In these days of fast paced entertainment reading a book can be the equivalent of a walk in a spring forest. The story is handed out at a measured tempo and you can digest it at your leisure. Having read a particularly difficult part you can stare outside for a moment and mull over the words you just read. The story will be waiting there for you to commence reading whenever you are ready.
This way of enjoying a book does also allow for appreciating the language used by the author. This is especially important when reading Henry James, I feel. His writing is often intricate and ingenious. It takes time to read a Henry James novel as story, that which makes you turn pages, is of lesser importance than the words itself.
I wrote an article going deeper into this element of reading Henry James. If you are interested, you can find it here:
http://www.noisepollution.nl/?p=1845
The article is an analysis of why I love reading Henry James. This is of course a personal matter but I would be interested to know whether other Henry James readers feel the same way.
Kind regards,
Henk de Kruyff
The Netherlands