In the latter days of July in the year 185__, a most important question was for ten days hourly asked in the cathedral city of Barchester, and answered every hour in various ways -- Who was to be the new Bishop?
-- Barchester Towers by Anthony Trollope
This is the second of six books in Anthony Trollope's Chronicles of Barsetshire. Written in 1857, it is a witty satire of English country life and the machinations of the Church hierarchy in the cathedral city of Barchester.
For years, I've had good intentions to read all six books, but never added any more to my TBR shelf than a pretty folio edition of The Last Chronicle of Barset, the final volume. So I finally got the audiobooks from my library and have been reading them with my ears, starting with The Warden. (I am a big fan of audiobooks, especially when it comes to older "classics," as I explain here.)
The Warden was very good, but Barchester Towers is even better. It has a complex but not difficult story, the characters are over-the-top, and Trollope brilliantly clever.
This is my first time participating in Thursday Tea, a weekly event hosted by Anastasia at her Birdbrain(ed) Book Blog.
I get to participate this week because, for once, I'm at home on a Thursday. I'm taking a Bon Bon Day, as my sister and I call them. (Don't tell my law partners I'm playing hooky.) So I am listening to Trollope while I putter in the garden, organizing my craft room, and play with the Jazz Cats.
And I'm drinking cup after cup of Earl Grey. Hubby prefers this particular blend of Irish Breakfast, which is my daily drinker as well. But when he's not around, I hit the Earl Grey.
