Middlemarch - Buddy Read June 2021

[Laura]

April 2021 for a buddy read of Middlemarch

[Laura]

I actually found a great Penguin Classics edition in the charity shop for £1.50 - delighted!

[Laura]

I have slightly over committed with Buddy Reads and book groups etc. Would anyone consider delaying this until maybe June?

I completely understand if not - fire ahead and I'll catch up on the comments when I get around to it.

[Betsy]

I'm going to put this buddy read to start in June.

[Laura]

Awesome - thank you!

[Megan]

June is great

[Laura]

Hey all,

I hope everyone's still keen for a June read of this!

I noticed that there are 8 "Books" in the novel so a possible option would be to read within 4 weeks and read two books a week:

Week Ending
6th - Book 2
13th - Book 4
20th -Book 6
27th - Book 8

What does everyone think?

It's only a rough guide but I quite like having a plan to follow and it means for discussions/spoilers we'd all be at roughly the same place.

We could discuss the two parts we'd just finished on the Sunday or following Monday?

Let me know what you think.

[Tr1sha]

Laura wrote: "Hey all,

I hope everyone's still keen for a June read of this!

I noticed that there are 8 "Books" in the novel so a possible option would be to read within 4 weeks and read two books a week:

Wee..."

Thanks, Laura. I still aim to read this in June. I like your planned schedule.

[Laura]

Hey Trisha - that's great!
Look forward to reading along with you :)

[Laura]

Hey everyone - ready to start this today :)

[Laura]

I've broken it down for myself as a few chapters a day but we can discuss as we go or whatever folk prefer?

[Ashley]

Yeah what do people want? Discuss as we go and mark the chapters so we can scroll by if we don’t want spoilers? Or wait until Sunday and discuss the whole week? I usually prefer the latter, but since Laura has a daily schedule that I saw first (before this weekly schedule) I decided to do the daily chapters and will probably want to discuss daily. But I can just take notes and do it all Sunday if that’s better for most!

[Laura]

I'm happy with either.
Maybe if we mark Daily/Chapter comments throughout the week as spoilers then folk can bypass them if they've not read yet.

We can do a more compiled discussion on Sundays too?

I guess as long as we mark spoilers either way we should be grand :)

[Laura]

Here's the daily breakdown of chapters for anyone who want to follow along:

Middlemarch
1 Jun 4
2 Jun 7
3 Jun 11
4 Jun 15
5 Jun 18
6 Jun 22 end book 2
7 Jun 25
8 Jun 28
9 Jun 31
10 Jun 33
11 Jun 36
12 Jun 39
13 Jun 42 end book 4
14 Jun 45
15 Jun 48
16 Jun 51
17 Jun 53
18 Jun 56
19 Jun 59
20 Jun 62 end book 6
21 Jun 66
22 Jun 69
23 Jun 73
24 Jun 76
25 Jun 80
26 Jun 83
27 Jun 87 end book 8

[Laura]

Chapters 1- 4
(view spoiler)[
So I just read these last night and after tuning in to the style I'm quite enjoying it.
I like the way Dorothea is portrayed, although I'm undecided as yet whether I actually like her. Celia is more endearing and perhaps more wise, although she seems to be portrayed as the more light-hearted one.

James Chattam sees pleasant - if a little oblivious.
I'm not yet sure about Edward Casaubon - we seem only to have seen him through Dorotheas' eyes so far.
Mr Brooke is endearing although slightly hapless.

I find it interesting to read this knowing it was written by a woman. I wonder if the experience would be very different if you thought it was written by a man?
(hide spoiler)]

Anyway hope you're all enjoying so far!

[Laura]

I'm really getting drawn in and enjoying this so far!

Chapters 5-7

We meet Mrs Cadwallader and see more of the girls
(view spoiler)[
I found it interesting that Dorothea is so single minded about accepting Casaubon. I feel like she's almost "acting" so selfless and pious. It is mentioned many times that although she thinks deeply about many spiritual things she is very naive about other aspects of life - I think this comes across strongly in these chapters.
I'm growing to like Celia quite a lot - she's good at observing people and her reaction to Dorothea's engagement was interesting.

Mrs Cadwallader is hilarious! I love her so far!
I'd be interested to know more of the politics at the time. There is mention of the Peel Catholic Emancipation bill and I don't know much about that. Also it seems Mr Brooke is dabbling in politics - again I'd like to know more of the parties at the time.

Casaubon seems focussed on what benefits Dorothea can bring him and not how he can also make her happy!

Interesting how easily Sir James Chattam is swayed towards Celia.
(hide spoiler)]

Anyway I'm enjoying getting to know the characters a bit better.

[Laura]

I had a bot of a burst of reading over the weekend - onto chapter 23.
We met loads more characters and got into Middlemarch local politics.
Also Dorothea and Casaubon are now married and we see them in Rome.
I'm loving the wry wit and observation of Eliot and I'm feeling invested in the lives of the Middlemarchers.

[María]

I just found this and I'm currently reading Middlemarch and somehow I am on track with the schedule you've marked. Could I possibly join in?

[Laura]

Yes please! I'm just on about chapter 50 just now. How are you enjoying it?

[María]

I'm loving it. I bought it a year or two ago but never read it because it's so intimidating. I love how well fleshed out the characters are. Virginia Woolf wrote that it is the only English novel written for adults and I kinda agree in the sense that the characters are flawed and that makes them real.
I didn't expect to like it this much and at first I read the prologue and didn't understand half of it, as English isn't my first language, and I thought this would take a great effort, but the first chapter was easier and then the more I read the more hooked I got.
Last night I finished Book 4 and I am currently on chapter 45. My favorite character is probably Mary Garth and I really like Dorothea's chapters as well because of her development. Let's see what happens next!

[Laura]

I'm impressed you're reading it and English not your first language!
I am surprised how much I'm loving it too!
I think having expectations that it was going to be a slow-ish read, really helped.

I think my favourite characters are Dorothea and Mary Garth.
I really dislike Rosamond.
I finished Ch 51 last night.
After Casaubon's will, I think Dorothea is beginning to realise how mean and small minded he was! I'm so interested to see what Dorothea will do next and how her character will pan out. I feel like she''s the lynchpin for the whole novel.

The politics is interesting, although I find those chapters a bit drier to read. Poor Mr Brook - his electioneering isn't going to plan!

I also wonder what can now happen between Dorothea and Will? I wonder whether they would actually be happy together or whether he idealises her too much. There seem to be many obstacles in their way.

[María]

I just finished ch. 52, I haven't been able to read these past few days because of a competition. I can't believe I'm loving this book so much.
I love Fred and Mary's relationship, but I love Mr. Farebrother as well, so seeing him hurt because of Mary confessing her feelings towards Fred is so sad.
The chapters about the elections are the hardest for me to read as I don't know that much about English politics and history, I know the basics.
I can't wait to see what happens between Will and Dorothea now.
And I don't like Rosamond either. I mean I love her as a character, I love every character in that aspect. But I don't like her at all as a person.
But the one I hated the most was Casaubon and I'm honestly so glad he died. He was so petty and such a horrible person.
It's honestly so surprising how open minded George Elliot was. I'm considering reading her other books when I'm done with this one.
I'll try to finish book 5 and begin the next one today.

[Laura]

Hey Maria,
No worries - I fell behind over the weekend too!
Will catch up tonight hopefully!
Lxx

[Laura]

I'm almost finished this - will finish within the next few days and I'm just loving it!
I wonder what everyone's fate will entail?
What will happen to Lydgate?
Will Dorothea and Will get together?
Will Mary and Fred? - What about Farebrother?

Argh - I'm so invested in them all.
Can't wait to finish and see what happens!

[María]

Which part are you on? I finished it yesterday. I honestly thought this book would take me months to read, because when I started it I read one or two chapters a day. But as it went on I became more engaged and by the end I was reading almost one book a day.

[Laura]

I finished last night. I just loved it. I agree it was much more readable than I expected. So much to think about too.

[María]

I loved how naturally every character evolved so that whatever happened with them in the end made sense, even Rosamond being still conceited after her talk with Dorothea, because if she had suddenly changed her personality because of that it wouldn't have been believable.
But even then, book 8 was the one that was the least interesting to me for some reason. At one point there was too much Lydgate and Rosamond for me. She made me too angry to keep reading so much about her all at once.
I loved the last sentence in the book about how small anonymous people bring change to the world little by little. I just love George Elliot's mind so much!

[Betsy]

I'm closing this discussion since we already have a Group thread as a part of the Read-A-Long Program.
Happy reading!