Sunday Salon: A Suitable Boy; Reading Old Editions

I have my doubts about finishing A Suitable Boy before it is due back to the library on 11 May. Right now, I'm only on page 38 of this 1,349-page tome. The story isn't bad, but so far it hasn't hooked me enough to make me choose it over watching TV when I get home from work at night. Most of my reading is done outside the home on my lunch break or while waiting for a ride, but the size and weight of the book makes it too unwieldy to carry in my purse. This is one book that I wish my library had in an audio version so I could listen to it while I work.

Several book bloggers have recently mentioned I Capture the Castle as one of their favorites. I thought it was a new book and was surprised to find that it was published in 1948. This brings me to my dilemma: do I check out the 1948 original edition or the 1998 reprint? That may seem inconsequential to most people, but for me reading a reprint of an old book is like watching a costume drama. The modernized cover and the fonts that publishers favor these days make it difficult for me to think of a reprint in the context that it was originally written. Strangely, I don't have that problem with something very old like a Shakespeare play. It is only with books written in the latter half of the 20th century. I think it is because my local library had lots of old books in it when I was a kid, so I grew up reading books that were printed close to the year of the original publishing date (for instance, a 1950 edition of a book published in 1948). I may just avoid the issue altogether and check out an audio version.