"Middlemarch" book club starts January 27
By the time we're done reading George Eliot's classic novel on marriage, it will be 2 weeks till summer
I had always meant to read George Eliot’s masterpiece Middlemarch, but I didn’t finally do it until last year. Now I see why it’s considered one of the greatest novels of the Victorian era, if not the greatest. It’s a novel that’s worth the hype, a book everyone should read — a bucket-list kind of book.
But it can be hard to do on your own. Daunting and gigantic, it’s more than 800 pages, with many characters and a whole bunch of references to history and religion and mythology and the changing laws of rural England.
In terms of character and plot, it follows the lives of half a dozen marriages in a fictional town called Middlemarch. In terms of theme, it uses marriage as a lens through which to look at reality. It’s a book about human pairings—a book about who you choose to spend your life with, and how that works out for you.
It’s so big and rich, it’s hard to describe, but it has it all. People with secrets and vices? Check. Surprising revelations in a dead man’s will? Check. The madness of small-town rumor? Check. A cunning and clever plot? Check. Insights about human behavior? Galore.
What is a FrizzLit book club?
For the uninitiated, FrizzLit book clubs are literature classes, except not snooty or boring, and they meet on Zoom, so we have people from all over the country gathering together each week.
To prepare for leading the classes, I read several biographies of the writer, and at each meeting I give original talks about the author’s life and how they turned their experiences into art.
We read at a pace of about 50 pages a week, and the structure helps make a daunting undertaking like Middlemarch accomplishable and fun.
Plus we dig into the historical context of the book, and what else was going on at the time the story was set and written. Plus we learn the publication history of the book itself—when and where it was written, how it was received when it was first published, all that.
And there are interactive elements as well, from open discussion (guided by the discussion questions sent out in advance of each meeting) to Symphony of Sentences (where we each read aloud our favorite sentence in that week’s reading) to the free-for-all of the chat room (full of witty banter and dissenting opinions and that feeling of passing notes in the back of the class).
Plus we listen to music, we create new inside jokes together, we put them on t-shirts, and just generally use books as an excuse to build community and make new friends.
When are the live meetings?
This club meets on Saturdays, from at 10 am to 11:30 am Pacific, over Zoom. There will be people there tuning in from other time zones as well.
Are meetings recorded?
Yes, all meetings are recorded and sent out automatically to the email addresses of everyone who’s enrolled—so if the timing doesn’t work for you to attend the live meetings, you still won’t miss anything.
How do I join?
Do I also need a copy of the book?
Yes, you will need your own copy of the book. If you want to have the same page numbers as everyone else during discussion, gets this edition. If you already have a different copy of Middlemarch that you’d like to read instead, or if you want to get a copy from the library, that works too.
How much does it cost?
Book clubs start at $20 per person per meeting.
Can I pay in installments?
Yes, if you don’t want to pay for the whole 4-month experience all at once, you can pay as you go. For now, get a ticket for part one of the book club, covering the first six weeks.
Is financial assistance available?
Yes. If you would like to be part of this class — or as we say around here, a member of this club — but price is a barrier, financial assistance is available.
So excited for this! This is another book I’ve meant to read but have been intimidated by.