What's crackin'?

When you flip through a book you acquire less information than reading a synopsis. I'm a synopsis-sucker, but the assignment was to flip through the textbook.

I did the assignment, and, unsurprisingly, I didn't read any stories. When flipping, the smaller things are more sticky, and a single word [or expression] caught my attention.

Fin de siecle - French for "end of the century" or commonly used when describing a change in an era, or something along those lines.

I caught this saying in the Jekyll/Hyde segment on page 1441 and decided to provide a quick context for the expression.

I think that I need to develop a sense of patience for literature. Then, immediately, I can stick to page 1 first, not to the one before the appendix.