I know every bookworm has one. At least, most of us have one.
The unfinished book. The one book where no matter how many times you try–and I mean really, really tried–to read the book you just can’t finish it. Whatever the reason. I mean, you’re really interested, I mean you seem interested. Every time you read the jacket you’re excited to start. Every time you read the first paragraph, you’re interested. But then you’re halfway through the first chapter and you’re loosing focus.
Why, oh, why?
For me, it’s a Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens. And I love the opening!
It was the best of times,
it was the worst of times,
it was the age of wisdom,
it was the age of foolishness,
it was the epoch of belief,
it was the epoch of incredulity,
it was the season of Light,
it was the season of Darkness,
it was the spring of hope,
it was the winter of despair […]
I fell in love with this book with just that opening stanza and yet, I haven’t made it past chapter 2! And I’ve been trying to read this book for at least the past ten years.
And then you have a the “trailer” in the back of the book:
After eighteen years as a political prisoner in the Bastille, the ageing Doctor Manette is finally released and reunited with his daughter in England. There the lives of two very different men, Charles Darnay, an exiled French aristocrat, and Sydney Carton, a disreputable but brilliant English lawyer, become enmeshed through their love for Lucie Manette. From the tranquil roads of London, they are drawn against their will to the vengeful, bloodstained streets of Paris at the height of the Reign of Terror, and they soon fall under the lethal shadow of La Guillotine.[1]
And how can you not love a love triangle? (Okay, I say a little bit about love triangles here)
And yet, Chapter 2 >> ROAD BLOCK.
I have no idea why that is. I love reading books like this. I read most of Jane Austin’s novels and I love reading a bit of Bronte so I cannot wrap my head around me not finishing this lovely book.
But one day!
I promise. One day I will get through this book and wen that day comes . . . PAR-TAY!
Until then, it will sit on my TBR list.
[1] GoodReads. A Tale of Two Cities.
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