Anthony Trollope, The Eustace Diamonds (1871)
You might have the impression that I'm not reading anymore, given that all the recent posts are about operas. No...I'm reading as usual. This one just took longer than normal, for what are probably fairly obvious reasons.
Don't take this the wrong way, but I
think there's actually something to be said for boredom in a Trollope
novel. That doesn't mean I go out of my way looking to be bored, or
that I'd ever say something like "you know what the problem with
this book is? It's not boring enough." But all the
same...there is something kind of soothing about the inevitable
boring bits you come upon--with the signal exception, of course, of
the fox-hunting bits, which are both boring and repulsive, and yup,
there's one here. Bah.