I admit that I have nothing of import to say. I'd meant to see Monsters University this weekend and tell you fine folk of internet land how good it was, but then the weather happened and I ended up with a weekend-long migraine So, sorry Pixar...we'll have to postpone our date until later this week. Of course, I'll have to see Despicable Me 2, as well...so two reviews por toi.
But I do feel as if I should write something, so...
Middlemarch.
It's considered one of the greatest English novels of all time and its author, George Eliot, is similarly considered one of the greatest English novelists.
George Eliot, for those of you who've been living under a rock for the last couple centuries, is also a woman. Which makes her a bit of an inspiration to me, as an aspiring authoress. (For those who don't know...which is, OK, everyone...I do have a novel written. I'm honest-to-God editing it with a friend right now, and have come to terms with the fact that I will practically have to re-write it from scratch.)
Her great work is, of course, Middlemarch, her "study of provincial life". It's a...sort of soap opera for a small, provincial (and fictional) English town in pre-Reform Bill (1832) English. When you think of the drawing room dramas of BBC fame...this is their Mama. And quite probably their Grandma, Great-Grandma, and their Great-Aunt, too.
Now, I've always been an Austen girl. When I get started on Austen, I can go on and on and on forever. In fact, maybe I'll take the time to type out what I feel about Fitzwilliam Darcy when I have a couple of hours to kill. But despite being an Austenite through and through, I find that I really am enjoying my first read-through of Middlemarch.
My favorite character so far is Fred Vincy, who's the sort of well-meaning, but irresponsible scholar whose choices get him into a sort of a pickle. He isn't as self-righteous as some of the other main characters, and the Romantic in me enjoys the fact that he's in love with the "plain" woman that no one else seems to appreciate even though she's got a good heart and speaks straight. I admit I got curious and had to look up the end of his storyline, and it pleases me that his ending is the most satisfactory of pretty much anyone in the novel. I like this.
So...more on this as I read it. Right now, Dorothea's idiotic decision to marry a pedantic scholar is bugging the hell out of me, and Lydgate's self-righteous belief in his own superiority is something I hope bites him in the ass.
I...am going to end this post because I can't get over the fact that the History Channel just told me about Lobster-on-a-stick and I literally cannot concentrate on Middlemarch anymore. It's just...
Oh Lord, bread pudding-on-a-stick...WHERE IS THIS PLACE?!
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