A quiet day deserves a book plug
It's a beautiful day here in New England - the calm after the storm. One of the books I have been reading lately is George Eliot's Middlemarch. I know, I know, George Eliot brings up the inevitable associations with high school, and being forced to read boring books by long-dead authors. Those associations are exactly the reason I've waited this long to read any of her books. I picked up Middlemarch at the bookstore a while ago - when I'm low on cash, I usually pick up a Penguin classic or two - you can't beat the price. Until recently though, it's been knocking around my night-table, not getting any action. Then I picked it up and read the preface (yes, I admit it, I read prefaces), and was pleasantly surprised to find out that far from the bookish school-marm I imagined, George Eliot was actually quite a progressive, and even lived with a man out of wedlock for many years.
As far as Middlemarch itself, it is definitely a "novel of manners," but it is also much more than that. Eliot is an excellent writer, and she has a way of elucidating her characters' shortcomings without being condescending. The bottom line: at under $6, Middlemarch is well worth it, and the perfect book to curl up with on a snowy day.
2:40:55 PM 
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