Nancy Drew: The Secret of the Old Clock

Wednesday, January 28, 2009
Today marks the end of week 4, which means it's chapter and page count time -

For this week:


CHAPTERS - 161

PAGES - 1,798


For the year so far:


CHAPTERS - 521

PAGES - 7,622

After reading Girl Sleuth for Suggestion Saturday I decided that I wanted to read a Nancy Drew book - which is something I never did as a child because I was a Babysitters' Club kind of girl. So I summoned up my inner twelve year old and sat down to read. Well, my inner twelve year old enjoyed the book - and so did the rest of me. Now I feel kind of sad that I never read the books as a child because I think I would have loved them.

Even though today's book was short, I still had trouble getting through it because I had so much other stuff to do today. I can only imagine how late this entry would be going up if I had read the book I was originally going to read, which was about 150 pages longer. But Nancy Drew saved the day again. Is there anything she can't do?

I was unable to find the original Nancy Drew books, so I had to settle for the revised version, which I hear isn't as good. I was kind of disappointed because I love all things retro, and because I was looking forward to hearing about Nancy driving her roadster. I liked the cover to the original edition the best, so I went ahead and used it anyway. Isn't that a fetching hat Nancy's wearing on the cover?

For those of you who have never read the book, here's the description: "After aiding an injured child, Nancy accidentally stumbles upon the mystery of Josiah Crowley's missing will. While several of Crowley's impoverished relatives claim that he had included them in his will, his arrogant relatives, seem to possess the only copy, which leaves them in total possession of the deceased man's fortune. Nancy is intrigued by the situation and begins searching for Crowley's missing antique clock, an object that reportedly contains a clue to the will's location. During her investigation, she encounters a series of obstacles, one of which is the theft of the clock by thieves. "

Things I would normally be too lazy to look up, but did this time for the sake of the blog -

  • What is the difference between a convertible and a roadster? - Unlike a convertible, a roadster doesn't have a roof (or it has a detachable roof) - and it also doesn't have side or rear windows.
  • What is in apple pudding (a favorite dessert of Nancy's) ? That probably seems like a weird thing to wonder about, but all I can picture is Jell0 brand pudding in an apple flavor, and that sounds kind of disgusting. So here's a recipe for apple pudding that I found, and it turns out apple pudding is more like a cake: http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Virginia-Apple-Pudding/Detail.aspx
  • What is a sunback dress? - I found a website that has vintage dress patterns, and here's a picture of a sunback dress: http://vintagepatterns.wikia.com/wiki/Butterick_5187

I can see why so many people like Nancy Drew - the woman leads a charmed life. She's over 18 so she doesn't have to go to school, and she doesn't have a job so she just gets to spend all day shopping, going to lunch, and solving mysteries - and yet she still gets to drive a convertible (or a roadster, depending on what edition you read), wear really nice clothes and live in a big house. Nancy's got it made.

I was amused throughout the book by how formal Nancy is. She seems to call everyone by their first and last names, even people who are described as long-time friends. After reading that I kind of want to go around for the next few days and call people by their full names just to see what kind of reaction I would get. I'm guessing I would probably get the same reaction I got when I tried to bring the word amiable back in fashion.