Now, On to Something Different

In my post of two days ago, I wrote of my disappointment in the 4th novel of Anthony Trollope's Chronicles of Barsetshire series, Framley Parsonage . At the time of that writing, I was half way thru the novel and it seemed to me that I would abandon the novel unfinished.

I also wrote in that blog post that I would give the novel one more chance before going on to something different. I'm inclined to see that as a proper decision now.

Not long after taking it up again, I came upon this sentence spoken by Mrs. Harold Smith in a conversation with Miss Dunstable:
We are so used to a leaven of falsehood in all we hear and say, now-a-days, that nothing is more likely to deceive us than the absolute truth.

The wisdom of that remark struck me.

The sentence is as powerful (and true) today as it had been in 1860. Having come upon that piece of wisdom, I wanted to continue where I had left off and finish reading the novel.

As I stated previously, many of the characters in Framley Parsonage had been introduced to us in earlier novels in the series. Honestly, I wanted to know how the lives of these characters had gotten on. I was no longer disappointed.

True enough, the novel drags on in spots, but I'm happy that I was able to persevere until the end. Of course, as with all the Trollope novels I'm familiar with, this one ends happily. Never the less, I feel as if I should go on to another writer before reading the two final books in the series - The Small House at Allington and The Last Chronicle of Barset. There was a span of two years between the publication of books four and five. I don't intend on going that long, by any means - but a small break won't hurt.

I've managed to download five Agatha Christie novels which are now in the public domain. I suppose I'll go in that direction presently.