After listening to Trollope's Autobiography via Audible, I got a Bantam paperback edition from Nice Price Books (local used-book store) and searched on the web for any secondary reading. I ran across the Trollope-l mailing list and this site, which is an entryway to many writings, factoids, and discussions on Trollope's novels.
And I found what I was looking for here, which archives various threads from the Trollope-l mailing list regarding specifically these two novels. (They're usually included together as a single book.) Lots of folks on this list who loo-o-oove Trollope and have a deep level of knowledge about that period of English history. It's interesting to see people's reactions to Mr. Harding and Dr. Grantley and some of the scenes that just don't come off (such as the party at Harding's home).
After the ups and downs of the last few months, it's good to settle into a book that has a rather stately pace and isn't huffing and puffing for effect or cheap thrills. Not to say it isn't melodramatic. But there's a charm to it that's undeniable. The last novel I read before this was Stephen King's The Dark Tower, which was so good it kind of ruined me for novel-reading for a week or two, as I was reluctant to let that world go. I've only been affected a few times like that--Lee Smith's Oral History was another book that scoured out my insides and left me ruined for about two weeks, before I felt I could pick up another novel.
