I had a great time reading last night. It’s been ages since I deliberately read for more than a few minutes at a time. I got a third of the way through A Tale of Two Cities. I thought I’d actually read this one before, but apparently not since nothing is familiar.
Most people know the opening lines of the book: “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness…” I mention this for two reasons. Firstly, from what I’ve read thus far, this sums up the book. It is filled with comparisons and contrasts. Every page, every paragraph contains something that counters what came before, or something opposite of what will come next. I love it.
The second reason I quoted the opening lines of the novel is that it is sharp contrast to the other book I’m reading this week, The Origin of Species. I just picked it up about ten minutes ago and I’m only on page twenty… which is still the Editor’s Introduction (which starts on page 11). Out of the ten pages that I’ve read of the Editor’s Introduction (which goes on for another twenty-eight pages), six of them are thus far trying to pit Evolution against Creation – to give credence to Darwin’s theory and dismiss, entirely, the idea that there was a Creator.
Seriously, does an introduction to any book require almost forty pages? And does it need to condemn an entire belief system instead of simply giving a person a “heads up” about what is contained within the pages.
In any case, I need to get back to my reading.
By the way, I’m reading the Penguin Classics edition of The Origin of Species, with the introduction by J.W. Burrow.
