Beginning Barchester Towers

I can see why people get so fond of Trollope. He's a good companion. It's as if the two of you were ensconced in capacious arm chairs and yarning across the fire at the club. He's more of a presence in his books than most authors are, talking about his characters as if they're people he knows, confessing his ignorance of procedures he can't be bothered to research and treating you to personal grumbles about this and that. He affects toryism and conventional wisdom, but really he's entirely worldly and unshockable and- far from being partisan- is mainly amused by the funny little power-plays and antagonisms with which people choose to fill up their time on earth.  I read him as a teen and thought him frightfully dull, but that was because most of what he was saying was going right over my head. I can't think of another writer who is so entirely grown-up.

I'm glad to have found him. I was running out of things to read and he produced something like 40 books. If I don't get weary of him he should keep me going for ages.