It's that wonderful time of the week again dear readers, where I pretend like posting the chapter and page count is the most exciting thing that's ever happened in the history of the world.
For the week:
CHAPTERS - 174
PAGES - 1,932
For the year so far:
CHAPTERS - 5,113
PAGES - 64,257
Today's book, "In L.A.'s Long Beach, 34-year-old Diana McBride is working her latest dead-end job, at the children's store Teddy's World, when very young mother-to-be Jamie Ramirez comes in and buys a bear, but ends up burying it at the beach, along with her frustrations at impending kicked-out-of-the-house single motherhood. Addonizio alternates perspectives chapter-by-chapter, switching from Diana to Jamie to Jamie's unborn child, Stella."
Shallow thoughts:
- I have no idea how it's possible to be enjoying September so much while reading such crappy books, but I can assure you dear readers that it is possible. I disliked today's book a great deal. It felt like a rough draft to what could have become a promising novel rather than a finished book. There was something about it that felt so amateurish - and I had a very hard time connecting to the characters.
- I also had a problem with the profanity in the book - not because I have a problem with that sort of thing, just the opposite. But, because it seemed unnatural and out of place in the book. Some people - and some authors - use profanity and it seems so natural, almost kind of right, and then others use it and it sounds as awkward as an old person attempting to use teenage slang. I have been informed by my sister that I am one of those people who shouldn't swear because it just doesn't sound natural coming from me. I actually agree with that assessment - every time I swear I think No, that doesn't seem right. So I guess I am destined to be one of those dorks who, after slamming their hand in the car door, says nothing worse than "Craaaaaap."
- The one good thing that came out of reading the book is that it talked about beauty pageants for children (stay with me dear readers, I'm going somewhere with this one.) When I started reading that part of the book I instantly thought of that horrible reality show called Toddlers & Tiaras - which, surprisingly enough, I have never watched. Who would have ever thought that a TV show would come along that was so awful it would offend even me. Or, since I'm a glass-half-full kind of person, I'm choosing to look at this as proof that I do actually have standards when it comes to TV. Sure, I'll watch The Duggars exploit their kids, and I'll watch women humiliate themselves in order to try to win a man (who usually isn't even that attractive or interesting anyway) - but I will not watch Toddlers & Tiaras, so I actually do have standards (true, they're so low that I'm scrapping the bottom of the barrel, but they're still there.)
