One of my favourite books is Tom Jones, by Henry Fielding, first published in 1749.  It is a great story — a foundling, crossed loves, parental rejection, scandals!  The book has more plot twists than modern page turners like The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, or Gone Girl — or even TV shows such as what Netflix or HBO would have.

If, however,  you were to set out as a modern reader to enjoy Tom Jones, you would notice something immensely different.  The difference lies not with the story, the themes, or the content.  No, Dear Reader, the biggest difference is in the structure of the language.  What becomes immediately apparent is that sentences are the length of what a modern reader would consider a paragraph.  And the paragraphs?  Well, the paragraphs go on for pages.  The pages, well, there are over 800 of them.

Reading must have been an entirely different experience in 1749.

There is research to suggest that our attentions spans are shortening as we tweet, browse, and surf from one click to the next.  For all that clicking we apparently spend, on average, less than one minute per web site. 

One minute… approximately the length of time it takes to read one Tom Jones sentence…

Enough of this — click on over to Contentment is for Cows, in which our beloved characters continue to experience the inner city.

And, by the way, the BBC has an excellent movie version of Tom Jones.  If you are a fan of period pieces, it is worth seeking out. 

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Enjoy!