My thoughts - The Warden (1855) by Anthony Trollope is the first novel in his acclaimed Chronicles of Barsetshire series. There are six books in the series, all set in the fictional English cathedral town of Barchester. And having read Trollope's excellent stand alone novel The Way We Live Now, I came to The Warden with high expectations. The Warden is 113 pages and so I was sure I would have the book finished in three days tops.
But the Warden took me longer to complete than I anticipated. I struggled to finish it actually. I think it's partly because I am not a focused reader these days. Increasingly I read ten pages of a book then I'm scrolling the internet or turning on the news, picking up another novel and that's not a good way to read. I need to start committing to a book because otherwise I lose the rhythm.
That said, if The Warden had held my interest I would have been able to finish it in three days. It's one of Anthony Trollope's earliest novels and maybe his powers as a writer weren't yet at the heights they would reach in his later classics. The story itself didn't grab me nor did the characters but I understand that changes as one reads deeper into the Barchester series.
The Warden is the first book I have now read from my Victober list and I am hoping to get to Moonstone by Wilkie Collins and the Heir of Redclyffe by Charlotte Mary Young before the month is through but to do so I will resolve to read thirty pages a night and focus.
