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

Maybe we should have a Middlemarch readalong thread?

Good idea!

Wolf Hall a good story, badly told imho. The 'he' thing was so annoying.

Rufus Sewell, you say...?

I'm in

Ok. I've set up a readalong thread for us. Link here

One of the happiest phases of my life was when I built up my reading and I was churning through War & Peace and many other classics. I also did writing courses and wrote prolifically. Books made me happy, I'd get excited for the kids going to bed and reading in the bath or late at night when everyone else was asleep. Lost in a different world.
Then I got a bit hooked by the phone. It has undoubtedly reduced my reading ability. I still read but slower. Books just don't seem to grip me as much . I had to give up on The Grapes of Wrath recently. I've never given up on a classic before.
This has also coincided with a major get fit campaign so my mind and body is more absorbed in this and it has been great for my health. But I want to be in love with books again.

Middlemarch is awful

I was supposed to read it for English lit A level...i didnt

I tried reading it a few years ago...i couldn't

So i reckon its the book

I read it for the first time this year, as a 'guilty I haven't read it' book (War and Peace still awaits...). Joining the 50 book thread helps as it motivates. I read 100 pages a day of Middlemarch and it honestly didn't take that long. I skimmed a few chapters I thought it was brilliant in places but it is stodgy. I love Mill On The Floss.

Readalong is a good idea. That's how I am doing Bleak House and I am really enjoying it.

cat , I made myself finish Grapes of Wrath , for the above mentioned worthy reason. I love Of Mice and Men but Grapes feels like a week of my life I'll never get back...

Grapes is masterful, but so relentlessly depressing. I read it once and thought it was superb, but can't bring myself to ever read it again.

I recently started Middlemarch, last read many years ago. I gave up because I know what’s going to happen and I can’t bear Dorothea.
She needs telling to LTB.

I read ‘Grapes’ at 17 ( the angst!) - took me 30 years to go anywhere near it again.
Do love Steinbeck though.

I’m having the same problem OP. I loved reading heavier books in my teens/twenties but have such a short attention span now it’s impossible. Phones/social media probably a factor, but I also think my job contributes. At work I necessarily flit between a variety of topics in conversations/meetings/emails and find it almost impossible on lthe rare occasion I have to sit down and concentrate on something for a prolonged period. I think you sort of get addicted to the stress/adrenaline of go go go. My plan is to start with simpler novels and build up.

I also have aphantasia (no visual imagination) so have always struggled with long, descriptive passages in novels. I just don’t see anything in my minds eye so it’s really tedious.

Sorry Kew

DH and I both love Mmarch so much that DD1 is named after a main character. I re read it the other year whilst pg with her.

Lydgate is a self absorbed cock though. Gavel!