So Ends Part One? What?

I've been trying to be good and actually make time for reading so that I can be successful in my challenge to myself. If I don't make myself read now, there's a good possibility that I will forget my challenge and pick up whatever book seems sweetest at the moment. I'm determined to stick with my challenge. So I've been reading Little Women, and I was quite surprised when I made it past the halfway mark and still hadn't reached the place where I stopped reading so many years ago. I wondered why I'd been so lazy as to not finish the book when I was so near the end. Well, when there were only about fifty pages left I knew something was up. I'm familiar enough with the story to know that much more had to happen before it came to it's close, and there was no way that everything that was meant to happen could happen in fifty pages.

I kept reading and just now made it to the end of those fifty pages. It was then that I made a curious discovery. The end of my copy reads thus: "So grouped, the curtain falls upon Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy. Whether it ever rises again depends upon the reception given to the first act of the domestic drama called LITTLE WOMEN." Can you imagine my distress when I realized the story is broken up into two parts and I held in my hands only the first? My reaction was something to the affect of, "What the heck? Why would you only publish part one in a book when there are two parts? Curse you!" I'm still very fond of the copy as I like old copies of books and mine is a printing from the 1960's, and I realize some of you might not think that old at all, but I'm afraid it's before my time. Please forgive me.

Fortunately, I happen to have another copy of Little Women, and it has both parts! So tomorrow I resume my reading. Meg has just become engaged, meaning the next chapter may very well be the one that lost my interest the first time I tried to read it. You will not beat me this time! I think I'm enjoying the book better this time around. I'm enjoying the little bits of wisdom. I also love Laurie, and I have a little rant about him, but I think that should be saved until after I've finished the book since my judgements are based solely on movie representation. It won't be long now until I'm on to book two!