The Lifted Veil by George Eliot (A Victorian Celebration).

 “We learn words by rote, but not their meaning; that must be paid for with our life-blood, and printed in the subtle fibres of our nerves.” 

I decided to sit down a read a book yesterday afternoon. You see, I came home from work at the park and decided to do some blogging. Then I became utterly depressed because while all the participants in my little event are speeding along with their reading, I was still floundering along back at the start waiting to begin. So, I stood and stared at my bookshelves. For a long time. Then I realized I had a volume with Silas Marner, The Lifted Veil, and Brother Jacob. "Couldn't I read one of the latter two titles? They're short, right?" So I clutched my book, sat on the couch, and told myself I couldn't leave until I finished something (except to go change over the laundry).

I decided on reading The Lifted Veil. I hadn't read it before, so I figured it was about time. I've really only read Eliot's longer works, so I wasn't sure what to expect from this super short piece of fiction (I feel I should mention that I love Eliot. All of her work is simply fabulous with The Mill on the Floss being my ultimate favorite-yes, even more so than Middlemarch). So, I sat on my couch and read.

Well, apparently Eliot had a big of courage in her to try something a little different. Maybe I was expecting the usual-pastoral setting, bickering women-folk, and a girl who doesn't quite fit the "normal" role. Nope. Instead I got a story told in first-person from a male voice, and that was vaguely science-fictiony/gothic. It was odd. And not what I was really expecting from my first Victorian piece.

But I dove in, enjoyed it, then set it aside and said, "huh." Yes, I did enjoy Eliot's voice. I feel like I can always pick her out of a crowd-the way she strings sentences together just sings of her work, and I certainly felt that in The Lifted Veil. I also felt slightly uncomfortable...as if she was trying to maintain a firm grip on what she was writing about and maybe wasn't all that sure of where her story was truly going...

The main character has the ability to see some things in the future, as well as hear the thoughts of others if he allows himself to get close enough. This has set him aside from his relations and those in his community. So when tragedy strikes and he eventually marries, it doesn't really bode well for his marriage. It is an odd story, and one that seemed all too short (my edition was only 55 pages). I felt like I was just getting into his voice when I flipped the last page. I felt like the climax was too soon and then it was over.

Looking around online, I stumbled onto a few theories on why Eliot may have written the novella in the first place. Her real name was Mary Ann Evans (a fact I already knew), but she wrote under the pen name George Eliot in hopes of her identity as a woman being protected. Her first novel, Adam Bede, was published under her pen name, and there was a search done to determine the identity of the writer. The Lifted Veil was published shortly after and her identity was leaked. I suppose there are some direct comparisons. Obviously Eliot had to feel some pressure to be under the public eye (aren't all celebrities?), and that might be reflected in her main character here. He pulls away from society so as not to hurt himself (by hearing their thoughts or getting too close), so perhaps Eliot was pointing out the need for privacy?

I'm just not sure I buy that, or whether I want to dive into thinking that about the novella.

In any case, I'm glad to have finished one Victorian piece, so now I can feel better about myself as the supposed host of the event. :) I still have Brother Jacob to read, and I might get to it later this week. I think it is supposed to be more in her usual style than this one, so I'll look forward to it. :)


Yep. This was read for A Victorian Celebration, as well as the 2012 Victorian Challenge and as a title for my Classics Club List. But was it on the original 250 list? Nope. :)

Book 90: Silas Marner and Book Stats.

Title: Silas Marner

Author: George Eliot (1819-1880)

First Published: 1861

My Edition: Signet Classic (pictured at left)

Pages: 208

Other Works Include: Adam Bede (1859), The Mill on the Floss (1860), Romola (1863), Felix Holt, the Radical (1866), How Lisa Loved the King (1869), Middlemarch (1871-72), and Daniel Deronda (1876)

I am a HUGE fan of George Eliot and have read all of her novels except Daniel Deronda. I think she is simply marvelous.

This will be my third time reading Silas Marner. I had to read it for a class in college, and I read it on my own a couple years after that (fairly recently I think). It was the first novel I read by Eliot and it wasn't until I finished that I realized Eliot was a female. :) While not my favorite of her books, I still love this story. It is so hopeful and uplifting-just what I need as I wind down the semester.

I have already read one Eliot for my challenge. The Mill on the Floss was book 22 (my favorite number, btw), and it was one of my favorites reads last year-I would probably say it booted Middlemarch as my favorite! Here are the links to TMOTF posts if you are curious (I recommend the "Passages" post if you are unfamiliar with her writing style-it'll give you a glimpse....gosh I love her writing!):

• Book Stats
• The "Clever Wench"
• Ruin and Relationships
• Favorite Passages.
• Finished.

I've heard that a lot of schools have this one as required reading, but my high school didn't. Did yours? Anyone else read this one? Love Eliot? Just want to say hello?

Book 22: Finished.

I knew I was going to like The Mill on the Floss. After all, I have loved every other Eliot novel and this was no exception.

I have already raved about the beauty of Eliot's style. She creates graceful languages that grabs a hold of the reader and sucks them into the story. Maggie was not just another female character-she was a very dear and intimate friend.

So when tragedy struck, I felt very deeply for Maggie. I felt her heartache and feelings of loss as keenly as if she had been my sister or a best friend.

Eliot had a great gift.

I have to wonder why Eliot never seems to have gotten the same amount of fame as some of her contemporaries, namely Charles Dickens. While she wrote and published at the same time, Dickens claimed all the fame, and he is a name that is really well known. And while Eliot is certainly known by bookish types, Dickens still gets all the honors. In my personal opinion, Eliot is a much better writer and far more interesting, especially since she hid her identity and published under a man's name. Perhaps it is because her body of work isn't as extensive, but it is much better written. Again, this is only my opinion.

In any case, I loved this novel.

For those of you who are interested, here is my synopsis.

Maggie Tulliver is a bright and intelligent child who seems to be misunderstood by her parents. Rather than portray the standards of beauty, she is dark-skinned, dark-eyed, and has dark hair. The shame of her mother and her mother's sisters, Maggie retreats often into a world of books and make-believe. Her older brother, Tom, is sent away to school early on by their father, in hopes that he can escape the same sort of life, as his father is a miller.

Years pass and tragedy hits the family. Mr. Tulliver is engrossed in a lawsuit with a neighbor and loses, which results in the loss of every material item belonging to the Tulliver's. Together, Maggie and Tom have to face the circumstances now thrust in their faces. Giving up their childhood, the forge on to create a new life for themselves out of the misery of their father's.

However, fate steps in and rips them apart. Maggie is outcast by her brother, while Tom is obsessed with restoring his father's name.


Like I said, this is one of my favorite Eliot novels. It is far more gripping than Middlemarch or Silas Marner, both of which I'll be reading again in the future.

Finally, I want to post one more quote to help suck you in to this novel.

This quote I loved because I am sure I am not the only book lover who can relate. This really shows the depth of Maggie's feelings about her appearance and the standard of beauty in this time period:

"'I didn't finish the book,' said Maggie. 'As soon as I came to the blonde-haired young lady reading in the park, I shut it up and determined to read no further. I foresaw that that light-complexioned girl would win away all the love from Corinne and make her miserable. I'm determined to read no more books where the blonde-haired women carry away all the happiness. I should begin to have a prejudice against them,'" (377).

Does Maggie, the dark-eyed, dark-haired beauty find her own happiness? You'll have to read to find the answer to that question....


I need to also say that finishing this 608 page novel also helped me in the Chunkster Challenge, where I am trying to read 12 Chunksters (adult novels over 450 pages in length). This was book 1!

Book 22: Favorite Passages.

I have read Eliot before, so I am not surprised by the fact that I still love her writing. While she can be overly descriptive at times, I still love the overall feeling she gives her novels. Her description helps to build the story rather than hinder it. If her writing style was slightly different, her novels wouldn't be so well-loved.

There was a moment earlier today when I had to take a break from the scene, so I flipped to the afterword in my edition to browse and get some more insight. I found that the author, Jane Smiley, had this to say about this novel:

"The greatest pleasure of The Mill on the Floss is its eloquent, closely reasoned style. Eliot seems to perfectly anatomize all of Maggie's inner contradictions and all of their effects, all of Maggie's relationships and all of their consequences. Characters that might seem too one-dimensional in another novel are softened in their effect in this novel by Eliot's voice and insight. But the greatest virtue of the novel also constitutes an unkept promise that the author's intelligence and imagination will find Maggie a satisfying fate," (603).

She seems to be echoing my own thoughts. It is truly the styling of the novel that drives it and makes it interesting.

Anyway, like most of the books I have been reading, I have kept a handy pack of Post-it tabs at hand to mark my favorite passages and lines. And while I probably marked too many, there is so much to love about Eliot's style. Here are a few of my favorites for your pleasure.

"The promise was void, like so many other sweet, illusory promises of our childhood; void as promises made in Eden before the seasons were divided, and the starry blossoms grew side by side with the ripening peach-impossible to be fulfilled when the golden gates had passed," (211).

"The world outside the books was not a happy one, Maggie felt; it seemed to be a world where people behaved the best to those they did not pretend to love and that did not belong to them. And if life had no love in it, what else was there for Maggie?Nothing but poverty and the companionship of her mother's narrow grief's -perhaps of her father's heart-cutting childish dependence. There is no hopelessness so sad as that of early youth, when the soul is made up of wants and has no long memories, no superadded life in the life of others, though we who look on think lightly of such premature despair as if our vision of the future lightened the blind sufferer's present," (266).

"...our life is determined for us-and it makes the mind very free when we give up wishing and only think of bearing what is laid upon us and doing what is given us to do," (342).

"Yes, Lucy, I would choose to marry him. I think it would be the best and highest lot got me-to make his life happy. He loved me first. No one else could be quite what he is to me. But I can't divide myself from my brother for life. I must go away and wait. Pray, don't speak to me again about it," (498).

"I know that we must keep apart for a long while; cruel tongues would force us apart, if nothing else did. But I shall not go away. The place where you are is the one where my mind must live, wherever I might travel. And remember that I am unchangeably yours: yours-not with selfish wishes, but with a devotion that excludes such wishes," (574).

Sunday Salon: February 21, 2010.

Wow. What a week it has been! Matt and I have been busy with a few things around the apartment. Even though we've been here for a few months, it is finally starting to look and feel like home. We have pictures up and it looks a little more relaxing.

I've also been busy learning some new recipes this week. I've been trying to keep us on a food budget so we aren't spending a ton of money on food we won't eat. It is actually pretty easy to do with just the 2 of us and we've found some things that we really like to eat.

I also went to substitute teacher training on Thursday to get readmitted to the system so I can start getting some sub jobs. Only working 2 days/week gets old pretty fast and while I have lots of time on my hands, I don't get a whole lot accomplished. Hopefully I get some steady work and can balance some subbing with the parks job (which goes back to full time hours and more pay at the end of March!).

I managed to sneak away to the bookstore the other night, which was the first time I had been in a bookstore in a long while! I have been trying to avoid going in because I inevitably want to buy something, if not everything. Since it had been a bit, I made sure to walk around and look at everything. There are a lot of new titles out (especially in sci-fi and fantasy) that I want to read RIGHT NOW, but I'll be patient and wait. The YA section was depressing.

Now, don't get me wrong. I LOVE YA and I read a lot of it, but I feel like amidst all the good books with original ideas are 50 others that don't do a good job. I get it that vampires and werewolves are "in," but I would love to see something different on the shelves. Granted, I haven't read any new YA in about 6 months, so I don't really know. These are merely my impressions from looking at the shelves.

I was also disappointed to see the following on a big display with Twilight and the vampire books that are booming in popularity:




It really just made my stomach turn. It is not that I am against teens finding these books and loving them as much as Twilight....it is the clear marketing ploy. Granted, it is clever, but I feel it takes away from the value of these great works. Try as I might, I cannot hold Twilight in comparison to Romeo and Juliet, Wuthering Heights, and Pride and Prejudice and call them equal.

Anyway, I hunted through the used section last and found a few more titles on my TBR list that I don't own. I finally picked up one of Graham Greene's novels, The Power and the Glory, as well as the other Hemingway that I need to read, The Sun Also Rises. I also found a great collection of some of the Greek tragedies. I haven't even gone near any of the Greek stuff since The Odyssey, so I thought I should get on that. The last book I found was a really cool edition of The Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison.

I went looking for one of Richardson's two novels on my list: Clarissa and Pamela but found neither-not even in the fiction section! There were also no copies of Gone with the Wind to be found, or some of the Virginia Woolf titles on my list! And while it looks like the store is rearranging, I hope that they restock. I was sorely disappointed, especially since it is my favorite bookstore in the area.

In reading news this week, I finished not only The Mill on the Floss by George Eliot, but also Animal Farm by George Orwell. Orwell's book only took an hour or so since it is so slim, but I enjoyed it anyway. I am in the middle of The Shipping News by Annie Proulx...which is an odd novel and newer than most of the books on my list (it was published in 1993). It stands as one of the "modern" classics I am reading.

I also made some new cosmetic changes to the blog. There are links at the top to an introduction to why I am doing this, the list of books I am going to read, as well as the list (in order) of what I have finished already. In the finished list, I also have the titles linked to my personal favorite post about that book. Enjoy!

I have some great things planned in the coming weeks. There is a giveaway that I am waiting to launch once I hit Book 25! Keep an eye out for it in the next week or so.

This week I am planning on finishing The Shipping News as well as Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut, so it should be another good reading week.

Happy reading everyone!

Book 22: Ruin and Relationships.

One of the reasons I love Eliot's writing is the way she crafts her characters and their relationships. In every novel I have read by her (which includes all except this and Daniel Deronda), she creates such spectacularly realistic people.

The Mill on the Floss is no exception. While I think that the beginning 100 pages dragged for lack of action, the characters brought it to life. While I of course love and adore Maggie, the main female character, I think I might love the crazy assortment of aunts a little more.

Mrs. Tulliver, Maggie's mother, is one of four sisters. Each of them is married and boy, do they have opinions about everything. Near the beginning of the novel, the family is called to discuss Tom's education (Maggie's sister). Each of the aunts arrives, with her husband, and conversations that ensue are pretty humorous. There is a lot of, "Well, I wouldn't do that," and "I always said that..."

It makes for enjoyable reading.

I also really like the development of the relationship between Maggie and Tom. While sister and brother, they also seem to be friends, which must be tough for Tom. Even when Tom goes away to school (at a clergyman's house), he still tries to maintain that relationship with his sister. She comes to visit and he tries to impress her with his learning.

One fun scene is when he is explaining how tough his lessons are in Latin. Maggie takes up the book and shows him up.

Score one for the little sister.

I know, even now when I haven't reached the halfway point, that disaster will inevitable strike. Maggie and Tom won't always be friends. I know that life and circumstance will get in their way.

The last character I really want to talk about is Philip Wakem. A student beside Tom, Philip is a hunchback and his father is an enemy to Mr. Tulliver. For a boy who was probably made fun of all his life, and who has no expectations, Philip is remarkably nice to both Maggie and Tom. While he might be more wary with Tom, you can tell that Philip and Maggie have a remarkable budding friendship.

And I guarantee there will be feelings on both sides before the novel is through.

Anyway, I seem to be flying through this hefty book. Time for more reading!

Book 22: The "Clever Wench."

As I am plunging wholeheartedly into The Mill on the Floss, I am already thinking about the heroine...a lot. At the time the novel begins, Maggie Tulliver is just a little girl who seems to be almost unloved by her family. From the beginning she is seen as clever, but not attractive. Where attractiveness seems to equate to blonde hair, light skin, and blue eyes, Maggie's appearance is different-with dark eyes, dark skin, and dark hair.

The only things Maggie really seems to have going for her is her imagination and her cleverness. And apparently those are not appealing traits. Her father continuously refers to her as the "clever little wench" or some variation. While I know he means it as a pet name, it is rather insulting. I mean, being clever is a good thing, but not for women in this time.

So as I am reading about poor little Maggie, I have to wonder if this will follow a familiar story arch. The young clever girl will grow up to realize that while she may be clever, she is nothing else. She is not a beauty and her cleverness is not a positive attribute. So far it seems as this is true in this novel, as Mr. Tulliver is only worried about the education of his son, Tom, who not nearly as smart or clever as his sister.

I have to keep thinking to how many female heroines have these traits. Let's make a list:

• clever
• likes to read
• is rather lonely (no friends her age)
  
• is misunderstood by her family
• is told she is not a beauty
• the opposite of the "norm" of the time
• has their imagination/intelligence stifled at an early age

I don't know about you, but I can think of quite a few who have a few of those qualities. What is it about crafting a character with those traits? Is it that the writers who create these characters felt that way about themselves when they were younger? Or is it that most adult women readers were at one time that same little girl, or can relate to her?

Personally, I know that I can relate better to female characters who have some of those characteristics. I was reading all the time when I was younger and my brothers used to tease me about it. I'm also halfway intelligent and like Maggie, have big dreams for something "more." I am sure I am not the only one. Is that way so many writers create characters like this? So they are relatable to the main audience who reads? I could be completely wrong here, but I feel like many of the most well-loved female characters have at least a few of those character traits, and those traits are commonly held by a large majority of the reading audience.

Again, this is all my opinion, but it is interesting to think about. I'm curious to see if my guesses about Maggie come true.

Book 22: Book Stats.

Title: The Mill on the Floss
Author: George Eliot aka Mary Anne Evans (1819-1880)
First Published: 1860

My Edition: Signet Classic w/ Afterword by Jane Smiley
Pages: 608

Novels Include: Adam Bede (1859), The Mill on the Floss (1860), Silas Marner (1861), Romola (1863), Felix Holt, the Radical (1866), How Lisa Loved the King (1869), Middlemarch (1871-72), and Daniel Deronda (1876)

Eliot also wrote plays and short stories. I have previously read all of her novels, excepting Daniel Deronda and The Mill on the Floss.

For this list, I will be reading The Mill on the Floss, Silas Marner, and Middlemarch.

I am also fulfilling part of the Chunkster Challenge by reading this novel!

Sunday Salon: February 14, 2010.

First I just want to say, "Happy Valentine's Day!" to everyone! I hope you are able to spend some time with your loved ones today. Even if some say that V-Day is just a Hallmark holiday, I still think it is a special and wonderful day that gives you an excuse to be with your family and that someone special.

I am working today, so I will be spending time at the park in the cold. Unlike some other regions of the United States, Michigan really hasn't gotten a great deal of snow this winter. Usually we are the ones digging ourselves out, but we managed to miss the big storms. We did get about 5" on Tuesday night/Wednesday morning, so it is great to finally have snow on the ground and the sled hill open at the park! I love working during the winter and seeing everyone coming out to enjoy the snow.

After work I'll probably be cooking Matt and I some dinner so we can spend the evening together. We don't have any special plans, but I assume after dinner we'll sit down and watch a movie, or better yet "Lost." I am still catching up, but I am getting there! Promise! And now that I am doing the LOST book challenge, I NEED to catch up to make more connections!

I had a good reading week this week. I finished up Washington Square by Henry James, which I found to be a pretty deceiving little book. I have a lot to say about in my posts, which will go up sometime this coming week.

I also signed up for two challenges in addition to reading 100+. The first is the LOST challenge I mentioned, and I think I picked some great things to read for it. I only have until May 23, but that seems to be plenty enough time.

The second challenge was the Chunkster Challenge, where I am going to read 6 of the Chunkster type novels on my list in the come year. It wasn't really hard to find 6 (I mean, I'm reading the CLASSICS for goodness sakes!), but I narrowed it down to 6 with 2 alternates. I decided to be proactive and start one this week. I'm now in the middle of The Mill on the Floss, which is one of two novels I haven't read by George Eliot (the other being Daniel Deronda, which is not on my list). It is a bigger book than what I have been flying through at 608 pages, so it might take me a little longer.

Anyway, goals for this week:

• Have all my Washington Square posts up by the end of the week
• Finish The Mill on the Floss
• Start reading Lord of the Flies by William Golding (for the LOST challenge).

It should be a good week.

Happy Reading everyone!