In God We Trust: All Others Pay Cash

In God We Trust: All Others Pay Cash, by Jean Shepherd, 264 pages

So, I've probably seen The Christmas Story enough for several lifetimes, but it still has this powerful, gravitational pull of nostalgia that sucks me in every time I see it.  The movie was based on several of the stories from within this work- most notably, that of the infamous Red Ryder BB gun Christmas and "the old man's" major award.  The pictures that Jean Shepherd paints with his words are instantly recognizable to people of all ages- even if you never sat in front of an old-time radio, waiting to hear the secret message from Little Orphan Annie, we've all had that moment where we realized that one of our childhood loves was actually an instrument of commercialism.  And there are stories within that are not in the movie- stories of penny candy, the town lake that got condemned, or the blind date that made me cringe all over with a sense of shared sympathy.  There is some outdated (potentially offensive) slang in a couple of spots, but overall it was a fairly enjoyable read.