FREE Crime And Punishment By Fyodor Dostoevsky - 100% Formatted

Intensely psychological, incisively political, and even hilarious at times. This book seems to be a comprehensive study of the entire human psyche. And in such a lovely way, Eliot brings a warm and genuine spirituality ala Hugo. I loved this book and find it inspirational, not only in terms of ideal human behavior and love, but in the striving for creative and expressive language.

I have read Middlemarch three times before using a paperback copy. (The first time I read it was for a class at the University of Chicago. I finished reading it and I was so impressed with it, I immediately started reading it again!!). However when I started reading it the 4th time my paperback edition was so full of my previous notes that I decided to buy a hardcopy edition.
This edition is very good. The margins allow enough room for notes, and there is a helpful Introduction and Explanatory Notes however, they are not nearly as strong at the Oxford paperback edition with D. Carroll and F. Bonaparte doing the Introduction, etc.

I have spent over 45 years reading and rereading novels (among a lot of other types of works) but after reading George Eliot's Middlemarch I think she is the greatest author who ever lived and I consider Middlemarch the best book I have ever read.

Although the pictures I have seen of G.E. would not indicate the below, this is what Henry James had to say about her,
"She had a low forehead, a dull grey eye, a vast pendulous nose, a huge mouth full of uneven teeth and a chin and jawbone 'qui n'en finissent pas'... Now in this vast ugliness resides a most powerful beauty which, in a very few minutes, steals forth and charms the mind, so that you end, as I ended, in falling in love with her. Yes, behold me in love with this great horse-faced bluestocking". Henry James, in a letter to his father, published in Edel, Leon (ed.) Henry James: Selected Letters (1990)" (I took this from the Wikipedia entry for G.E.)

The below is a quote from the Introduction to the Oxford edition. "She could speak with authority on history, music, art, theology, anthropology, philosophy, sociology, psychology,.....; she was an excellent mathematician and had a love of all the sciences, especially physics, geology, chemistry, and astronomy; entomology and biology....Literature was her deepest love, the literature of many countries, and having made herself proficient, by the end of her life, in eight tongues (English, French, Italian, German, Spanish, Hebrew, Latin and Greek), she knew a good deal of Western literature in its original languages."

If you would like to see one aspect of her abilities in another area, the store has for sale her translation of David Strauss's Life of Jesus Critically Examined translated from the German. I am quite sure, having read this work, that she had also to know Greek, Hebrew, and Latin in order to do this translation. Oh- by the way. From what I can tell she did this translation when she was 25 years old!!!

One last note. For those of you who are interested in philosophy she was an Editor of the Westminster Review. This publication was the first publication to awaken Europe to Arthur Schopenhauer the great philosopher. I have purchased many books by Schopenhauer on the store and after studying many many philosophers over decades I have found him to be the greatest.

Hope this has been helpful.

This work is richly tells the tale of Middlemarch and those that inhabit that place. It is a historical journey into the world of early 19th century England and it explores the continuing friction of society, marriage, gender roles that still challenge us today. Some of the writing style and language will be challenging but it is well worth the effort. A beautifully written, witty, and insightful work.

It's pretty dense writing, but very worthwhile for its wit and insights. With much gentle humor at the cost of society's and individuals' foibles, it creates characters who are believable and whom the reader comes to care about. I glad to have read it and her Daniel Deronda and look forward to more of her novels.

For excellently drawn character and a wonderful picture of village life in the England of the mid eighteen hundreds, you cannot find better book. The beautifully written passages are peppered with wonderful wisdoms. The picture of the social conditions and stratifications of the time are clearly conveyed, as well as the limited choices available to the women of the times. All these layers and the myriad of characters are interwoven with great skill. It is little wonder this book is included in the best 100 novels ever written.

George Elliot is a brilliant, intelligent, profound writer which is what her book is as well. It helps, I think, to recognize the satirical or facial nature she employs in her descriptions and development, hence the wordiness often that is necessary, and provides great humor when you understand that. Her omniscient summations, observations and comments are worth underlining and they happen often throughout the book. I savored them. Loved Middlemarch.

Expecting to find a sweeping drama full of good evil characters ... Middlemarch is instead a wonderful description of life in a small village full of characters that display a realistic range of individual strengths and weaknesses. Devoid of villains ... well may one, I found this book to gradually reveal its characters, much the way we get to know people in our own community. While set in the early 1800's, the complexity of the numerous relationships seem relevant to our society today.

very slow repetitive reading for a book club glad i read it but it was written i think as a serial and in many cases i think she was pushing for copy. liked the fact that it was not sunshine and flowers

DRM free, great narrator. LibriVox provides their own copy on YouTube and they have an excellent narrator as well (the male narrator at first is... okay). I recommend this version because the chapters are neatly divided and labeled.

Book review: missing foot notes (see pics)

Beautifully written. A joy to read. I revisited this gem a few decades after college and it's well worth the effort. Every character has a message. Of course Dorothea is the jewel who holds everything together. Read this if you love real literary craftsmanship.

I was an English major and English teacher but had never read Middlemarch. Not sure why it slipped past me, but someone mentioned that it was worth the read - that it was long, full of characters, and full or sarcasm. That turned out to be accurate and it was a pleasure. I called it to my wife's attention but she watched the BBC miniseries instead.

George Eliot (Mary Ann Evans)ranksin the top rungs of Victorian and world literature. This brilliant woman has written a flawless masterpiece in Middlemarch (1871), The novel is a

microscopic detailed examination of life in a midlands town

caught in the transition from a rural to an industrial age.

The characters are memorable and all too human in their complexity. There are three major love stories:

1. Dorthea who weds the cold ineffective scholar Causobon only

to fall in love with his cousin the artistic newspaper editor

Will Ladislaw. One of the great love stories told in English.

2. Dr. Tertius Lydgate who weds the belle of the village Rosamund Vincy. They are poorly matched with Lydgate being a reforming doctor and Rosamund a materialistic and shallow person.

3. Fred Vincy and Mary Garth. Fred is a young man who drops out of school, gambles and is reformed by his love for Mary who comes from yeoman stock.

Along the way you will become involved in local politics; small town prejudices and how life was lived in England just

prior to the Reform Act of 1832. Eliot knew rural life and her

pen is a beautiful crayon of color as she draws with aplomb the

English countryside in all its seasonal glory. There is even a mystery tale concerning the supposedly pious banker Bulstrode.

This is one of the greatest if not the greatest of all English

novels. I concur with Virginia Woolf it said it is one of the few Victorian novels written for adults.

I have read the book four times and watched the excellent PBS

miniseries on "Middlemarch." Each time I have gained new insights into the "web of humanity" masterfully drawn by George

Eliot.

This classic work deserves to be read, appreciated and savored by anyone who loves a good story, beautiful language

and psychological insight.

Middlemarch is not an "easy" read as it requires attention to the footnotes, and is 800 pages. It is an excellent study of women's places in British society in the 19th century. It made me grateful to live in modern times, and not be subject to the control of a autocratic husband. The long sections on politics did not interest me much, but I found it necessary to follow them in order to fully understand the story. Even so, it is a great novel, and I'm glad I finally got around to reading it.

Middlemarch is not an "easy" read as it requires attention to the footnotes, and is 800 pages. It is an excellent study of women's places in British society in the 19th century. It made me grateful to live in modern times, and not be subject to the control of a autocratic husband. The long sections on politics did not interest me much, but I found it necessary to follow them in order to fully understand the story. Even so, it is a great novel, and I'm glad I finally got around to reading it.

Love the book, however, the copy made for Kindle was less than desired--lots of typos from doing OCR and not having someone actually go through the text and read it, which has made for a very bumpy ride. Wish I had gotten a different edition.

The Penguin Classics edition of Middlemarch [like the Oxford World Classics edition] has disappointingly few notes, and those there are seem very sketchy. Given that the background to the novel is changes in provincial society and events leading up to the Parliamentary Reform Act of 1832, the average reader needs more help with names and events of the period than the editor provides.

Middlemarch itself continues to be a work of fantastic imagination and substantial erudition by one of Britain's finest 19th-century novelists. Time for someone to produce a more substantially annotated edition? Does anybody know of one?

Middlemarch is, without doubt, one of the greatest novels ever written. However, this Kindle version is lousy: filled with broken letters, misspelled words, missing punctuation, and punctuation added that's unnecessary. Annotated? Not so. It ends with a series of essays that are, overall, not particularly enlightening. Read Middlemarch. You will be captured by Eliot's prose and by Dorothea's dilemmas. But don't get this edition!!

You must have patience. There is so much preliminary development work it is almost tiresome, but things start happening about three-fourths of the way to the grand finale. Don't regret reading it now, but almost stopped several times. Old book, old times; nevertheless applies to the current day.

This masterpiece is a compelling study of human choices, and how the course of our lives hinges on decisions that seem obvious at the time, but don't turn out as we expect. The characters are deeply created and almost walk out of the pages. Illustrations are a nice plus

George Eliot is the ultimate mistress of wordcraft. A must read for those who enjoy the magic of language. Perhaps of little interest to those that are dedicated to the abbreviated code of social discourse.

Well-deserves the designation, "classic"; this funny, brilliant delightful study of British manners among the country elite and not-so-elite, lets us in on the sparkling thoughts of an outspoken feminist (with a masculine nom de plume because of the prevailing mores which she knew would not take note of another novel written by a woman). Jane Austenish, only even more acute and witty.

Written in the late 19th century, set in the early 19th century, the author makes many, many deeply insightful observations about human nature and life that sound as if they were written this week. An example is a riff about Doctors prescribing medicines because of the influence and favors they receive from drug companies.

I would have rated this higher, but there were several chapters that had quotes, that were written in other languages and I couldn't read what was being said. Ok classic book about a rural English town. I did enjoy reading about the main character's lives

This is a very ambitious and tightly packed novel with so many interesting characters and plot lines it is difficult to determine which was intended as the main plot. If Anthony Trollope had written this it would have been a whole series of 5 or 6 books.

Really worth reading, but if you get the audio edition, make sure you get Juliet Stevenson's narration. She is truly amazing, and can bring each of the many character's to life, and each with a particular voice that is consistent throughout the entire novel. I had to remind myself it was only one woman performing, and not a whole cast of characters!

Anything by "George "Elliot" is a great read. This is very long book, with many sub stories that all tie together. Long but well worth it. There aren't too many books I reread but I make an exception with this author. Even her essays and poems are amazing.

Middlemarch is about a small town called Middlemarch, its inhabitants and how they go about their days. Middlemarch is a very realistic depiction of life during the Victorian era in which it is set. Eliot lacks wit and humour and goes on and on about the most humdrum of details.

This is one of the most boring books I have ever read. I did not care for any of the characters because all of them are decidedly one dimensional. I recommend this book only to die-hard lovers of classics who are intrigued by the minutiae of provincial life.

The BBC miniseries was my first exposure to the world of Middlemarch; then, of course, the novel had to be read. The author was a woman, Mary Ann Evans, writing under a man's penname. And sure, the language is very archaic - this was written in the mid-1800's! At times the density of the prose tried my patience, and the many references to old literature/quotes quite puzzling. But I'm glad I stayed with this Classic (sometimes skipping over very obscure-to-me passages) - why? Because the characterizations and "asides" made me laugh aloud. The insights are just too jewel-like, sprinkled throughout this tale of the complex (and the simple) people of Middlemarch, their friends and mentors, enemies, losses and gains, marriages; their various Loves.

The sort-of Epilogue was very satisfying also, to see what "ends" our beloved Middlemarchers come to in the course of their lives - some happy, some not so happy. The last line, describing Dorothea, is a poignant statement of all those who "live hidden lives" - outwardly insignificant, perhaps, but nonetheless as worthy as gold.

Classic story of life, love and individual journeys with constraining circumstances. Great portrayal of its time that transcends through it's eternal themes. One of the best novels with strong women at heart. Writing itself is masterfully elegant yet simple and to the point.

I first read Middlemarch fifty years ago. The experience stayed with me to the point that
I Remember the book's color (blue) and font (way too small.) This time around I found it very funny at times. I think that of the thousands of novels I have read since all the characters could find a prototype in these pages.

The basic storyline is of four young people whose lives develop based on their young aspirations and beliefs set in the early English community of Middlemarch. The dictates of class and gender provide obstacles showing the struggles of living the life one envisions and what birth dictates. The writing is effusive with descriptive detail that was often tedious although well written.

I was amazed when this long wonderful book became available at a great cost for Kindle.
(Imagine trying to lug along a 700+ page novel in an airplane!) I try to reread this novel
every few years, and it never fails to amaze me with its incisive characterizations and
brilliant take on life at its most complex.

Once again, thanks to the store for making these classics FREE on the Kindle. I love it. Now to the book - I believe the other reviewers here have covered it quite well so I will just add a few words of comment. First of all, it is wonderful - totally engrossing. I think it was originally several novels that George Elliot (pen name of Mary Ann Evans) ultimately combined into one novel and serialized it. The serialization must have driven the readers mad because the tension builds almost unbearably. I could not wait to get back to it - and it is a long book. Elliot skillfully weaves so many stories into one long thread and they all work together so well. I don't recall ever reading it (at least I could not remember the plot line) but I did see the Masterpiece Theater version (1994) and recalled the story of the severe preacher/scholar Edward Casaubon and his innocent wife but not much else, so that put all the more pressure on me to keep reading. It was such a release to get all the issues more or less resolved at the end! Whew. Netflix has the Masterpiece Theater series on two DVDs and I can't decide if I am going to look at it again or not. It would be nice to see how they handled the characters but I don't know if I could bear all the tensions again! By all means read this wonderful novel.

The new J.K. Rowling book was compared to Middlemarch in a review which made me realize I knew nothing about Middlemarch. As is common with older books, this moves at a slower pace than we are accustomed to and has many words no longer in usage, but the footnotes kept me educated on what Eliot meant. The characters grew on me slowly,but grow on me the did.

Great book giving an insight into British Country Society in the early 19th Century.. vicissitudes of human behaviour when placed in identical situations.. long narrative but once started found it difficult to put down..

As a college senior, I took a highly coveted course on the Victorian novelists. For so long, I have wanted to revisit Middlemarch, one of the great reads of that class, and this summer I am traveling there. Middlemarch reminds me of why books become classics; it is not because they are stuffy or difficult. It is because they are books to be savored. The canvas of Middlemarch is filled with memorable characters, many of whom lack self-understanding. Meet Dorothea, Casaubon, Lydgate, Mary, Rosamund and Fred, to name just a few. Witness them trying to make meaning in their lives against the backdrop of a changing society. This one is truly a title to deserve five stars.
Based on my Kindle edition

This printing of a classic is full of misspellings and is printed on cheap paper. If it was still within the return window I would return it. It is true... you get what you pay for and the low price tag should have been a red flag. Don't buy it!

Eliot covers just about every aspect of life: marriage, family, professions, medicine, the church, double standards, gossip, prejudice, secrets, and much more. I only wished I could read the chapter prefaces that were in foreign languages. What a mind to being this all together! Excellent among the classics. ..glad I didn't miss it. ..

Back in the day, with no technology, Tv, radio, computers, et al, lengthy descriptive books were mind savers and irreplaceable. However, today, they are just overlong and tedious. Found myself skipping many passages of descriptions that were so absolutely unncessary to the plot and added nothing what so ever to the story. And as with all tomes, it seems as if the authors are in a rush to finish the book and get on with it. After hundreds of pages of information, when all conflicts are resolved, these endings are so unsatisfying, not giving us nearly enough info on the characters with which we have traveled along with for many many hours, to whom we have grown attached and exactly how each situation comes to a closure, either good or bad. So sorry to all teachers of comparative literature who require the reading of this example.

Even before I started the reading of "Middlemarch", I was really very happy with the quality of the pulication of this book. Having been a printer for lo 48yrs, it was eye opening upon unwrapping the contents. The binding, the printing is of the quality seldom seen these days. Now, as to the writing; as I read the first two chapters, I was taken in as to the intense descriptions of the characters. I found myself wondering, how come I had never come up on her writing before in my 83yrs of life. Wishing that I had read her writing years ago. Her writing has got me trapped now in re-reading more English literature of that period. VERY PLEASED.