I first read this book back in late '79, just after the mini-series aired. Bought it (well, not THIS edition, this edition pictured was released a couple years ago) at an airport bookstore. I got so totally absorbed in it, that I didn't remember much else about the plane ride. But I was hooked on this book. I read it, for a year afterward, from front to back and front again, and again, and again. I just loved it, and it has to be one of my all-time favorite novels. I just purchased the above edition from Amazon dot com and I finished it in 2 days.