The Fundamental Things Apply, As Time Goes By...

The title of this book brought to mind Bogey and Bacall movies, soft-filtered camera work and the song "As Time Goes By." The topic of this compassionate, powerful book isn't romantic nostalgia, however; You Must Remember This, by S.T. Underdahl is about memory -- the loss of it, and the things we hold onto when it's gone.

Lucy Kellogg has a good life. She has a nutty best friend named Sukie, and the coolest Nana -- they even share the same name.

Nana Lucy is a world traveler, a well-dressed, hip, funny lady who puts all the other Nanas in the world to shame. She gets Lucy, even though seventeen is years and years behind her. She sends her funny postcards every time she goes away, and her Lucy to Lucy presents are the best. Nana Lucy knows all about Lucy's inner life, and when Lucy falls flat on her butt at the cheer tryouts -- that she didn't really want to do in the first place, Nana knows how bad it feels. And, when Sukie makes the squad, and what was supposed to be a forever kind of friendship starts to fade, Nana Lucy understands. After all, Nana and granddaughter are closer than even Lucy and her Mom. So, it's a horrible shock to hear that Aunt Carol says there's something wrong with Nana Lucy.

When Lucy hears the word "Alzheimer's," she decide she can't take hearing any more.

Not to her Nana. This can't be happening to her.

Then, Lucy breaks one of Sukie's cardinal rules of friendship -- accidentally -- and there's no way to explain. And she's not only losing a friend, she's losing her closest confidant. None of this is supposed to be happening! But it is... and more than just memories are coming loose in Lucy's life. Everything has come undone.

Can Lucy remember the number one thing that she and Nana Lucy -- and once upon a time, she and Sukie -- share? And will it be enough to remind them of what's important?

A heartbreaking, fabulous family novel. Bring your tissues.

Buy this book from an independent bookstore near you!