Happy review day all!
I am in such a ridiculously good mood lately. Spring is actually here - the sun is shining! And I'm on my way to a comic con this weekend, where the weather is supposed to be amazing!
After a really long, cold, snowy winter, blue sky and sunshine is just making me so happy.
That and a new costume I made last week. :)
In April I also did some serious reading. Which made me so, so happy too. I can't wait to get our back deck cleaned off and get our furniture out there. Days of reading in the sun... oh how lovely!
Earlier this month I read George Eliot's Middlemarch, and I am so embarrassed to say I'd never read it before! (I know, I know: Bad English nerd. Bad.)
I actually didn't read it so much as listen to it on my way to my book signing event in my hometown at the beginning of the month. I drove through part of a blizzard to get there. And then when I was there it was -25 C.
This is why I am so happy with the sun. It's supposed to be +24 C this weekend. All in one month. Yay Alberta weather!
Anyway, I digress...
So, I listened to Middlemarch on my drive there and back.
I cannot believe I'd never read it before!
“It is a narrow mind which cannot look at a subject from various points of view.”
Oh my goodness, did I love it.
This classic is a slow burn of genius. Yes, genius. The characters are rich, nuanced, diverse. So much is touched on - culture, politics, religion, science, self and the collective, and relationships. The writing is beyond incredible. I loved listening to this from the perspective of both reader and writer. Wow.
“If we had a keen vision and feeling of all ordinary human life, it would be like hearing the grass grow and the squirrel's heart beat, and we should die of that roar which lies on the other side of silence.”
Wow. Did I say that already?
Yes. Yes I did. I don't care. Am saying it again: Just wow.
Eliot weaves together characters and their histories and futures and society and plot and setting so beautifully.
Dorothea is my favourite storyline, but every one is so rich it is hard to choose. I also love Fred and Mary's story; Mary is just so enjoyable.
I am in awe, and so ashamed it's taken me so long to read this. That means I've spent 33 years without this book in my life.
Shameful.
Will this be my new favourite book? Hmm, probably not, but maybe it should be. It's on my list of top 10, anyway, if I did have such a list.
But if I ever sat down to make such a list, it would probably feature a whole lot of me rocking back and forth, crying, chewing fingernails and arguing with myself, so perhaps it's best I don't make that list.
Have you read this classic? I love Eliot's style (I'd read other stuff by her before) and can't believe it took me so long to read this.
What's a book that's taken you a long time to read?
Was it worth the wait?
I'd love to hear your comments below, or via my contact page. And don't forget to subscribe to my newsletter, coming out next Tuesday!