I am finally reading Ivanhoe by Sir Walter Scott. Given that we have not one but three copies of this work, you may be surprised to learn that it is not my favorite book. It’s not even a book I’ve been able to finish. I’ve gotten as far as the first chapter and set it aside. Sentences such as, “The human figures which completed this landscape were in number two…” make me twitch; I want to take out my red pen and scratch through it, writing, “Two men…” Scott’s style reminds me of my early writing and my college fiction writing professor who, with all good intentions, handed me a…