Don't read this book on a cold, rainy evening when your lover is 300 miles away and you're feeling a bit down and lonely. "And You Know You Should Be Glad" by Bob Greene should be read on a hot summer day with friends and family in the backyard talking about the latest antics of the local baseball team or when the next grandchild in the family is due.
The title is, of course, from the third stanza of the Beatles song "She Loves You" but the book is pure sentimentality told in a personal blog style that includes flashbacks, explanatory fill-in, and lots of heart-warming details. It starts when five men (high school class of 1965) who have been friends since grade school get together again when one of them is faced with serious, life-threatening illness. Bob Greene then takes us through the next several months as his friend Jack fights a losing battle with cancer. Bob and other friends try to rally his spirits and relive his old memories while helping him say his good-byes to the town. By the end of the book you feel that you know Jack almost as well as any of the four of his friends and you wish you could have attended the funeral. Great writing that will have many of us reliving our school year memories.
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