Diligently trying to get through this book, but it’s a tough slog. I keep looking for the “moments of brilliance” @stradmom describes.
44 pages to go! Have also watched about half the mini-series which I think is quite good.
Yikes, over 800 pages to go here! I’ll keep plugging away. Still at the stage of constantly referring back to Wikipedia’s list of Dramatis Personae to keep on track. So overwhelmed with real life that I’m not doing this justice, but very glad to have started it and looking forward to the discussion here very much!
330 pages to go for me. I’m finding it slightly more engaging than previously, but still feel as if I’m slogging through …
Starting ch. 71 (out of 86 + Finale). I should finish today or tomorrow or the next day. I’m listening (Juliet Stevenson - Audible Edition) and reading. I like both the reader and the book and am glad to read it as part of this group. It’s on to many best books not to have caught my eye. Still it has been a challenge, probably more so because my attention span has been nonexistent in these days of Coronavirus news.
Just finished. Whew!
@my2sonsfromca So glad that you joined the “I finished Middlemarch by April 1st” club!!!
I finished! I don’t know how much I retained though.
It’s April 1st! Welcome to our discussion of Middlemarch.
How I Spent My Spring Apocalypse: Binge-reading this novel. I finished the book at 4:00 this morning. Since it’s only just past 8:00 am now, you’ll have to forgive me if I’m short on intellectualism at the moment.
Let me begin at the end: My favorite line of Middlemarch was the last one. Yes, partly because it meant it was over, but mostly because it felt so pertinent to our current times, as fame and fortune fall away and the most important thing we can do right now is call a friend to check on their safety or leave a basket of food on our neighbor’s porch.
Off to pour myself a big cup of coffee. Carry on!
I didn’t finish yet. I am close and should finish later today or tomorrow morning. I am enjoying the book, but have had some difficulty staying focused with the current state of our world. When I started the book, I was both listening to it on Audible and reading it. Once I had a good sense of all, or at least most, of the character names, I just stuck with Audible. An interesting side effect of listening to Middlemarch was that I found it very relaxing and often fell asleep. That is part of the reason it is taking me so long to finish!
Raising my hand from the back of the room here. I’m still only a little over 10% through, but that last line is why I’ll keep reading. It sounds very similar to Adlai Stevenson’s touching definition of patriotism as “the tranquil and steady dedication of a lifetime.”
@Caraid, I found the last third of the book to go much more quickly than the first 2/3. Maybe that’s because buckling down and reading a lot at once was a better way of drawing me into the story – or maybe it took that long for me to be truly familiar with all the different characters and interconnecting stories. I’ll have to look for a Middlemarch family tree online, but I felt like everybody in that town was related to everybody else.
“Difficulty staying focused” was definitely an issue for me. I chuckled when I read this description of Dorothea having the same problem with the book she was reading because it rang so true:
I finished it at 2 am this morning. Like many, while I should have more time to read, I’ve found it hard to concentrate. In the end though, I was very glad to have read it. Mary, that quotation is just perfect for our times isn’t it.
I started off reading on kindle during a once a week commute a class in NYC when that was canceled I switched to the paperback I’d originally read back when I was 19.
I’d forgotten how cynically funny Eliot could be. An example from Book One, Chapter Nine:
Of course Eliot gives one prime example of where that is not the case at all!
I want a map, not of characters but rather location. Where is Lowick and Stone Court, etc?
Like @Caraid: I should finish today or tomorrow.
@mathmom: I love Elliot’s humor: subtle yet at the same time not. I’d read something and find myself smiling before I consciously realized why.
I know I wouldn’t have tackled this book without the CC Bookclub, so many thanks. Count me as one who really likes it. I will say it demanded more from me than just about anything I’ve read (including Milton’s Paradise Lost), but I also think that’s because of Coronavirus-divided-attention.
I’m grateful that now I can come here and have something to capture my attention that doesn’t concern world news.
I also found trying to figure out what the various different clergical positions were incredibly confusing. Rector, curate, vicar etc. There’s also the difference between those who are Methodist vs Church of England.
I too wondered about the geography and just how far apart things were from each other.
Ok, I’m sitting in the way, way back row.
Amazing Mary13 you read til 4 am, I hope it was somewhat enjoyable, no one needs added stress during these historic times,
I watched the BBC series, and must say a nice break from 2020.
I even had trouble keeping the characters straight, so appreciate @ignatius link.
I finished watching the last episodes at 5 am this morning, I think we are quite sleep deprived. But, given these times, I’m not complaining, Good thoughts to all, Ill enjoy this conversation,
That relationship map was helpful! Here’s a map of the town that I found: https://app.snapapp.com/MiddlemarchMap
Popping in to say I was listening to a podcast yesterday, and towards the end the hosts were joking around & tossing out ideas of what to do with all the “free time” during the Stay at Home mandates.
Imagine my surprise when one of the hosts said “Finally read Middlemarch!” O.O
Well, I’m not sitting in the last row; I’m not even in the room. I decided a while back I wasn’t going to attempt it, so I’m just lurking. But Mary’s quoting that last line of the book really hit home to me. It reminds me of the Sandy Hook School principal Dawn Lafferty Hochsprung, whose favorite quote was “Be nice to each other; it’s really all that matters.” During a pandemic, it matters a lot.