Hello and welcome to the Storytime for grown-ups' Christmas Spectacular.

I'm Faith Moore, and for the months of November and December, we'll be reading A Little

Princess by Francis Hodgson Burnett.

Each episode, I'll read one chapter from the book, pausing from time to time to give brief explanations, so it's easier to follow along.

It's like an audiobook with built-in notes.

So gather your family together, brew a pot of tea, or a mug of hot chocolate, find a cozy chair, and settle in.

It's story time.

Music a cozy chair and settled in. It's story time. Hi everyone. Welcome back. Did you catch the trailer? Did you listen? If you didn't,

pause me right now. Scroll into your podcast player, catch the trailer? Did you listen? If you didn't, pause me right now. Scroll into

your podcast player, find the trailer for our January book, listen. It's only like a minute or so.

Listen to it and then come back. Okay. Are we all on the same page? Have we all listened to the trailer?

If so, then I can reveal that our January book is David Copperfield by Charles Dickens.

I'm really excited about this, and I think I probably owe some of you an explanation, because I did say at a certain point to a few of you in various emails that we would not ever be reading David Copperfield because

it is too long. But I changed my mind. And I will talk much more about this when we get into the

book and in our intro episode and everything. But I just decided that if we are going to read

a Dickens novel, obviously we've already read a Dickens novella. We've read a Christmas carol last Christmas time. But we have to read a Dickens novel. Obviously, we've already read a Dickens novella. We've read a Christmas

Carol last Christmas time, but we have to read a Dickens novel. He is one of the greats,

and if we're going to read the classics here on Storytime for Grownups, we've got to read

some Dickens. But I was going to read you one of his shorter novels, because they're shorter.

But then I just decided, no, David

Copperfield is the best of his novels. And I know that some people might disagree with me, but

that's what I think. David Copperfield and then after that bleak house are his best novels. So,

...