It's that magical time again dear readers, chapter and page count time.
For the week -
CHAPTERS: 92
PAGES: 1,784
For the year -
CHAPTERS: 6,772
PAGES: 88,934
And, to kick officially kick off the holiday season here at A Book a Day, I've decided to share a holiday picture from my childhood (with more to come as the month progresses.)
As you can see, I wasn't very animated. But I had a very good excuse for falling asleep midway through the present opening. Being a baby was hard. There were naps to take, and toys to play with, and those bottles did not drink themselves. (And by the way dear readers, I promise that the Christmas pictures I show you in future entries will be much more interesting than this one. But I just had to show you this picture - any picture with carpet in it that's that ugly is just begging to be shown to everyone in sight.)
Today's book, "Three days before Christmas, in the freezing slums of London's East End, thirteen-year-old Gracie Phipps encounters Minnie Maude Mudway, who is only eight, alone, and determined to find her friend Charlie. However Charlie is no ordinary companion: He is a donkey who belonged to Minnie Maude's Uncle Alf. Gracie is shocked to learn that only the day before, someone brutally murdered Uncle Alf and made off with his rag-and-bones cart and the beloved beast who pulled it. Now, come hell or high water, Minnie Maude means to rescue Charlie - and Gracie decides to help."
Christmasy thoughts:
- If you actually read the description of today's book instead of skipping over it (as my sister always does) then you are probably filled with questions right now. Who would be cruel enough to name their child Minnie Maude Mudway? What does any of that stuff have to do with Christmas? What in the world would possess Angie to read a book like that? All valid questions dear readers. The answer to those questions, in order, would be: 1. Someone with really, really, really bad taste. 2. I read the whole book and I still have no idea. and 3. Because I have slipped in my resolve to never pick out a book without first reading the book description. I had resolved a few months ago to stop doing that, but this Christmas season has really thrown me. There are so many pleasant, Christmasy looking book covers and I keep getting sucked in because of it.
- Since I had no idea what the book was about going into it, I spent the first 40 pages thinking, Really? They're still looking for that donkey? When is this boring looking-for-the-donkey part of the book going to end and the good part of the book begin? And then when I got to page 47 I decided to actually read the book description (a crazy idea if ever I heard one), which resulted in me thinking, Whaaaaat? The entire book is about them looking for that stupid donkey? CRAP CRAP CRAP CRAP CRAP CRAP - I do not want to spend the entire day reading about two children looking for a donkey. But, since I'd already posted the book for the day on my twitter page, I was forced to proceed.
- I would like to be able to tell you that the book got more interesting from there, but sadly it did not. And, to add insult to injury (and my Mother would say) or to pour salt in the wound (as my Dad would say), the book was heavy on dialect. I have a hard time reading dialect without wanting to put my fist through a wall - and that's on a day when I don't have to read the entire book in one day - but it's an even bigger challenge (read: a total pain in the butt) to have to read dialect when I'm trying to get through a book quickly.
- And here is your fun (and totally useless) fact for the day: a snotter is a rope or tackle used in sailing. - Am I the only one in the world who had no idea what that was? The book referred to a snotter-hauler, and let's just say this resulted in me conjuring up some really disgusting images, proving once again that no matter how old I get, there will always be a part of me that firmly remains an eight year-old.
