#ClassicsCommunity 2021 Reading Challenge discussion

Have you come to the end of "Book One" in Middlemarch yet? Share your thoughts here!

I really liked the literary allusions! I wish I was further along, but I still have papers and homework left due for the end of this semester and then I will really immerse myself in this one. The allusions that begin each chapter with epigrams and throughout the text is a trope I love using as well. Reading was such a big part of peoples lives back then, in the Victorian era, they didn't have so many sources of entertainment as we do. Everyone seemed to be reading the same books as well. It seems we don't have much to worry about in this day and age, during this quarantine everyone seems to be reading and writing again, which is fantastic! Another interesting theme I am enjoying in the early parts of the first book is the overt feminism which I think is also there in the novels of the Brontës. I wasn't really sure if it was a thing in the Victorian era.

Just begun book two today. I have read Middlemarch before, but ages ago and I was looking for an excuse to reread it, so this month is perfect!

What I love is the roundness of all the characters - none of them are without flaws, but neither are they totally dislikeable either. Mr Brooke and Fred Vincy are the possible the most straight out genial characters, but both seem lacklustre in certain respects.

Eliot's lovely ironical asides and authorial comments are hilarious sometimes - which I think is not mentioned enough, while of course the famous scientific/microsopic metaphors come in wonderfully during the chapter introducing Mrs Cadwallder.

It's pretty cool how she can introduced such a large panorama of characters and plot lines without it seeming like too much of a struggle to follow. Eagerly approaching the next book.

I have just started book 4 today and so far I am loving this book!!! I've had this book for a long time but didn't think I would enjoy reading it and that it would be a chore especially with its length. But, it is going to be one of my new favorite classic book; right up there with Pride and Prejudice. I can visualize the characters as I am reading it and there are quite a few times I find myself smiling and laughing at and with the characters.

Janice wrote: "I have just started book 4 today and so far I am loving this book!!! I've had this book for a long time but didn't think I would enjoy reading it and that it would be a chore especially with its le..."

Yeah I think the size of the book makes people forget how memorable and funny many of the characters are - Mr Brooke, Fred Vincy etc. and how well written and complex they are - even Casuabon gets some sympathy!