Middlemarch Finale

In which we finish Middlemarch and decide on a long book for next year (poll included)

Good Morning Readers,

I come to you from the world of sick kids, yet again. This winter has been rough for kid and adult sickness, which is never fun. Yet, we also have had some really good times at home being cozy together so I appreciate those slower times in the busy world.

I would like to officially come out against Daylight Savings Time (specifically the Spring Forward iteration). I can’t even say it is because of my kids because it’s honestly not, it is me. I am the problem. I’m not tired when its bedtime and then I can’t wake up earlier than the kids (and if you know me, you know that morning hour or two in silence is my favorite). So I am not starting off the day with beautiful books or quiet reflection or even a workout. I am just dragging myself out of bed to start making breakfast. And honestly it has been a good week. Maybe they invented Daylight Savings Time to make me more flexible and chill….that is a theory.

Speaking of penance (Daylight Savings can count as part of our Lenten penances right?), Lent is only two more weeks AND there are two solemnities in there as well. We’ve had a weird few weeks that haven’t felt quite as Lenty so I am looking forward to really embracing the last two weeks of Lent and then even more excited to celebrate Easter after. I hope these last weeks can be a time of spiritual renewal for you as you practice saying no to yourself and yes to Christ. And I hope that when Easter comes you are ready to celebrate and enjoy the good things God has given us again (with perhaps some more temperance). Onward we go.

This week we finished Middlemarch! I love this book, but it feels like I have been living in this provincial town with these marriages for a LONG time. I am happy to be done as much as I’ve enjoyed it. It is such a good feeling to finish a long book like this. We had a lovely discussion at one of our meetings this week and I hope you all enjoy your conversations.

Chapter Musings

(If you think I am saying “in which” too much…go read the Winnie the Pooh chapters and laugh with me at my silly joke)

72: In which Dorothea hatches a plan to vindicate Lydgate

In Dorothea’s zeal to defend Lydgate she says that people are usually better than their neighbors think them. For Lydgate this is true, but for Bulstrode the opposite is true. But she does choose the right person to defend so maybe she isn’t so naive. I thought it was interesting that Eliot brings us back to the beginning of the book when they are hatching a plan (for the cottages). I think she is drawing our attention to how Dorothea and Sir James have changed.

“I think it a mercy now after all that you have got James to think for you. He lets you have your plans, only he hinders you from being taken in. And that is the good of having a brother instead of a husband. A husband would not let you have your plans.”- Celia

“Men know best about everything, except what women know better.”- Celia (anyone want to cross stitch this on a pillow for me?)

73: In which Lydgate doesn’t know himself

We spend this chapter with Lydgate who is trying to figure out if his motives were pure or not. The inner life of George Eliot’s characters is so rich and so relatable.

“Only those who know the supremacy of the intellectual life- the life which has a seed of ennobling thought and purpose within it- can understand the frief of one who falls from that serene activity into the absorbing, soul-wasting struggle with world annoyances.”

74: In which the town gossips again and Mrs. Bulstrode finds out

I find these gossip chapters hilarious! There are so many funny quotes. I loved the opening paragraph of this chapter (please go read it again to have a laugh). The definition of the “moral impulses” at play in gossip! At the end of this chapter I find myself asking, will Rosy find out next?

“On the whole, one might say that an ardent charity was at work setting the virtuous mind to make a neighbour unhappy for her good.”

75: In which Rosy sort of finds out

Yes, she will. I love it when the author of a book helps me to ask the right questions. Rosy is convinced that a change of place or husband (or both) would make things better. She has no impulse to examine herself. She finds out that they are disgraced but she actually never finds out why, which is an interesting authorial choice. She remains blind to her own faults and that of her husband. Maybe it is willful on both ends?

“Rosamond’s discontent in her marriage was due to the conditions of marriage itself, to its demand for self-suppression and tolerance, and not to the nature of her husband…”

“If he (Lydgate) had been strong enough to persist in this determination to be the more because she was less, that evening might have had a better issue.”

76: In which Dorothea will intercede for Lydgate

Lydgate goes to talk to Dorothea about the hospital and she asks to hear his “side” of the story. Her trust in him changes him. She wants to support the hospital and support him monetarily so he doesn’t leave. He denies this, but says she can talk to Rosy.

“The presence of a noble nature, generous in its wishes, ardent in its charity, changes the lights for us: we begin to see things again in their larger, quieter masses and to believe that we too can be seen and judged in the wholeness of our character. That influence was beginning to act on Lydgate.”

“Poor Mrs. Casaubon had a very blurred, short sighted knowledge, little helped by her imagination.”

“her love might help a man more than her money.”

77: In which Dorothea “catches” Will and Rosy

Dorothea goes to tell Rosamond that she believes Lydgate and she thinks about Will on the way. When she gets there she sees Will holding Rosy’s hands. She leaves embarrassed and angry.

“There are natures in which, if they love us, we are conscious of having a sort of baptism and consecration: they bind us over the rectitude and purity by their pure belief about us; and our sins become that worst kind of scrilege which tears down the invisible altar of trust.”

78: In which we see the aftermath

We go back to the moment after Dorothea leaves Will and Rosamond. Rosy is almost happy about it because she likes being the cause of others’ emotions, whether good or bad. It reminds me of a small child asking for attention by being bad because any attention is better than no attention. Will is angry at Rosy because he knows he has disappointed Dorothea. Will this outburst change Rosy? Seeing Rosy in distress leads to Lydgate having tenderness towards her. I really cannot get over the amount of times Eliot calls people “poor” in this book!

“Shallow natures dream of an easy sway over the emotions of others, trusting implicitly in their own petty magic to turn the deepest streams, and confident, by pretty gestures and remarks, of making the thing that is not as though it were.”

“pain must enter into its glorified life of memory before it can turn into compassion”

79: In which Lydgate and Will share stories

Lydgate and Will meet without Rosamond and trade stories. It is interesting to me that they were both offered money from Bulstrode and Lydgate accepted and Will didn’t. I am still thinking of the significance here.

“it seemed to him as if he were beholding in a magic panorama a future where he himself was sliding into that pleasureless yielding to the small solicitations of circumstance, which is a commoner history of perdition than any single momentous bargain.”

80: In which Dorothea finally realizes she is in love

Dorothea finally admits or realizes she is in love with Will. Self deceit is such a theme of this novel (with more or less innocence). She is so upset by this that she wishes she could not feel at all, which reminded me of this quote…

“To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything and your heart will be wrung and possibly broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact you must give it to no one, not even an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements. Lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket, safe, dark, motionless, airless, it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable. To love is to be vulnerable.” - C.S. Lewis (The Four Loves)

She decides that she needs to go back to Rosamond and do the good she intended to do. She takes off her mourning clothes (or lessens them) which seems very significant. It is like she is leaving part of her old self behind. Changing clothes is usually important in literature.

81: In which Dorothea tries again to help Rosamond

Dorothea goes to talk to Rosamond and tell her about Lydgate again. They also talk about Will and Rosy tells her that he has never loved her, only Dorothea. The themes of spiritual motherhood in this chapter are everywhere.

82: In which Rosy tells Will

We get inside Will’s head in this chapter and George Eliot is at her best again. Rosamond gets a change to tell Will that Dorothea still thinks well of him.

83: In which Dorothea and Will get together

Will goes to see Dorothea and it seems like he is really saying goodbye this time. But finally they get on the same page and Dorothea says she doesn’t need Cassubon’s money and they should get married! They are looking at a storm out the window and this feels significant as well.

84: In which Dorothea’s family finds out

Brooke tells Sir James, Celia, Lady Chettam, and the Cadwalladers about Dorothea’s impending marriage and they all think badly of it (though Mrs. Cadwallader is pretty intuitive). Celia goes to talk to Dorothea in order to convince her out of it, which obviously doesn’t work.

“And then it is all so differenct from what you have always been. You would have Mr. Casaubon because he had such a great sould and was so old and dismal and learned; and now, to think of marrying Mr. Ladislaw, who has got no estate or anything. I suppose it is because you must be making yourself uncomfortable in some way or other.”- Celia

85: In which Fred gets what he wants (and what he needs)

Mr. and Mrs. Bulstrode are leaving town and he is trying to do right by her and she requests that he do something for her family monetarily. She wants to help Rosy and Lydgate, but because Lydgate already returned the money they can’t help them. So they decide to give Fred Stone Court (to work and lease, but possibly eventually buy). I love that Fred gets what he wanted from the beginning, but in a different way than he expected. The work will be good for him in itself and he had to say no to his pleasures for years to get it.

86: In which Mary tells Fred

Mary gets to tell Fred the news about Stone Court which means they can marry much sooner than expected. I love the paragraph where the word Mary, marry, and merry are all used. It makes me think that Eliot chose her name very intentionally (as I’m sure she did). Also, Mary’s reasons for loving Fred are lovely and hilarious. It reminds me of Shasta and Aravis at the end of The Horse and His Boy (skip the quote if you are against spoilers):

“Aravis also had many quarrels (and, I'm afraid even fights) with Cor, but they always made it up again: so that years later, when they were grown up they were so used to quarreling and making it up again that they got married so as to go on doing it more conveniently.”

I love that we end the story with Mary and Fred! It seems appropriate (because they are everyone’s favorites right?).

“I have always loved him. I should never like scolding anyone else so well, and that is a point to be thought of in a husband.”

Finale: In which everyone gets what they deserve

“Every limit is a beginning as well as an ending. Who can quit young lies after being long in company with them and not desire to know what befell them in their after-years?”

We find out about each of the couples lives. I love the town’s reactions to Fred and Mary’s books. Celia’s reaction to Dorothea having a baby is amazing (“She will do wrong things with it!”)! Rosy never learns, but I think Lydgate does. And then my favorite part…

“The effect of her being on those around her was incalculably diffusive, for the growing good of the world is partly dependent on un-historic acts, and that things are not so ill with you and me as they might have been is half owing to the number who lived faithfully a hidden life and rest in unvisited tombs.”

And I will leave you with that for the end of Middlemarch!

C.S. Lewis Approved

As we wrap up Middlemarch and I’ve heard various praises and complaints (which I appreciate) I wanted to see if any other authors we respect reviewed Middlemarch. I know a lot of literary people love it, but I was searching for some source of authority to say it is great. I couldn’t find a specific review, but I did find this list of books C.S. Lewis mentions favorably in An Experiment in Criticism (our October 2020 Book) and Middlemarch is on there specifically. I always feel better liking something that C.S. Lewis did!

The Miniseries

I have not watched it yet (except the first 10 minutes), but there is a 7 episode BBC miniseries of Middlemarch available for free if you have Amazon Prime. I think I may spend part of my weekend watching it. We shall see…

Speaking of Television…

The new A Gentleman in Moscow miniseries is coming to your couch on March 29th!!!!

LONG Book Month

In February and March we are in the habit of reading a long book together. This year I thought I would also put a few series in there (split evenly between the two months). Remember that whatever book is chosen will be divided over two months and audiobooks are really helpful for plodding through long books! Another thing to remember is that we do Shakespeare the month before so you can always get a head start in January if you feel like you need it. If you want my quick thoughts about these choices, here they are:

• I’d really like to read the new translation of Brothers K. I’ve read it before and had very mixed feelings, but apparently this translation really changes the feel of the book to what it was intended to be, which is really deep spiritual reflection amidst a murder mystery page turner.

  

• Les Mis is a book I may never get to unless I have some accountability because it is REALLY long. I will definitely be using the audiobook heavily if this one is chosen. But it is available from Penguin Deluxe Classics (1456 pages, but hopefully some of those are notes?) which are my new favorite paperbacks so that also makes me more inclined! We could also watch the movie musical when we’re done, which could be fun!

  

  

  

• We haven’t read a Lewis book since The Great Divorce (August 2022) and it feels like we’re missing something! The Ransom Trilogy (what I like to call it because Lewis didn’t like the word Space) is technically not a “long” book, but if we do the series it would end up being 352 pages one month and then 384 the next. This is some of Lewis’ earlier fiction and I love it (and have some criticisms) and it would be really fun to read and chat about. I have also been reading Planet Narnia (yes, still) and it has been making me think a lot about Lewis and his view of “The Heavens.”

  

• I think people have mentioned wanting to read The Lord of the Rings so I figured I would throw that on here as well. It is a beautiful book (and technically it really is supposed to be one book so it really should count) and would stimulate some lovely Catholic contemplations. And then we could hold a 24 hour watch party and watch all the extended versions of the movies! I joke, but they really are well done! When looking at page numbers please note that there are hundreds of pages of appendices and you DO NOT have to read those until you are ready to really nerd out. Also the audiobook is especially delightful. And we will not be reading The Hobbit (but I would encourage to do that with your kids ahead of time if you need a great kid’s chapter book to read aloud).

If you have any thoughts about these books (or last week’s) that you’d like to share with me please be sure to leave a comment or message me. I would love to hear input in order to plan the best Lit Book Club year I can!

Other Things I’m Enjoying

• I really appreciated this piece on actually unplugging instead of just talking about it (and very practical advice on how to do so) by

  Tsh Oxenreider
  … I am constantly encouraged by her words online.

• I appreciated this update from

  Autumn Kern
  on living with a dumb phone after a year.

• I am really enjoying listening to audiobooks right now. I go through phases, but I have been listening to some Agatha Christie on audio and there are a bunch of free ones included in an audible subscription. I am still in the process (and maybe always will be) of figuring out the balance of learning/enjoying while doing mundane chores and also embracing silence and contemplation (which reminds me here is another video from

  Autumn Kern
  on that topic).

• Alan Jacobs, author of The Pleasures of Reading (our Sept 2022 pick), is writing a biography about Dorothy Sayers! I will update when it comes out! I have read a few of his books and love them all. I am hoping to read his biography of C.S. Lewis’ imagination in the next few months as well.

Thanks for sticking with me for another long newsletter. I really enjoy writing these as it helps me be a better reader and it is fun to “talk” about books more. I hope it is helpful to you all as well. This week I will be reading The Secret Garden chapter of The Innocence of Father Brown and I will plan to write about that here next Saturday! If you’d like to read along with me I think that would be a fun way to enjoy these mysteries. I hope you all have a great weekend and sneak in at least a little bit of time to read something just for pleasure! I loved Middlemarch, but I am looking forward to having a bit more time to read other shorter books. I hope you are feeling some freedom in your reading life as well.

Enjoy your reading until we meet again!

“Until I feared I would lose it, I never loved to read. One does not love breathing.”- Harper Lee

A Few Reminders

• Our April Book is The Innocence of Father Brown. We are going to focus on these four short stories. I will be writing about them on Substack on the below dates if you’d like to follow along! Feel free to read the whole volume (I will probably at least listen to the whole thing). I just wanted to give people a little bit of breathing room after such a long book!

  March 23rd- The Secret Garden (30 pages)
  March 30th- The Invisible Man (25 pages)
  April 6th- The Wrong Shape (27 pages)
  April 13th- The Sign of the Broken Sword (26 pages)

  

• After that we have Crossing to Safety in May. I am very excited to chat about this one and maybe introduce you to a new author that I love.

• If you found your way here and are not part of an in person book club, welcome! We would love you to read along with us. But, in person literary community is a beautiful thing. So please contact me if you’d like to join or start a group!

• If you are part of a group, but you’re not on our Slack page, please contact me. That is where people share thoughts and logistics for each in person group.

• Here is the whole list of this years book selections

• Book lists from previous years can be found here.

• We are on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter (with links to Substack) in order to spread the joy of the reading life to more people...if you want to like or share with any friends that want to start their own groups (or follow along virtually) please do!

*As always, some of the links are affiliate links. The few cents(literally) earned with each purchase you make after clicking links (at no extra cost to you) go toward the time and effort it takes to keep Literature Book Club running and I appreciate it!