The Diary of a Young Lady of Fashion, 1764-5

Title: "The Diary of a Young Lady of Fashion, 1764-5"

Author: Cleone Knox

Published: 1926

Source: Downtown Books, Milwaukee

Pages: 249

A charming, funny, and interesting diary, Ms. Knox is a Mid-18th Century Bridget Jones.

Born on May 12th, 1744 at Castle Kearney, County Down, Ireland, Cleone was an heiress, and a probably typical member of her society. This journal covers her early twenties while she is at a crucial point in her love affair with a Mr. Ancaster. To distract her from this gentleman, her father takes her and her brother, Ned, on the Grand Tour, and along the way she meets the King and Queen of England, King and Queen of France, and Voltaire, along with lots of various and sundry characters.

With entries like "July 15th. To church. A sermon so lengthy that I near died. Dozed behind my fan.", and "May 19th. Lord be praised! in a few moments our Coach will have conveyed us away from this monstrously dull place. Mr. and Mrs. Talbot, to whom brother Tom gave us letters of recommendation, are as excellent a couple as one could hope to see but hardly enlivening as Host and Hostess, while as for their mansion house with its Greek porticos and its monstrously cold rooms, 'tis more fit to be a Sepulchre than a human habitation.", it makes me chuckle quite a lot.

Only edited to correct spelling and to remove "a good many entries that are of no general interest, mostly referring to purchases and personal expenditure" by her ancestor, Alexander Black Kerr, in the 1920's, this is a wonderful window into society life. If you are lucky enough to find a copy, pick it up and treat yourself to a fantastically entertaining read. 4.5 stars

Merry Christmas!

I hope Santa brought you everything you asked for!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Hope it was a happy, food-filled day!

End of Event!

Last hour stats

Pages read: 316 (illustrations!)

Time reading: 50 min

Books completed: 1

Blogs visited: 0

Mini-challenges completed: 0

Total pages: 1,226

Total time reading: 17 hrs 14 min

Total books completed: 10

Total blogs visited: 8

Total challenges completed: 3

End of Event Meme

1) Which hour was most daunting for you?

Surprisingly, 1am, which was around hour 20. I'd finally gotten warm and the book I was reading was oversized and heavy. There were quite a few head-nods that I couldn't avoid.

2) Could you list a few high-interest books that would keep a Reader engaged for next year?

Nothing that I really read this time would cut it, but I like reading parts in a series so if you happen to not be 100% awake and you missed something, you could fairly easily figure out what was going on.

3) Do you have any suggestions for how to improve the Read-a-thon next year?

The only thing (and this is minor) would be to have a list of the participants that was up before the event starts. I like to poke around on blogs and mark people to come back and check up on throughout the night.

4) What do you think worked really well in this year's 'thon?

I don't know - most things? Nothing is really popping out as being outstanding, I just enjoyed it all.

5) How many books did you read?

10

6) What were the names of the books you read?

"Stiff" by Mary Roach (on audio)

"Bet Me" by Jennifer Crusie (on audio)

"Moomin: The complete comic strip Vol. 2" by Tove Jansson

"Half-Minute Horrors" by Various

"The Pedant and the Shuffly" by John Bellairs

"The Vampyre" by William Polidori

"The Family Under the Bridge" by Natalie Savage Carlson

"Radiator Days" by Lucy Knisley

"Alice in Sunderland" by Bryan Talbot

"Deadly Desire" by Keri Arthur

7) Which book did you enjoy most?

"Alice in Sunderland", definitely. It was visually beautiful, full of interesting historical links, funny - it was an awesome book that I picked up on a whim, and I'd love to own a copy.

8) Which book did you enjoy the least?

"Stiff", but only because there are so many parts that describe leaky, rotting bodies in scientific detail (usually with quirky analogies that were smart-funny) and it really turned my stomach. I think I would've been better reading this one in print, rather than on audio. It's hard to "skim" while you're listening, you're forced to hear every single word and can't pass a paragraph or two to avoid the ick. It's a great book, and I liked it, but it was very hard to listen to without wanting to hurl.

9) If you were a Cheerleader.... N/A cuz I wasn't!

10) How likely are you to participate in next year's challenge? What role would you be likely to take next time?

I'll be a Reader again for sure, and I'm thinking about doing some Cheering too. Since I do several R-A-T's throughout the year (most of them do not involve staying up for the whole 24 like this one does) I feel less "pressure" to get a lot accomplished. And, I know how much a cheering comment can boost you up, having previously not received any, so that would be a fun break and would keep me going.

Thanks so much to everyone for hosting, cheering, and for reading along!

Last hour

Pages read: 70

Time reading: 45 min

Books completed: 1

Blogs visited: 0

Mini-challenges completed: 0

Total pages: 910

Total time reading: 16 hr 24 min

Total books completed: 9

Total blogs visited: 8

Total challenges completed: 3 (Intro, Book Sentence and Mid-way Meme)

A little less than an hour left, I'm going to try and finish up a book I've already started. See you again shortly!

Is it time to milk the cows yet?

Pages read: 92

Time reading: 52 min

Books completed: 0

Blogs visited: 0

Mini-challenges completed: 0

Total pages: 840

Total time reading: 15 hr 39 min

Total books completed: 8

Total blogs visited: 8

Total challenges completed: 3 (Intro, Book Sentence and Mid-way Meme)

Seriously - how in the world am I still this awake?

Hour too-early-to-be-this-awake

Pages read: 98

Time reading: 40 min

Books completed: 2

Blogs visited: 0

Mini-challenges completed: 0

Total pages: 748

Total time reading: 14 hr 47 min

Total books completed: 8

Total blogs visited: 8

Total challenges completed: 3 (Intro, Book Sentence and Mid-way Meme)

I've somehow woken up more than I thought I would - plus, my book is starting to really creep me out - so I'm sticking with it! Here's hoping this lasts at least until the next hour is up. :)