In this book, 77-year-old novelist, essayist, and literary critic Doris Grumbach takes us through an ordinary 18 hours in her home in Maine where she lives with Sybil, her companion of 25 years. After reading "The Common Book of Prayer" at breakfast, she views the sunrise. Throughout the day, Grumbach will move to "the different base camps around the house" where she peruses various books. Reading a negative review of her most recent novel in "The New York Times" sends the author into a fury. "Rejection is an affliction as painful as shingles or the loss of a limb." Grumbach muses on the importance of classical music in her childhood, does a crossword puzzle, and manages to write only one page of her novel. For Grumbach, living is an adventure on the magic carpet ride of memory, reverie, and imagination. Life in a Day celebrates the ripples of meaning that can emanate out of simple rituals, happenings, and activities.