# Middlemarch



## Sharron1 (Jul 9, 2019)

Ok, nothing to do with diabetes. Has anyone read Middlemarch? Nice to give Diabetes a rest for a while


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## Eddy Edson (Jul 9, 2019)

Sharron1 said:


> Ok, nothing to do with diabetes. Has anyone read Middlemarch? Nice to give Diabetes a rest for a while



No, but I go through phases where I get into reading Victorians & George Eliot is on the to-do list. What do you think of it?


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## Robin (Jul 9, 2019)

I read it a few years ago, as it’s one of those classics I thought I ought to! I’m glad I have read it, and I enjoyed it, but there are other books I’d reread in preference, before I return to it. I’ve been rereading Trollope's Barchester Chronicles since the start of the year, I’ve finally got to book 6, and have enjoyed revisiting them.


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## Sharron1 (Jul 9, 2019)

Eddy Edson said:


> No, but I go through phases where I get into reading Victorians & George Eliot is on the to-do list. What do you think of it?


I found it quite hard going when I started I kept on forgetting the characters and how they all related to each other. I persevered and am now really enjoying it. I have the same problem with Dickens, way too many characters. I think he needed a better editor. I also thought that of Toni Morrison, the lecturer laughed.


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## trophywench (Jul 9, 2019)

I perennially feel guilty cos Mary Ann Evans only lived literally just up the road from our house and we frequently pass her where she currently presides in statue form, outside the main door of the George Eliot Hospital* - for not having read any of her books.

*'her' hospice is there too!


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## Lucy Honeychurch (Jul 9, 2019)

I have the book but haven't got round to reading it yet, I enjoyed the TV series, definitely worth a watch.


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## Sharron1 (Jul 9, 2019)

Lucy Honeychurch said:


> I have the book but haven't got round to reading it yet, I enjoyed the TV series, definitely worth a watch.


I have been told that the TV series was  worth while to watch.


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## Lanny (Jul 10, 2019)

I tried reading it ages ago & also lost track of the many characters! I saw the BBC series & it was excellent but, it didn’t cover the whole book! Discovered that when I did eventually finish it AFTER watching the series: easier to keep track of the characters after watching them on screen! Also, Andrew Davies’ interview on the DVD extras helped a lot when he equated them to the modern day equivalents, as he saw them: eg. boy racer always wanting, not necessarily getting, the latest, fastest & flashiest car etc. ; was eye opening & REALLY helped to connect with the characters!


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## Sharron1 (Jul 10, 2019)

Lanny said:


> I tried reading it ages ago & also lost track of the many characters! I saw the BBC series & it was excellent but, it didn’t cover the whole book! Discovered that when I did eventually finish it AFTER watching the series: easier to keep track of the characters after watching them on screen! Also, Andrew Davies’ interview on the DVD extras helped a lot when he equated them to the modern day equivalents, as he saw them: eg. boy racer always wanting, not necessarily getting, the latest, fastest & flashiest car etc. ; was eye opening & REALLY helped to connect with the characters!


Ok I must admit I also get lost with the characters but I download the Wikipedia entry and keep it handy. But don't tell anyone


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## Lucy Honeychurch (Jul 10, 2019)

Lanny said:


> I tried reading it ages ago & also lost track of the many characters! I saw the BBC series & it was excellent but, it didn’t cover the whole book! Discovered that when I did eventually finish it AFTER watching the series: easier to keep track of the characters after watching them on screen! Also, Andrew Davies’ interview on the DVD extras helped a lot when he equated them to the modern day equivalents, as he saw them: eg. boy racer always wanting, not necessarily getting, the latest, fastest & flashiest car etc. ; was eye opening & REALLY helped to connect with the characters!



Andrew Davies is always fantastic at character analysis.


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## TheClockworkDodo (Jul 12, 2019)

That's a blast from the past for me - Middlemarch was one of the first books I had to read for my first degree, so I must have read it in 1984.

Um - I'm not sure I actually remember much about it now though!   I remember reading The Mill On The Floss later and liking that better, even though it made me cry, which books don't usually do.


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## Eddy Edson (Jul 13, 2019)

OK, going to start on Middlemarch this w/end.

I very much enjoyed Trollope, Thackeray, Wilkie Collins after putting some work in to start with, so I have hopes.


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## Sharron1 (Jul 13, 2019)

Am almost at the end and have managed to keep track of the plots and related characters (albeit with the help of wikipedia). On reflection I think I am enjoying it or maybe it is not the chore it was at the beginning. Next on list is Jekyll and Hyde ...


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## Joe Corcoran (Jan 9, 2020)

I started it on a plane to the north of Sweden and got so engossed that when I realised I'd left it on the plane I dropped everything to trawl round the area to find another copy in English. Couldn't put it down. Brilliant book.


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## DeeM (Aug 6, 2022)

I absolutely love that this book section has Middlemarch listed. Coming across this thread has made my day . I have read and re-read it quite a few times over the course of my life. Just thinking about all the characters now brings a smile to my face - such a satisfying read. People will probably think this is a daft comparison, but I think Marian Keyes has a similarly satisfying way of letting us enter the perspective of a character while simultaneously observing/ recognising what they are missing or what they need to learn.


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## harbottle (Aug 6, 2022)

Sharron1 said:


> Ok, nothing to do with diabetes. Has anyone read Middlemarch? Nice to give Diabetes a rest for a while



No, but I walked past the building today where George Eliot went to school. There was a plaque on it.


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## Robin (Aug 6, 2022)

I see that I posted in 2019 that I'd read it some time ago and wasn’t inclined to reread it. Well, I did reread it over lockdown, and got on with it a lot better. I am likely to read it again fairly soon, it seems to be one of those books that grows on you.
I still can’t pick up Mill on the Floss without wanting to hurl it across the room, though.(That and Wuthering Heights, switching authors for a moment. They rank as my two least favourite books)


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