December 2024: George Eliot

And we are closing the year with one of the great Victorian authors: George Eliot. She wrote 7 novels, 6 stories, some poetry and a few non-fiction works.

What do you plan to read at the end of 2024? And if you had read her before, which is your favorite story of hers (novel or story or novella)?

I might retry Middlemarch which I attempted in 2022, but gave up on. Or perhaps one of the others I have not read like Mill on the Floss or Daniel Deronda or Adam Bede.

I actually love Romola and Silas Marner and quite liked Felix Holt, the Radical.

>3 john257hopper: Silas Marner is one of my favorites. When I taught HS Lit, I always assigned this book.

Eliot is one of my top 5 favorite authors. I've read and enjoyed: Silas Marner, Adam Bede, Daniel Deronda (one of my favs), Middlemarch, The Mill on the Floss, Romola (my least fav), Scenes of Clerical Life, and The Lifted Veil. I think I will go with Felix Holt, the Radical.

I have The Lifted Veil on my tbr that I've wanting to read for sometime

Well now is time to decide—should I reread one of my favorites or Felix Holt which I’ve never read? Or Daniel Deronda or Adam Bede, which I’ve not reread recently? Both Middlemarch and The Mill on the Floss tug at me. I want to decide tonight and get going!

I reread Middlemarch for the umpteenth time last year and it was worth every minute. How about Felix Holt if you haven't read it before?

I'm looking at Brother Jacob which I haven't read.

OK—a quick decision: Audible has the Juliet Stevenson audiobook of Daniel Deronda on sale for less than $5. I think I’ll take that as a sign.

Time for me may be a bit short in December for a very long novel, so I'm probably going to go for The Lifted Veil and Brother Jacob.

Touchstones not linking correctly.

>9 john257hopper: I found those interesting and different from Eliot's longer books. My Oxford edition has both in one volume: The Lifted Veil and Brother Jacob

>6 dianelouise100: I'm reading Felix Holt, which is one of the few of her's that I have not yet read.

I have The Lifted Veil and Brother Jacob (the Oxford edition) sitting on my shelves from last time we visited her so I plan to just read that (and maybe add more later in the month).

>11 Tess_W: My plan is to read Felix Holt as well. The only other work of hers I haven't read is Romola.

If there's not enough time for Felix, earlier this year I picked up a volume of George Eliot: Selected Essays, Poems and Other Writings, which I may dip into:

>12 AnnieMod: They are very different stories, but sort of interesting to compare and contrast them as paired in this edition.

I have just embarked on Romola and wonder where this is going to go...

>15 MissWatson: I liked Romola a lot, though it is quite different from other novels by Eliot. I particularly remember her treatment of Savanarola, which I thought impressive. I’m giving more consideration to reading Felix Holt first for this month, just to take a look at another of her historical novels.

I began Felix Holt and am in chapter 3. I hope it does get better!

I have read The Lifted Veil and Brother Jacob, two quite interesting and very contrasting novellas. The novella is a really good format for a relatively simple story, such a pity it is not really used now.

>18 john257hopper: Did you like one better than the other? I’m looking for a short work.

Well...it did not get better! >17 Tess_W: Felix Holt, the Radical

A rabid fan of Eliot, but not so much in this case. The story takes place in the mid 19th century in a fictional industrial town in England, Treby Magna. Felix is an idealistic radical young man seeking changes, yet he is often disillusioned by politics. Felix is tempered by Esther, a more moderate (needs be a woman in that day!) whose moral integrity and personal growth is another side of social reform. I think Eliot was trying to show that idealism without practical wisdom can lead to failure. I got the feeling that Ms. Eliot was not a fan of radicalism, which surprised me with her being a female at this time in history. This was my least favorite of all the Eliot's I have read (which are most of them). I felt this was hardcore politics. While most of Eliot's work contains politics of some sort, this was just too detailed and too drawn out. 578 pages 3 stars 99 cents on Kindle (US)

>20 Tess_W: Thanks for this review! I feel better now about abandonning Felix at the end of Chapter 6. I see from your comments that this was the right thing for me to do. I have moved on to some of the shorter pieces which are the only other works of Eliot I haven’t read.

Last night I read in one sitting The Lifted Veil, a longish short story or short novella, that is very different from Eliot’s novels, but very enjoyable. It is a horror story of sorts about a man who at times is cursed with the ability to hear the thoughts of the people around him and very rarely to see the future. I’m thinking of reading Scenes of Clerical Life next.

>19 dianelouise100: I preferred The Lifted Veil. It is a Gothic piece and quite horrific in places, and a downbeat read, but atmospheric.

Brother Jacob is quite humorous, though it involves mistreatment of the title character, who has severe learning difficulties, which makes for grim reading from a modern perspective.

>22 john257hopper: Thanks, I will give Brother Jacob a miss for now. I think I’ll enjoy Scenes from Clerical Life more.

I’m also interested in Gordon Haight’s George Eliot: A Biography, which at 600+ pages will carry over into 2025.

And I have finished it, all 692 pages of Romola. I found this slow and heavy going, and in my opinion the entire first book is expendable without serious damage to the understanding of the story. Obviously she read widely for this, but she is far too eager to share her knowledge with us, to the detriment of the story. We get minute descriptions of the city and its geography, religious festivals are described in excruciating detail, and there are long digressions into the arts and customs of the city. I was also surprised to find how little room is given to Romola, as compared with her husband Tito. I sometimes felt that Eliot’s main interest here is how a morally weak character deteriorates as he avoids any situation that may be painful. Eliot tells us that he cleverly navigates the dangers of party politics and scholarly jealousies, but she never says how. Much of what is said to happen in the political and religious life of the city remains frustratingly vague. Apart from Romola and Tito, there are no fully developed characters, and while is is scrupulously neutral about Savonarola, we also do not get a clear idea of what he stands for.
The one thing that does come across is the fickleness of the mob that goes from adoration to stone-throwing in the blink of an eye. But they remain pretty faceless.

I read the lifted veil I liked the atmosphere, and poor Latimer, and would now like to read more of her work. interesting to read your comments here