George Eliot Was Not What One Might Call "Attractive"

Reviewing. I suck at it. Other people are good at it, and I respect that. While I'm slightly bummed that my book blog is rarely about specific books beyond "*insert title here* is kickass and you all should read it" or "This way sucks," if I tried to make it just book reviews, it would be tremendously boring, no one would read my blog and I'd sit in a corner crying while trying to come up with hilarious things to say on facebook.

I'm sure if I sat down and looked at the format of people's reviews, I could synthesize some stuff and come up with a non-horrible way of doing it, but 1) that sounds boring, 2) too much effort, 3) while I appreciate other people reviewing, I don't think I could do it without sounding like everyone else. Boo.

With this in mind, I want to talk about George Eliot. How do we all feel about George, or Georgie, as I'm sure she would totally prefer? (not really) My feelings sway depending on how much frustration she is currently causing me. Because Georgie is the Queen of 19th c. Fanfic, but she sometimes opts not to use her powers, and this is irritating. When she decides to make two characters hopelessly pine for each other, she uses just the right amount of angst, hand-brushings and long, soulful looks. When she decides to do something else, we have to endure pages about the Reform Bill of 1832. PAGES.

She's also very big on Men. Not men, but Men, who are characterized by their clear brows, piercing gazes, sturdy hands and forthright natures. These Men achieve things by the work of said sturdy hands, and while they might not subscribe to orthodox Christianity, they believe in doing Good where they can and letting a Man do as his conscience dictates. I don't know where she got so hung up on this type, but that guy appears in almost all her books.

I've read all her novels at this point except for Daniel Deronda, which better have some kind of romance, damnit (shh! don't spoil me).

For those who, like me, want Eliot fanfic novels, these're the ones that pass muster:

Scenes of Clerical Life
Adam Bede
Middlemarch
Kiiiiind of Felix Holt the Radical

These're the ones that don't and therefore suck:

The Mill on the Floss
Silas Marner
Romola (dear GOD, Romola)

I loved Mill on the Floss until the last third where it started SUCKING. All I remember about Silas Marner is that it was boring. Most people have to read it for high school, and it's short, so it's the only Eliot they're assigned, and that's a shame. As for Romola...good lord. No. Don't even do it unless you concoct some idiotic plan when you're 19 to read all of Eliot's novels because Middlemarch was soooo good and therefore they all must be. Oh yeah, also, don't read Middlemarch first since it's the fricking best one and all others will be a disappointment except for a certain couple in Adam Bede that is adorable but doesn't have enough space given it in the novel.

Aw, I miss Victorian lit. Does anyone have favorite Victorian authors/novels to recommend? And we're leaving out Dickens, because he IS Victorian England.