I love this!! "first-day-of-school" energy is my favorite energy! I am glad you have time to re-read, too. I think I'll be dizzily moving through that Prelude all week long — it sets up SO much. It's so dense with ideas and concepts and references. What an amazing kickoff to the story!
I have gone through my calendar/ planner both electronic and paper and marked the weeks with chapters. I have opened a new folder in my email for the [weekly?] messages. I am about to start.
interestingly enough this has also made me pull out my red pen and my post it tabs for another non fiction book I am working on this summer. THank you for jumpstarting me Haley
I like the comparison of the first lines of the prelude and chapter 1 to that of the universal to the particular. P&P is mentioned as a similar example, it also makes me think of the opening paragraphs to Their Eyes Are Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston – the opening lines start with the wishes and dreams of men, the reality of women’s thoughts, and then we zoom in on Janie Crawford as she returns from her own journey of love, adventure, and dreams deferred.
Oh, Ramona I love that. I actually haven't ever read Hurston's novel (I started it in grad school and had to put it down). I am loving your comparison here and it only makes me want to read it even more now!
Yes, I definitely recommend it! I have read it on the page a couple of times and as an audiobook. If you like audiobooks, there is an excellent version narrated by Ruby Dee.
"The first lines of novels like Middlemarch often function as a kind of microcosm for the novel as a whole." Note to self: read up on Saint Teresa of Ávila including excerpts from The Interior Castle.
I must confess I’ve been on the fence about this one for a long time. Now I’m caught in the excitement, especially after reading your tips on reading big books.
I binge-read Middlemarch in 3 days a couple years ago (I was doing quarantine in a hotel room after landing in Hongkong toward the end of COVID years.) This time I will slow down and see if I can figure out why it’s regarded the best novel by so many writes whom I esteem. Thanks Haley! You always inspire!
Lassandro, I love your questions! I’m still fairly new to reading 19th C lit and one of the things that I have learned to love is thinking about the readers of the time. Who were they? What was their world view? What did they feel while reading? How were they changed by what they read? I try to put myself in their reality and see if/how that feels different to me.
So very excited to have this close reading mark the beginning of my summer reading!! I have felt much fatigue with books (especially those that require such time and thought as this will), that I have not been as involved with literature these past months as I would have liked. So thank you!
Hi Ava! I'm so glad you're here. I hope the questions each week, along with your peers' brilliant observations, will bring you the inspiration to get involved in the story!
I’ve also caught the first-day-of-excitement vibe - loving it. I really appreciate the gentle pace of the schedule. I will reflect later on your prompts - thank you for those. I had mentioned previously that I had read the novel years and years ago and was struck in starting to read last night by how wry and funny it is. I had not remembered that when I read it almost a half-century ago. (At 75, I may be the eminence grise of the group - hope that’s okay). I should have suspected something was up when Eliot opens her tale of life in Middlemarch by invoking one of the great Western mystics. So glad to be on this journey with all of you.
I first read the book at 30, then again at 55 and it certainly struck a deeper chord with the older me. I'm 59 now but typically am a speedy reader so I'm anxious to see how slow reading goes for me and what I take away from the novel. I think this shared experience is going to be fascinating.
I suspect I’ll get more out of it this time around. I know what you’re saying about pacing. I can imagine there may be times I’ll want to “binge.” Taking the time to reflect on the prompts will probably help me with that. And, yes, really looking forward to the shared experience.
I read this book during my husband's PhD, which while it did finish and he did graduate, at the time the PhD felt like a season of our lives that would never end. Nothing made the Causbon sections so funny and tragic as feeling like we were living them!
Welcome Marybeth — I am so glad you're here and reading with us! Of *course* it's okay that you're reading along with us.
I also found myself laughing out loud and was stunned! I didn't expect the novel to be funny (which is one of the assumptions I tend to always make about "classic" books) but I was thrilled to find that our narrator is a bit of a tease. Can't wait to keep reading!
Yes! I suspect I will emerge with increased appreciation for the author. I’ll say more about this when I compile my thoughts and it’s early days but I’m sensing that Eliot is taking a tone of gentle teasing toward Dorothea - like how a loving older sibling or doting father would approach a perhaps too serious, earnest family member. I imagine it was in that spirit that Theresa of Avila’s relatives intercepted her abortive attempt at crusading.
I had watched the miniseries of Middlemarch years ago (I love adaptations of British literature, but I'll watch almost any period drama for the costumes), and while I enjoyed it, it didn't stand out to me. It didn't grab me and I certainly didn't think when I finally got around to reading the book, that it would become my favorite book (tied with Anna Karenina)! And I think what was missing in the miniseries was the narrator's voice, which can be so funny. The humor and zest was lost without that, even if the events were the same.
So excited to read this with others! My copy is so old and worn that it dates me — it’s from college days of yore and the pages threaten to fall out as I turn them. I may have to buy a new edition in honor of this endeavor!
Extremely excited to be starting this. It's my first time reading, but I've owned a copy for....a while... I have a Norton Critical Edition, so it has footnotes contextualising some of the historical figures Eliot references. I'm loving the prompts for this week, and I'll be including the epigraph of chapter 1 in my reflections as well - it seems Eliot has an epigraph for the start of every chapter?
I was initially just going to take notes in my regular day-to-day, not quite a common place, notebook but after reading through this post and the comments I've fallen into the excitement of it all and have busted out a whole new notebook for this!
I'm really excited about this! I've found classics to be intimidating and have never annotated a book before, so I'm looking forward to reading slowly and learning how to analyse. Thank you for making this whopper of a novel feel like a fun adventure!
I'm in the same boat here! I haven't studied a classic novel in this way before and am excited for the challenge and to learn from how others are interacting with it. I'm nervous to annotate in the book too, foreign practice to me to write in my books but I think it will be fun
I’m reading Middlemarch for the second time; first was just last year. You all are going to meet some amazing and memorable people in the form of its characters. Honestly, I have thought of several of them at times throughout the past year. One of my tips for the reading…If you only have the Penguin deluxe edition (you know, the greenish paperback with the hand on the cover), buy a different version that includes explanatory notes. I did that after reading several chapters. I liked the green edition for its font and layout, but the lack of Notes was a handicap to understanding obscure concepts and references in the text. So providing those insights was what the other edition provided. I read the green one and dipped into the other one for Notes. Money-wise it was a cheap investment that really enhanced my reading!
Aghh this is the one I’m using. Thanks for the heads up. But I’ve already started this copy so I might rock with that and see how long before shit stops making sense to me. Maybe then I’ll switch.
Which version has good notes? I am using the Barnes & Nobel exclusive Penguin classics printing (because it’s pretty! The pink with silhouettes on it) and have already noticed the notes are very short and few and far between- far less than what Pride and Prejudice had.
I used the Penguin Classics paperback with the statue bust on the front cover. 0141439548 is the ISBN 10 number if that helps you search for it. About $12 last I checked.
I have to confess that I had to reread the prelude a couple of times before I fully understood what Eliot was trying to convey. Moving on to chapter one was easier after taking the time to understand her writing. A wonderful benefit of slow reading.
That prelude is a wacky little introduction isn't it? I'll talk all about it in our June 2nd post! I love that you took the time and energy to read it more than once—that is one of the most straightforward tricks to crack open a close reading. Nice work!!
Me too! I initially felt like “whoa, this is going to be a long 800 pages! No wonder Haley prepped us with how to get through a long, sometimes boring book.” The text of chapter one felt much easier and more accessible.
I love this!! "first-day-of-school" energy is my favorite energy! I am glad you have time to re-read, too. I think I'll be dizzily moving through that Prelude all week long — it sets up SO much. It's so dense with ideas and concepts and references. What an amazing kickoff to the story!
I've never even thought of using a small, book-sized notebook for note-taking... so smart. I'm borrowing this idea!
Take it! It's a game changer!!!!
I have gone through my calendar/ planner both electronic and paper and marked the weeks with chapters. I have opened a new folder in my email for the [weekly?] messages. I am about to start.
interestingly enough this has also made me pull out my red pen and my post it tabs for another non fiction book I am working on this summer. THank you for jumpstarting me Haley
Yay! Thanks so much for reading along, Andrea!
I like the comparison of the first lines of the prelude and chapter 1 to that of the universal to the particular. P&P is mentioned as a similar example, it also makes me think of the opening paragraphs to Their Eyes Are Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston – the opening lines start with the wishes and dreams of men, the reality of women’s thoughts, and then we zoom in on Janie Crawford as she returns from her own journey of love, adventure, and dreams deferred.
Oh, Ramona I love that. I actually haven't ever read Hurston's novel (I started it in grad school and had to put it down). I am loving your comparison here and it only makes me want to read it even more now!
Yes, I definitely recommend it! I have read it on the page a couple of times and as an audiobook. If you like audiobooks, there is an excellent version narrated by Ruby Dee.
I have read it a couple of times but it’s been a while so I am thrilled to have your audio book rec.
Oh, I love this connection! I need to reread that one, and it feels like a sweet companion read.
"The first lines of novels like Middlemarch often function as a kind of microcosm for the novel as a whole." Note to self: read up on Saint Teresa of Ávila including excerpts from The Interior Castle.
I just busted out a notebook that had been gathering dust as my read-along notebook. So thrilled to begin!
Yay! Welcome Caroline!
I must confess I’ve been on the fence about this one for a long time. Now I’m caught in the excitement, especially after reading your tips on reading big books.
I binge-read Middlemarch in 3 days a couple years ago (I was doing quarantine in a hotel room after landing in Hongkong toward the end of COVID years.) This time I will slow down and see if I can figure out why it’s regarded the best novel by so many writes whom I esteem. Thanks Haley! You always inspire!
3 days! That's incredible!
I got lots of reading done during those quarantines. I secretly miss them 😅
Opening the first pages of the novel a question arises : what kind of person would I have been in that historical period?
A woman who courageously fights to be free to live the life she wants without fear of society's judgement?
A woman with ideals, but too fragile to fight?
A woman who acceptes conventions?
Lassandro, I love your questions! I’m still fairly new to reading 19th C lit and one of the things that I have learned to love is thinking about the readers of the time. Who were they? What was their world view? What did they feel while reading? How were they changed by what they read? I try to put myself in their reality and see if/how that feels different to me.
So very excited to have this close reading mark the beginning of my summer reading!! I have felt much fatigue with books (especially those that require such time and thought as this will), that I have not been as involved with literature these past months as I would have liked. So thank you!
Hi Ava! I'm so glad you're here. I hope the questions each week, along with your peers' brilliant observations, will bring you the inspiration to get involved in the story!
Whilst reading up on St Theresa de Avila, there is the spooky coincidence of her tomb being reopened today for visitors to see her remains for only the 2nd time in 400 years! https://news.sky.com/story/display-of-saints-remains-draws-huge-crowds-but-bishop-says-it-encourages-morbid-curiosity-13374993
Thank you for this- what a coincidence that is!
WHOA. Okay. That is a super spooky coincidence. I love it!
I know isn’t it strange. But totally fascinating.
I’ve also caught the first-day-of-excitement vibe - loving it. I really appreciate the gentle pace of the schedule. I will reflect later on your prompts - thank you for those. I had mentioned previously that I had read the novel years and years ago and was struck in starting to read last night by how wry and funny it is. I had not remembered that when I read it almost a half-century ago. (At 75, I may be the eminence grise of the group - hope that’s okay). I should have suspected something was up when Eliot opens her tale of life in Middlemarch by invoking one of the great Western mystics. So glad to be on this journey with all of you.
I first read the book at 30, then again at 55 and it certainly struck a deeper chord with the older me. I'm 59 now but typically am a speedy reader so I'm anxious to see how slow reading goes for me and what I take away from the novel. I think this shared experience is going to be fascinating.
I suspect I’ll get more out of it this time around. I know what you’re saying about pacing. I can imagine there may be times I’ll want to “binge.” Taking the time to reflect on the prompts will probably help me with that. And, yes, really looking forward to the shared experience.
I read this book during my husband's PhD, which while it did finish and he did graduate, at the time the PhD felt like a season of our lives that would never end. Nothing made the Causbon sections so funny and tragic as feeling like we were living them!
Welcome Marybeth — I am so glad you're here and reading with us! Of *course* it's okay that you're reading along with us.
I also found myself laughing out loud and was stunned! I didn't expect the novel to be funny (which is one of the assumptions I tend to always make about "classic" books) but I was thrilled to find that our narrator is a bit of a tease. Can't wait to keep reading!
Yes! I suspect I will emerge with increased appreciation for the author. I’ll say more about this when I compile my thoughts and it’s early days but I’m sensing that Eliot is taking a tone of gentle teasing toward Dorothea - like how a loving older sibling or doting father would approach a perhaps too serious, earnest family member. I imagine it was in that spirit that Theresa of Avila’s relatives intercepted her abortive attempt at crusading.
I had watched the miniseries of Middlemarch years ago (I love adaptations of British literature, but I'll watch almost any period drama for the costumes), and while I enjoyed it, it didn't stand out to me. It didn't grab me and I certainly didn't think when I finally got around to reading the book, that it would become my favorite book (tied with Anna Karenina)! And I think what was missing in the miniseries was the narrator's voice, which can be so funny. The humor and zest was lost without that, even if the events were the same.
*were lost
So excited to read this with others! My copy is so old and worn that it dates me — it’s from college days of yore and the pages threaten to fall out as I turn them. I may have to buy a new edition in honor of this endeavor!
Extremely excited to be starting this. It's my first time reading, but I've owned a copy for....a while... I have a Norton Critical Edition, so it has footnotes contextualising some of the historical figures Eliot references. I'm loving the prompts for this week, and I'll be including the epigraph of chapter 1 in my reflections as well - it seems Eliot has an epigraph for the start of every chapter?
I was initially just going to take notes in my regular day-to-day, not quite a common place, notebook but after reading through this post and the comments I've fallen into the excitement of it all and have busted out a whole new notebook for this!
I'm really excited about this! I've found classics to be intimidating and have never annotated a book before, so I'm looking forward to reading slowly and learning how to analyse. Thank you for making this whopper of a novel feel like a fun adventure!
I'm in the same boat here! I haven't studied a classic novel in this way before and am excited for the challenge and to learn from how others are interacting with it. I'm nervous to annotate in the book too, foreign practice to me to write in my books but I think it will be fun
I’m reading Middlemarch for the second time; first was just last year. You all are going to meet some amazing and memorable people in the form of its characters. Honestly, I have thought of several of them at times throughout the past year. One of my tips for the reading…If you only have the Penguin deluxe edition (you know, the greenish paperback with the hand on the cover), buy a different version that includes explanatory notes. I did that after reading several chapters. I liked the green edition for its font and layout, but the lack of Notes was a handicap to understanding obscure concepts and references in the text. So providing those insights was what the other edition provided. I read the green one and dipped into the other one for Notes. Money-wise it was a cheap investment that really enhanced my reading!
Aghh this is the one I’m using. Thanks for the heads up. But I’ve already started this copy so I might rock with that and see how long before shit stops making sense to me. Maybe then I’ll switch.
Oh, that's a fantastic callout. Thanks for sharing Alison!!
Which version has good notes? I am using the Barnes & Nobel exclusive Penguin classics printing (because it’s pretty! The pink with silhouettes on it) and have already noticed the notes are very short and few and far between- far less than what Pride and Prejudice had.
I used the Penguin Classics paperback with the statue bust on the front cover. 0141439548 is the ISBN 10 number if that helps you search for it. About $12 last I checked.
I have to confess that I had to reread the prelude a couple of times before I fully understood what Eliot was trying to convey. Moving on to chapter one was easier after taking the time to understand her writing. A wonderful benefit of slow reading.
That prelude is a wacky little introduction isn't it? I'll talk all about it in our June 2nd post! I love that you took the time and energy to read it more than once—that is one of the most straightforward tricks to crack open a close reading. Nice work!!
Me too! I initially felt like “whoa, this is going to be a long 800 pages! No wonder Haley prepped us with how to get through a long, sometimes boring book.” The text of chapter one felt much easier and more accessible.