Why can't I read Middlemarch?

[Kewqueue]

For the last few years I have been finding it harder and harder to concentrate on real books. I used to love 19th century literature but now I am increasingly find it hard to concentrate on a book - and Middlemarch is proving very frustrating for me! I have restarted it several times, forget what I have read, get lost in the long sentences - and yet, I don't think it is actually that much harder than many of the 18th and 19th century novels I read when I was younger - is this the normal ageing process or something more sinister?

I came across this article about how reading online, skim reading and not really assimilating what we read means that we are finding it hard to read dense texts - this is definitely true for me! At the same time, I find it increasingly hard NOT to read stuff online - especially mumsnet! I deleted my account but recently got sucked back in. Just wondered if anyone is in the same boat and what you do about it to protect your own cognitive abilities (and that of your children).

www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/aug/25/skim-reading-new-normal-maryanne-wolf

Read something easier than middle march?? If you really want to know the story, listen to it on audio book.

I can only read if my phone is put away.

Well, for a start I would give up on Middlemarch for the time being, and start with something simpler! It can be good literary fiction, but shorter and easier to read. You will eventually get back into the habit.

I was the same. I used to be such a bookworm, and I was appalled at how few books I was reading. I was wasting so much time on my iPad instead.

Yes, as pp have said- try something easier for now! I go through phases where I can't concentrate enough to read the classics so I read kids books or fluffy fiction haha

If you haven't read anything dense for a while, you're out of practice.
Read something light to get back into it.
I used to read 5+ books a week and have several on the go at a time but dc and iPhone page flipping have ruined my concentration abilities and I found it so hard to pick up a book and read it.
I've been slowly building back up, started with some YA fiction and shorter modern stuff before getting back to the sagas.

Oh, and I also figured out my lack of focus was literally that... I needed glasses.

It's worth it tho, I make a point of reading a book for half an hour before bed instead of iPhone and I sleep much better.

It took me years to get past the first few chapters. I had loads of attempts, got bored every time and would then give up.
Eventually I skipped the first few chapters and suddenly couldn’t put it down. It’s a wonderful book but the beginning is dreadful.

Having said that, I’ve found similar myself and have confined myself to reading crime fiction recently -at least I’m reading is my thought.

Restart by rereading a familiar 19th favourite?

19th CENTURY.

May also be because Middlemarch is deathly dull

You can't read it because it is dull. I generally give a book 50 pages, if I'm not into by then I move on. Nothing to do with attention span but life is too short to waste on things you aren't enjoying.

I bloody loved Middlemarch when I read it as an undergraduate.

Not sure I'd have the patience now.

Just a thought but are you trying to read it on a kindle? I find it harder to read big books on a kindle. I much prefer a “real” book.

is this the normal ageing process or something more sinister?

Can't exclude the sinister, OP, but I'm 55 and have completely lost my ability to focus on books. Kindles help, and audiobooks, because I sometimes mix and match between audio and reading to keep plugging away with a long text.

Middlemarch is one of my favourite books, and I don't find it difficult, but it's not to everyone's taste! And I read a thread the other day on which someone said that they found Portrait of a Lady a really easy read - bloody hell, if you want long sentences, Henry James is far worse than George Eliot!

A friend and I were lamenting about this the other day. We've always been avid readers, but lately neither of us has been able to get into anything 'meaty'. I found this recently on another site, and we're both hoping it just means we're in stage 6 and that stage 7 is coming!

I loved Middlemarch eventually but it took me three goes to get into it, partly because I found dorothea unsympathetic. Try something more accessible like North and South or The Tenant of Wildfell Hall? PS I'm currently experiencing similar struggles with Mill on the Floss, though I loved Daniel Deronda and Adam Bede. I think you're right about our declining faculty for sustained concentration when reading, it's a bit like those classic films that people suggest, which now seem incredibly slow moving.

I think with Victorian lit you really have to treat each chapter like an episode in itself and devote your full attention to it. Like the way Dickens first published his novels in Household Words. People were eager for the next instalment. And try to drop the switching to WhatsApp/Insta/Insert social media here/MN on a whim. I do sympathise though OP, our whole way of reading has changed so much.

I enjoyed Trollope that way. And that's not as naughty as it sounds.

I'm not going to give up! I'm stubborn like that. I give up on lots of books that I don't enjoy but I have never given up on a book because I feel a bit thick while reading it! I'll try that approach LadyRochford - a rainy Sunday is the best time to start!

Barabajagal - no, it's a "real" book. I gave up Kindle a few years ago as I can't remember anything I read on a Kindle!

I'm another one waiting impatiently for stage 7 to start. I'm thinking of making a habit of having a set reading time every evening this autumn and winter, for half an hour or so, just to get me back into it. And I used to have my head stuck into a book for every waking minute, including during meals.

My concentration has definitely gone down since I've spent more time messing about on the internet or playing games on my phone.

I found Middlemarch hard anyway. If you're out of practice I'd start with easier 18th and 19th century stuff like Fielding, Austen, Gaskell or Dickens.

I have to admit that I ended up giving up with Middlemarch and doing the audio book version instead. Audible have a great unabridged version with Juliet Stevenson narrating.

FlosCampi
Dorothea's a pill. Tertius Lydgate was one of the characters that kept me going through MM.

I enjoyed Middlemarch - it's worth persevering. cariadlet's suggestion sounds good - ease yourself back into the right frame of mind with some lighter reading, such as Austen.

I really struggle with Victorian novels, despite being an avid reader and not struggling with denser modern ones. There are lots and lots of good , meaty modern books out there that you might enjoy more.

I’ve found my concentration is worse too, and is worse the more I’m online, though saying that I used to average a couple of books a week as a teen, in between spending hours on the computer!

I’ve found as life is busier I feel less able to sit down and lose myself in a book as I used to - too much to think about, and I’m constantly thinking about what I need to do next! On holiday it took me until about day 4 to be able to get stuck in.

I have Middlemarch sitting here with a slight layer of dust on. I've already started it twice. I would have read it in a week in my pre-child/smart phone days.