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Original poster

Why can't I read Middlemarch?

63 replies

Kewqueue · 26/08/2018 11:49

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

OP posts:
CramptonHodnet · 26/08/2018 13:18

I bought a lovely unread second hand paperback copy of Middlemarch recently. It has been a long term goal to read Middlemarch. I know it's going to be difficult and so I have the audio book as well to help me concentrate.

I find I lose concentration after a while with books and they take longer than they should to read. Too many distractions, so I can only read for less than an hour at a time. DH reads quickly, completely oblivious to background distractions. Wish I could still do that Hmm

DolorestheNewt · 26/08/2018 13:22

FWIW, I tend to wake a lot in the middle of the night and can't get back to sleep, so a Kindle Paperwhite is my most treasured possession (though I also have the Kindle app downloaded on my iPhone). I often find that my energy and attention are best for reading during those hours, weirdly.

Admittedly, I don't have to be up in the morning as DH gets up with DS and I work odd hours.

TheHatOfDoom · 26/08/2018 14:05

Middlemarch is a really hard going book even when you aren't struggling to read.

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SelinaMyers · 26/08/2018 15:30

MawkishTwaddle Same! Had to do an essay on it one Christmas and was in heaven!

Xiaoxiong · 26/08/2018 15:37

I have found my people. I wanted to give Dorothea a shake as soon as I met her. First few chapters so difficult - I've started reading it about 10 times, each time gave up after 100 pages. The real book was so big it made my wrists hurt reading in bed (see also: the goldfinch, Wolf Hall).

What got me over the hump was downloading it on kindle on my phone. I didn't feel like I'd been reading it forever and was getting nowhere. Also I gave myself permission to skip/skim all the Dorothea bits, which paradoxically meant I didn't mind actually reading them!

Now onto Mayor of Casterbridge, with which I've had similar problems in the past...

JohnnyMcGrathSaysFuckOff · 26/08/2018 15:53

Ah, really! I love Dorothea. Tertius Lydgate is a massive prick though he basically marries Rosamund because she has nice blue eyes and then realises oh, oops, she is a human being with her own desires which he'd never even bothered to think about.

Arse.

JohnnyMcGrathSaysFuckOff · 26/08/2018 15:54

Rosamond ffs. Bloody autocorrect.

Gruach · 26/08/2018 15:57

It really is a shame that the thing that enables us to share and receive more news about books than ever before is also the thing that completely destroys our tolerance for sustained concentration!

You can get it back OP. (Don’t use Middlemarch as your yardstick - it’s famously frustrating to get into. I worship George Eliot but still haven’t read it properly.)

Is there any genre that you find carelessly easy to consume? After a tiresome few years of solid MN and Twitter (endless books bought and gathering dust) I found a combination of enforced non-fiction and Josephine Tey got me back to a point where I could manage a good half hour without internet checking ...

attentionspan · 26/08/2018 15:57

Why can't I read Middlemarch?

Because it's dull.

cannycat20 · 26/08/2018 16:55

Many of those big, chunky Victorian novels originally came out in instalments, so trying to read the whole thing can be pretty daunting.

I saw the TV series the BBC made years ago before I attempted to read the book and that really helped - it's still available on amazon. (Eeek, I've just looked, it was made in 1994...)

Original poster
Kewqueue · 26/08/2018 16:55

I've started reading it about 10 times, each time gave up after 100 pages. The real book was so big it made my wrists hurt reading in bed (see also: the goldfinch, Wolf Hall).

Ha! I have also abandoned Wolf Hall several times although I loved The Goldfinch.

JohnnyMcGrath - ShockShockShock Spoiler alert! I hadn't got that far. Grin

This afternoon I have finished another book that I was halfway through (Fall Down 7 Times Get up 8) which had very short chapters - easing myself back in!

OP posts:
RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie · 26/08/2018 16:56

I'm with AttentionSpan - I can't read 'Middlemarch' because it's dullsville.

RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie · 26/08/2018 16:56

And Wolf Hall isn't worth the wrist pain, frankly.

LittleDoritt · 26/08/2018 17:04

I love Middlemarch Portrait of a Lady made my eyes bleed though.

Gruach · 26/08/2018 17:22

Portrait Of A Lady was my introduction to the sheer venality and evil of the adult world. I’ve never been the same since ...

(Utterly brilliant book though!)

LadyRochfordsHoickedGusset · 26/08/2018 17:43

Bollocks Remus it's (Wolf Hall/Bring Up The Bodies/ next unknown one) worth the wrist pain, eye strain and every single thing else. Though tbf I read them first on kindle ...

Xiaoxiong · 26/08/2018 17:49

Wolf Hall was definitely worth it but similar to Middlemarch the first 100 pages were a real slog and then it really picked up. (My dad gave up about 5 times before I told him what happened in the first 100 pages and he skipped forward to start on page 101 - now it's one of his favourite books.) In addition Mantel has a real thing about using "he" in really unclear ways - once I realised that "he" was always Cromwell, no matter who else was in the most recent sentence/para, it was much easier.

GETTINGLIKEMYMOTHER · 26/08/2018 17:59

I never read Middlemarch until it was a set book on an OU course I did some years ago, and have to say I loved it once I'd got into it. Wrote several essays on it, inc. in the exam!

Victorian writers did tend to be very long winded, at least partly I'm sure because publishers then demanded long novels they could sell in 3 volumes, the lending libraries ditto - no free libraries then. And books were very expensive, hence Dickens starting his own magazines so he could publish his own - and his friends' - in serial form. One of his mags IIRC was a weekly costing only 2d (old pence) a week, so within reach of masses more people than books. Circulation was huge for the time, and the mags were heavily subsidised by advertisements - Dickens was very commercially minded.

One novel he published as a serial was his friend Wilkie Collins' The Woman In White, which was hugely successful and caused a massive sensation at the time, and IIRC has never been out of print.

IrmaFayLear · 26/08/2018 18:03

What a timely thread!

I decided to make 2018 the year I read mIddlemarch; it’s always on lists of the greatest novels so I thought I must knuckle down and see what i’ve been missing all these years.

I have so far made three attempts. I am creeping along at a snail’s pace and have read masses of other books whilst the tome sends reproving vibes from my bedside table. I was overjoyed when the Lucy Mangan book finally became available at the library and I was able to dodge Middlemarch yet again.

I did The Mill on the Floss for A Level and was not a fan. We had to read it in the Lower Sixth summer holidays and I remember forcing my eyes to follow the text.

I think partly it’s GE’s banging on about the superiority of tall, angular brunettes (er, some skin in the game, by any chance?!) versus small blondes. This was a theme in MOTF and straightaway in Middlemarch she strikes up with the same. It raises my hackles !

Melfish · 26/08/2018 18:10

I read Middlemarch as a teen and loved it, although the image of Rufus Sewell as Will Ladislaw certainly helped! I don’t think I have a copy anymore, which shows that 20+ years have passed since I last read it. I agree with others that my concentration is poor these days, and I haven’t read the ‘classics’ for years. Time I used to spend reading I now spend fannying about on the internet.

Disfordarkchocolate · 26/08/2018 18:17

I have moved to shorter stories (most of the time) because of this. However, for Middlemarch I wouldn't be be able to read it because Doreathea is so irritating. I also try to make sure I fit in some books that are lighter reads to balance out a habit to pick gloomy books.

CramptonHodnet · 26/08/2018 18:19

Maybe we should have a Middlemarch readalong thread? It might help to spur us all along if we were having a group read? I'm free to start in a couple of weeks' time Smile

EvilRingahBitch · 26/08/2018 18:21

I do think that watching / rewatching the TV series first will help a lot with getting through Middlemarch, because it’ll get all the characters clearly defined in your head. A mate of managed to do it for A level without ever reading it - it is a bit of a toughy but the thought of Rufus Sewell in a maroon coat does help.

IrmaFayLear · 26/08/2018 18:25

That’s a good idea, Crampton, I wonder if any other excellent women are up for the challenge/ordeal?

kesstrel · 26/08/2018 18:30

OP I have noticed a similar problem, but I find that reading aloud (or effectively doing the equivalent in my head) helps with switching the focus back on, and then I can just carry on as normal. Worthy a try?