Writing from the Heart: ‘Middlemarch’ redux

A blushing missive about my new love, “Middlemarch.”

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Dear everyone who read my last column about the classic book “Middlemarch” –– for those of you who didn’t read it (my column, not “Middlemarch”), thank God. Don’t. It’s one of those “I was just naked in front of a whole bunch of people, and I wasn’t pretty …”

Basically, the column was an admission (unfortunately with no shame) of never having read “Middlemarch.” And the piece ends with what I thought was humor (but I now know was arrogance): And I’m not going to read it now either.

I got a few letters thanking me for giving them permission to not have to read it either. But more than any other column I have ever written, I got text after text, email after email after email. And this is what you all said: “I read ‘Middlemarch’ in high school, and it changed my life.” “I read ‘Middlemarch’ in college, and it changed my life.” “It’s my favorite book of all time. I read it every five years.” “I read it over and over, and each time I find something else that I have never seen before. It has everything –– love, forgiveness, marriage, social class.”

No one was mean. No one was judgmental. Everyone just sort of begged me to not miss out on this spectacular reading experience. So since I’ve been listening to audiobooks lately anyway, I got it on Audible. And I loved it immediately. But there were so many lines I wanted to underline, so many paragraphs I wanted to reread, so many gorgeous sentences I wanted to actually see, I had to order the book, all 800 pages of it.

But I had to let you know, you have been such a collective teacher, gently bopping me over my empty head. You did it in such a loving way. So here’s my piece of humble pie and my blushing thank-you note. To be continued. It’s a big book, and hopefully a long winter.