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Original poster

Has anyone read Middlemarch?

48 replies

Lonelymum · 23/10/2004 19:23

Does it ever become readable? I am struggling on only Chapter two and really want to throw in the towel but I am aware that I have hardly read any of it. This was chosen as one of the nation's top 100 books? Unbelievable!

OP posts:
CarolinaMoon · 16/11/2005 21:01

gawd, I'm still on about p.125 or something. Dorothea and Casaubon have just got married. Yay! Must learn to read a bit faster...

CarolinaMoon · 23/01/2006 17:12

OMG. I finished Middlemarch last night. Am rather to see just how long it's taken to me to read it .

It is fantastic though - so huge and full of ideas, and like everyone says, very grown up compared with some other writers of the time. I'm glad I didn't read it when I was younger - I wouldn't have got it at all.

lionhearted · 23/01/2006 17:39

Lonelymum, This reminds me of that game called 'Humiliation' where you have to confess to the classic must read that you couldn't quite manage never got around to read. Middlemarch would be pretty high on my list .... along with The Magic Mountain and, oh, all of Trollope!! (the elderly one)

KateF · 23/01/2006 17:50

I have tried about 4 times but it's still got a bookmark in the middle!

CarolinaMoon · 23/01/2006 17:53

Keep trying, KateF - it only took me 3 months to get through it .

KateF · 23/01/2006 17:57

Well, maybe I'll be inspired to have another bash

DonnerDasherDancerDior · 09/12/2006 20:31

Did a search for this book as I'm reading it now, after watching the BBC adaptation. Have to say that I couldn't read it before I had seen the adaptation, but now I'm really enjoying it. Am about 2/3 of the way through and it is taking longer than most books take me, but it is enjoyable even so.

expatinscotland · 09/12/2006 20:36

I've tried.

Twice.

DonnerDasherDancerDior · 09/12/2006 20:37

I'm like that with Possession!

expatinscotland · 09/12/2006 20:42

I managed to choke down 'Possession', Donner.

Don't know if I could manage such a feat nowadays, but I was 19 and stubborn then.

Blu · 09/12/2006 21:05

I loved Middlemarch - and may read it again shortly, as this thread has revived my nostlagia for it...but I fell at the first hurdle with 'Posession'. Just coulsn't do it!

I love the way GE writes - is it in M'march - or MOTF that she describes looking at the colour in tapestries 'spreading across the eye like disease of the retina'.?

But I can see how people would find it a bit unreadable. Like Trollope. I love Trollope. (not Joanna!)

tamum · 09/12/2006 21:10

I thought Middlemarch was wonderful too. Again, I read it when I was in my late twenties or so, I might not have enjoyed it as much as a teenager. I loved Possession too though, so am obviously weird. I did skip some of the pastiche bits after a while though, and I don't like anything else of hers I've read (A.S. Byatt I mean, not George Eliot).

Blu · 09/12/2006 21:14

Maybe I should try POsession again. Have I sent it to Banardo's?

tamum · 09/12/2006 21:15

Yes, afraid so

expatinscotland · 09/12/2006 21:22

The key to finishing 'Possession' is to skip all the poetry, although I didn't buy the modern parallel romance.

'The Game' was better.

expatinscotland · 09/12/2006 21:23

I just finished 'Star of the Sea' and that's going to be hard to beat. I so did NOT see the end coming! And he left it till the very last page. OMG!

Might try 'Middlemarch' again.

Third time the charm and all that.

DonnerDasherDancerDior · 09/12/2006 22:27

I tried Possession twice and just couldn't get further than 1/4 of the way in. I definitely think that watching BBC adaptations of books helps me to read a difficult book more easily, and therefore enjoy the story more. I have done that with; David Copperfield, Bleak House, Our Mutual Friend, Vanity Fair ('80s version), all of which I love now and have read more than once.

DonnerDasherDancerDior · 09/12/2006 22:27

Expat - who is 'Star of the Sea' by? I have a feeling it is in my pile of books waiting to be read. Was it good?

expatinscotland · 10/12/2006 16:08

Joseph O'Connor.

It's a BRILLIANT read. And the ending. OMG! I'd read it for the ending alone.

Suffice it to say, I soooo didn't see that coming.

DonnerDasherDancerDior · 10/12/2006 20:08

I'll dig that one out of the pile then! I'm pretty sure it is the one I'm thinking of...

DonnerDasherDancerDior · 10/12/2006 20:10

Yes, just found it! Looking forward to it now.

deaconblue · 11/12/2006 20:53

God yes, during my English degree. I was supposed to read it in a week, it took me months so I had to bullshit every tutorial on it. Loved the Tv thing a few years back so maybe I should give it a go again

PannintheChristmasPeaks · 11/12/2006 21:18

My very favourite book, well apart from Jayne Eyre....

M/march DOES take time...needs patience and each line savouring...so many brilliant comments on people/life.....but I am biased for it!!

TV dramatisation was really enjoyable, to me.

You CAN'T speed read it....try again?? Good luck.

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