I finished Henry James's Portrait of a Lady last night. When I watched the end of the movie, I thought I was missing Disk 2. But the book proved that I had, indeed, missed... nothing. Amazing.

So upon her return to Italy, did Isabel stay with her husband or divorce him? The reader is left to fill in the blanks. But of course she must have gone back to the jerk who married her only for her money, because the only predictable thing about Isabel's character is her strong sense of duty and responsibility. She is after all a lady. The title serves as a clue, methinks. Now, whoever said old books all have happy endings--yeah, that person has not read this one. (Or Tess of the d'Urbervilles.)

Today I'm partway through Frankenstein. I always thought that was the name of the monster, not its creator. I also did not realize that the full title as listed on the title page is Frankenstein or The Modern Prometheus. Prometheus, you recall, was the champion of humanity known for his wit and wiles who stole fire from Zeus (bad idea) and gave it to mortals (worse idea). His punishment: Zeus had him bound to a rock, and an eagle ate his liver daily (it grew back at night). Nice, huh?