Which Reminds Me

There was a time when a copy of Thackery's "Vanity Fair" sat on my bookshelf but I don't think that I ever got past the first or second chapters. It never made any sense to me, all those nonsensical dialogues of unreal persons and the affected and mannered way in which they interact with one another. I have no idea what they are talking about so how could I possibly understand the point of that book? So it just sat on my bookshelf for quite a while until I was thinning out my book collection and it was probably donated to charity via some thrift shop if I can recall.