Portrait of a Lady by Henry James

Cue "Ode to Joy" please!

I've finally finished Portrait of a Lady by Henry James. There were times when I honestly thought I would not finish this book. I don't know why this book was so hard but it took me the better part of two months to finish. I mean the story (heroine rejects several honorable suitors, heroine marries a buffoon, heroine realizes she's married a buffoon, and heroine becomes unhappy with said buffoon husband) isn't exactly in my wheelhouse as it were. But I've read a couple of Jane Austen books and they didn't give me this much trouble. I recently got promoted at work so maybe that took away from reading time I had to use a great deal of discipline not to put the book away and go to different book, but I persevered and here I sit finished. 

Next up is The Year of the Death of Ricardo Reis by Jose Saramago. Incidentally I'm going to have to decide since this is a Portugeuse novel whether in my head I should pronounce the title character's name as Hicardo Heis as I believe many Brazilians at least pronounce R's as H's.