100 Wild Mushrooms: Memoirs of the '60s (book) by Eva Pasco on AuthorsDen

Reviewed on February 27, 2022

An enjoyable visit back before the digital age came along and made things so much easier by complicating everything. Strange, but true. A personal look at growing up in the 1960s anyone who was raised back then can easily relate to.

I thoroughly enjoyed this sometimes-humorous memoir. I had forgotten some of it, but it was brought back to life in the blog-style entries. Each two-page vignette is a window into a time when so much was taken for granted. It reminds us all to cherish and treasure the little things that may one day be gone forever.

Reviewed by Steven Falco

Reviewed on January 9, 2020

100 Wild Mushrooms is a refreshing and unique take on the 1960�s. The book is composed of numerous vignettes where Ms. Pasco describes an era far removed from what is sometimes referred to as the psychedelic Sixties. Here she tells tales of growing up in a comforting time full of simple pleasures and small adventures that many of us have forgotten or are just too distracted to remember. Ms. Pasco�s delightful reminiscences include the great debate over whether to-dunk-or-not-to-dunk Oreo cookies and a hilarious three part essay on the art of hanging laundry. One chapter, playfully entitled The Cold War, is a laugh-out-loud dissertation on how to defrost a refrigerator. She describes cozy Saturday mornings with her younger sister watching Rocky and Bullwinkle and the Flintstones after a yummy breakfast of their favorite sugary cereals like Fruit Loops and Frosted Flakes. In one memory she tells of the delight her family experiences in the remarkable invention of the reusable jelly jar, which when finished, could be used as a drinking glass complete with a picture of Howdy Doody on it. I must confess that as a kid I used to think that all our drinking glasses came from reused jelly jars.
Through it all Ms. Pasco rejoices in the resilience of the children of the Sixties, but not necessarily by surviving war, racial strife or psychedelic drugs but as she puts it,
�even after tempest-tossed rides in the back of our Plymouth station wagon, unrestrained by seat belts; scrapes dexterously treated with Mercurochrome; inhaling noxious fumes from airplane glue piecing together science projects; keeping company with a subversive streetwise trash talking �wabbit� named Bugs; witnessing two drunken brawlers named Popeye and Bluto beating the daylights out of each other over Olive Oyl; a stooge poking his fingers in the eyes of the other two, or bopping them on the head with a two-by-four�my sister and I survived the Sixties without becoming juvenile delinquents.�
For myself, I found reading a few chapters each night before going to sleep comforting and enjoyable, as Ms. Pasco�s soothing storytelling of a time long gone helped me drift way from another day with a smile.
A thoroughly enjoyable book.

Reviewed by Melva Henderson

Reviewed on January 28, 2018

Eva Pasco has taken us back to the 1960s when life was simpler, and life�s pleasures were simpler as well. Although it was a time when we worried about nuclear war, life was more enjoyable as families were close, sharing their time and aspirations for the future. She reminds us of the small things we found pleasure in, in that era; such as treats that are no longer available or that have been changed to a point that they are unrecognizable. She reminds us of times in history we as baby boomers lived through that are taught in the history books today. Her story is nostalgia well worth reading, and for baby boomers, worth remembering.

Reviewed by John Gasparro Jr.

Reviewed on October 25, 2017

Dear Eva Pasco:

I just read some of your work, on this site. I am very impressed, and humbled, by your ability to use words so passionately and in such a vivid way. After reading your book about Retro 60's; I thought to myself: "That's good writing. I wish I could have such a command of the English language, as she has." If I could, I would write more often and I would be very grateful for the ability to express myself, in such a way as you do. Your writing is extraordinary! I can only hope that I may learn to improve my own writing, by reading your work. Not unlike a gifted painter (artist), a good writer is able to create (in words), a visual concept, in ones mind, of the event or place that is being spoken of--and YOU have done that with this particular book. I envy your talent.

Reviewed by Ronald Hull

Reviewed on October 14, 2017

Another fine recollection, I recollect. Your work on The 60s Site was nothing short of prodigious!

My memories of mushrooms were from the 50s and weren't necessarily thoughts of atomic clouds. Somehow the atomic disaster drills escaped me. Although there were plenty of fire drills where we ran outside and waited for the, �all clear,� to return to our classroom routine.

My mushroom memories were of my grandfather's favorite �button� mushrooms that would pop out of the moist earth in our inner-city yard after a rain. He would boil a sample in a pot with a silver spoon. If the spoon didn't tarnish, the mushrooms were good to eat. We then fried them in butter and they were very good (and very poisonous?).

While out in our other grandfather's farm we often came upon puffballs. When they were brown, we would kick them and watch a miniature atomic explosion of spore. We didn't know that using a silver spoon was not a way to test mushrooms to see if they were poisonous and that puffballs were safe to eat when they were white.

Ron

Reviewed by John Herlihy

Reviewed on October 14, 2017

Congratulations on this publication. I see you have gone with CreateSpace as I have done for the last several poetry books. A great platform. Love the cover.