Bookish Sarah asks:

What book took you the longest to read, and do you feel it was the content or just the length that made it so?

I don’t know what book has taken me the longest to read, but lots of books have taken me a long time to read, and here are some reasons why:

1) I’m not enjoying the story, but there’s a story question I want answered. Or just a plot twist. Or one small character I can’t let go of enough to give up altogether.

2) I’m enjoying the language more than the story. Or equally as much as the story. I’ll read a beautifully-written book slowly, as it was probably written.

3) I’ve lost it. Or had to return it to the library. This has happened on numerous occasions over the past three years, because I’ve lived in three different states… in six different time periods. Figure that one out.

4) I love the story but the language is slow. Or complex. This is sort of the same as 2, but a little different. I’m reading Bleak House at the moment… well, I will be when I get it back from the library sometime (See Reason #3) and I’m fully drawn in, the wording just takes longer to read, period. This is the same for a lot of classics for me.