I ORDERED THE BOOK

right away.  As soon as I read about the snot-sobbing reaction of Jennifer (Read here.  She's got a marvelously entertaining blog!) I sent off for The Fault in Our Stars by  John Green .   The big question--Would I cry? Could I make it through the book sans hankies of any kind to mop up my response? Would there be a sniffle or two? Or would there be sobbing, shoulders shaking?  Would I need to put the book down and go wash my face?!

Well, Amazon did their best (I'm quite sure) to rush the book to me.  The very day that The Yard Man pulled out of the driveway and headed out of town for three days (horse trailer in tow), I pulled from the mailbox my copy of the book.  Such timing!  The credit is in my stars! I exclaimed to myself.

And I opened to page one and lit into the story, not a soul to distract me.   But I did have duties calling  me, and by  Day Two I hadn't gotten very far.   It was the Fourth of July.  

It was a holiday! There was nothing, nothing, I tell you, Reader Dear, that was calling my name with a sharp reminder to my conscience that I couldn't situate myself comfortably on the balcony and simply READ.  All. Morning. Long.  All. Afternoon.  Just read, read, read, until it was time to head to the pool-party picnic to which I'd  (happily) been invited.* 

I must add, Dear Reader, that the weather was what one might call perfection.  The breeze may have been slightly over-exerting itself, but the sun and the temperatures and the lack of humidity and clouds were absolutely ideal for relaxing on a balcony and investigating the personal-tear-producing ability of a novel.

And I finished the book.  Just in time to head for fun, food and frolicking. I was feeling so fortunate.

My research paper follows**:

 Would you like to do the research yourself, Dear Reader?

I've got one used (but very good condition) copy for you.
Not too many tear-stained pages.

*details to follow
**Had no plans to expose these notes; should have been more painstaking (Keep in mind, however, Viewer Dear, it is difficult to write notes while wiping one's tears).

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