've ever laughed out loud like I did while reading this book! I loved it. AWESOME holiday read! ...more
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Diane
Jan 08, 2015 rated it really liked it
Shelves: empty-nests-bookclub, pop-sugar-challenge-2015, era-contemporary, locale-usa
A very enjoyable Christmas story about a parochial school class escapades in the days leading up to Christmas.
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Allison
Dec 11, 2009 rated it liked it
Juliana Philippa
Dec 23, 2009 marked it as to-read
Jamie
Nov 14, 2010 marked it as need-to-get
Jenny
Dec 19, 2010 rated it liked it
Shelves: memoirs, male-authors
Janna
Jun 01, 2011 rated it really liked it
Shelves: memoirs
Lori
Oct 25, 2011 rated it liked it
Tammy AZ
Nov 29, 2011 marked it as to-read
Hazel
Oct 26, 2016 marked it as to-read
Brenda
Dec 21, 2018 marked it as to-read
Megan
Jun 22, 2019 marked it as to-read
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Around the World in 80 Books

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