The Portrait of a Lady by Henry James

"Under certain circumstances there are few hours in life more agreeable than the hour dedicated to the ceremony known as afternoon tea."

And so begins the first novel on the Read Along Book List from the 100 Books Every High School Student Should Read. Henry James and I have a long and storied history dating back to the fact that I hate him. I think I'm one of two people in the world who like Edith Wharton, but can't make it through a James novel. I vividly remember Turn of the Screw being the longest, most boring ghost story on the face of the earth in high school. I remember as a high schooler trying to figure out how someone managed to make a ghost story so tedious and not interesting.

So here we are years later, with me as an adult deciding to try to muddle through 400+ pages of manners, suppressed emotions, and general descriptions of rooms. Clearly from the first sentence you can tell this is going to be a rip roaring, action packed adventure.