FINALLY

[litlover12]

At long, LONG last, I've finished that Edith Wharton biography. I can't say I'm sorry to see it end (with all due respect to Wharton). There is something about exhaustive biographies that is, well, exhausting. For instance, I love gardens, as Wharton did -- although I'm not sure any other human being has ever loved them quite as much as she did -- but I did not need to read the history and description of every single flower the woman ever raised.

Comments

[mosinging1986.livejournal.com]

but I did not need to read the history and description of every single flower the woman ever raised.

LOL! I had a similar problem with the unabridged version of 'Les Miserables'. There were passages that went on for PAGES, simply describing some street winding this way and that. By the time we got back to the plot, I'd forgotten what the heck was going on. I consider myself a pretty good reader, but I confess I didn't get far in it. I shall have to try again someday. It's a classic and I've always wanted to read it. I'm all for details and description, but there's such a thing as needing an editor. Talk about getting lost in the details!

[litlover12.livejournal.com]

It's so funny that you mentioned that, because I have a bit of a history with that book! I read the abridged "Les Miserables" as a teenager, and then when I realized it was abridged, I charged off to look for the unabridged version because I HATE abridgments and always have, and I wanted to see what I'd missed.

Well. When I was deep in the bowels (pardon the pun) of the Paris sewer system with the extremely long-winded Victor Hugo, I decided that there was ONE book in the world that did need to be abridged, and "Les Miserables" was it.

It's probably good that you reminded me of that experience -- it makes me feel a bit kindlier toward the Wharton bio. Flowers are preferable to sewers, after all. ;-)

[mosinging1986.livejournal.com]

Oh, that is too funny! I do want to try again, just to say I made it. But I don't have the energy right now. Maybe if I vow to make it a lifelong project where I read only a few pages a day. Perhaps by the time I'm 70 I'll have finished it. Maybe.