Book review: "The ambassadors" by Henry James

This book appears on that top 100 list I'm always mentioning. I was quite cautious buying it, however, since lately I feel that 17-19 century classics start to get on my nerves... and hell was I right - I didn't even finish this book.

The thing is, I'm probably a little tired of the plots of these novels. They're nearly the same - talk about high society people, who apparently do nothing in their lives except for visiting each other and gossiping. They're assumably rich enough to do this all their lives, but at some point, it becomes unbearable for me, an average modern reader.

"The ambassadors" for example. I've read about half of it, and throughout I barely understand the point of the plot (that Strether came to take Chad back to US, but that was more clear from the back flip). The 200 pages I've read featured maybe 3-4 different scenes, and a lot of talking, pointless, endless, without a clear goal or task.

I don't know, perhaps these books are still "above" me. It's a long time I don't enjoy them any-more, and the right thing at the moment is to take a break. Read some lighter stuff. Maybe just keep with the stuff people personally recommend for the classics.