THE SCARLET LETTER was one of those books I was supposed to read for college, but never actually did. I read some of it back then, but not enough to identify a passage from it on the midterm or final or whatever that was. I remember there was a passage and I said it was from Melville's story "Bartleby The Scrivener," which I also failed to read, if memory serves. Gosh, I was terrible. Well, if any of my old college (or High School) professors are out there reading this (they aren't), know this: every book I failed to read that was assigned to me for a class, is a book I intend to read one day.

As for THE SCARLET LETTER specifically, it was actually more engaging than I ever felt like giving it credit for. 11 days for a book as dense as this is a pretty good time-frame for me. Even High-School readin'-like-crazy me would be proud I think. Sure, there's a lot of that 19th-century puritanical nonsense going on (and pretty much non-stop) but at the heart of the thing it is a love story, and a pretty agonizing one. Not agonizing as in intolerable; I had a real sympathy for the characters (Hester Prynne in particular). Good stuff, Nathaniel! I'll be reading more of your work in the future, you bet!