Tag Archives: George Eliot

“You can understand a lot about yourself by working out which fairytale you use to present your world to yourself in.” — A.S. Byatt

Posted on August 24, 2025 by sheila

I didn’t mark the passing of A.S. Byatt last year when it happened. I was overwhelmed with work at the time. But I did take a moment … a very still and silent moment … to reflect on her, on … Continue reading →

Posted in Books, On This Day, writers | Tagged A.S. Byatt, fiction, George Eliot, nonfiction, Possession | Leave a comment

For International Women’s Day: Ladies I Love

Posted on March 8, 2025 by sheila

I post edited versions of this every year. I add names. I take names off if I feel like it. I enjoy compiling it. It’s not just about enjoyment. As women’s rights are up for grabs more than ever, like … Continue reading →

Posted in Actors, Art/Photography, Directors, Personal, writers | Tagged A.S. Byatt, Abigail Adams, Agnes Varda, Aline MacMahon, Amy Heckerling, Ann Savage, Anna Karina, Anne Frank, Anne V. Coates, Annie Proulx, art, Aubrey Plaza, Australia, Austria, Barbara Bel Geddes, Barbara Stanwyck, Barbra Streisand, Bette Davis, Bibi Andersson, Brazil, Britney Spears, Busby Berkeley, Camille Paglia, Canada, Carole Lombard, Cate Blanchett, Charlotte Bronte, Charlotte Rampling, China, Croatia, Diane Keaton, Dolly Parton, Drew Barrymore, Dubravka Ugrešić, Edie Sedgwick, Ellen von Unwerth, England, Etta James, Eve Babitz, France, Frances Farmer, Gena Rowlands, George Eliot, Georgia, Germany, Gloria Grahame, Golshifteh Farahani, Greta Garbo, Greta Gerwig, Harriet Andersson, Hediyeh Tehrani, Hong Kong, Ida Lupino, Ingrid Thulin, Iran, Ireland, Isabelle Adjani, Isabelle Huppert, Italy, Janet Malcolm, Japan, Jean Arthur, Jeanette Winterson, Jill Clayburgh, Joan Crawford, Joan Didion, Joan Jett, Joanna Hogg, Josephine Decker, Judy Garland, Julie Christie, Kate Lyn Sheil, Kay Francis, Keri Hulme, Kristen Stewart, Kristen Wiig, L.M. Montgomery, Laura Dern, Laurette Taylor, Leila Hatami, Lily Tomlin, Liv Ullmann, Louise Glück, Madeleine L'Engle, Madeline Kahn, Maggie Cheung, Maggie Smith, Marianne Moore, Marilyn Monroe, Martha Graham, Mary Oliver, Maud Gonne, Mélanie Laurent, Mia Hansen-Løve, Nancy Savoca, Natalie Portman, Nina Hoss, Nina Simone, Olivia Laing, Olympia Dukakis, Patricia Highsmith, Pauline Kael, photography, Poland, Rebecca West, Romania, Rosalind Russell, Russia, Sandrine Bonnaire, Shabnam Toloui, Shirley Jackson, Sophia Takal, South Korea, Spain, Supernatural, Sweden, Tana French, Taraneh Alidoosti, The Netherlands, Tiffany Haddish, Tina Turner, Tuesday Weld, Wanda Jackson, women directors | 106 Comments

“[I wish] to trace the gradual action of ordinary causes rather than exceptional.” — George Eliot

Posted on November 22, 2024 by sheila

“What do I think of Middlemarch? What do I think of glory?” — Emily Dickinson I came to George Eliot late. As in, during the lifespan of this blog. I read Middlemarch (more like devoured it) in 2005, and wrote … Continue reading →

Posted in Books, On This Day, writers | Tagged A.S. Byatt, Christopher Hitchens, Emily Dickinson, fiction, George Eliot, Jeanette Winterson, Joan Acocella, L.M. Montgomery, W.H. Auden | 2 Comments

2015 Books Read

Posted on December 31, 2015 by sheila

Even I am impressed with how much I read this year. Along the course of the year, occasionally I’d think to myself, “Good job, Sheila, with your Self-Imposed Reading Plan!” I’ve read a lot of new novels (not really my … Continue reading →

Posted in Books | Tagged A.S. Byatt, Alexander Hamilton, Baseball A Literary Anthology, books read, Christopher Hitchens, Christopher Marlowe, Edvard Radzinsky, Elvis Presley, Fyodor Dostoevsky, George Eliot, Hannah Arendt, Hunter S. Thompson, Ireland, J.D. Salinger, Jeanette Winterson, Jincy Willett, Joan Didion, John Banville, John Wayne, Joshua Ferris, Lorrie Moore, Machiavelli, Margaret Atwood, Norman Rush, Patricia Highsmith, Paul Zindel, Rasputin, Rebecca West, Ron Chernow, Russia, science, Seamus Heaney, Shakespeare, Vietnam, W.H. Auden, William Styron | 22 Comments

Recommended Books: Fiction

Posted on July 26, 2015 by sheila

I’ve added to this list. I still want to do a Non-Fiction one, eventually, but … you know … time permitting. Some authors are represented multiple times here. Other authors aren’t represented at all. For no real reason. Don’t read … Continue reading →

Posted in Books, James Joyce | Tagged 1984, A Prayer for Owen Meany, A Tale of Two Cities, A.S. Byatt, Amongst Women, Annie Proulx, Arthur Koestler, At Swim-Two-Birds, Austria, Bad Behavior, Beware of Pity, Birds of America, Bleak House, Canada, Cat's Eye, Catch-22, Charles Dickens, Charlotte Bronte, Christine Falls, Close Range: Wyoming Stories, Crime and Punishment, Curtis Sittenfeld, Darkness at Noon, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, Dublin, Dubliners, East of Eden, Edna O'Brien, Elinor Lipman, England, Evelyn Waugh, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Flann O'Brien, Franny and Zooey, friends, Fyodor Dostoevsky, Geek Love, George Eliot, George Orwell, Going After Cacciato, Handmaid's Tale, Henry James, Herman Melville, Hopeful Monsters, House of Leaves, Huckleberry Finn, Hungary, Inherent Vice, Iran, Ireland, Italy, J.D. Salinger, James Salter, Jane Eyre, Jeanette Winterson, Jincy Willett, Joan Didion, John Banville, John Irving, John McGahern, John Steinbeck, Joseph Heller, Joshua Ferris, Joy Williams, Katherine Dunn, Keri Hulme, L.M. Montgomery, Lives of the Saints, Lorrie Moore, Margaret Atwood, Mark Danielewski, Mark Helprin, Mary Gaitskill, Master and Margarita, Mating, Michael Chabon, Middlemarch, Mikhail Bulgakov, Moby Dick, Nancy Lemann, New Zealand, Nicholas Mosley, Norman Rush, Patricia Highsmith, Patrick O'Brian, Philip K. Dick, Play It As It Lays, Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, Possession, Prep, Russia, Scoop, Sergei Kirov, Sexing the Cherry, Shirley Jackson, Stefan Zweig, Stephen King, Tana French, The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, The Bone People, The Country Girls, The Dead, The Grass Harp, The Great Gatsby, The Passion, The Shipping News, Tim O'Brien, Truman Capote, Victor Serge, Villette, Winter's Tale | 103 Comments

The Books: Passions of the Mind, ‘George Eliot: A Celebration,’ by A.S. Byatt

Posted on April 28, 2015 by sheila

On the essays shelf (yes, there are still more books to excerpt in my vast library. I can’t seem to stop this excerpts-from-my-library project. I started it in 2006!) NEXT BOOK: Passions of the Mind, a collection of essays by … Continue reading →

Posted in Books | Tagged A.S. Byatt, essays, fiction, George Eliot, Passions of the Mind | 1 Comment

The Books: Arguably, ‘The Dark Side of Dickens’, by Christopher Hitchens

Posted on June 3, 2014 by sheila

On the essays shelf: Arguably: Essays by Christopher Hitchens In his review of Michael Slater’s Charles Dickens, Hitchens compares it to Peter Ackroyd’s 1990 biography of Dickens. He seems to admire both. But he does clock a couple of interesting … Continue reading →

Posted in Books | Tagged Arguably, Charles Dickens, Christopher Hitchens, essays, George Eliot | Leave a comment

2013 Books Read

Posted on December 30, 2013 by sheila

It’s been a hell of a year. Devastating as well as redemptive. I started it out in Memphis, and end it here in New Jersey. And now my new niece Pearl has arrived! It’s been both a busy year as … Continue reading →

Posted in Books | Tagged A.S. Byatt, Anne Fadiman, Annie Proulx, Arthur Koestler, Balkans, books read, Darkness at Noon, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, Edvard Radzinsky, Elinor Lipman, England, friends, George Eliot, H.L. Mencken, Henry James, Herman Melville, Hungary, Ireland, J.D. Salinger, Jeanette Winterson, Joan Acocella, Joan Didion, John Banville, Joseph Heller, Joshua Ferris, Lester Bangs, Lorrie Moore, Patricia Highsmith, Philip K. Dick, Russia, Sam Cooke, Shakespeare, Stalin, Tana French, The Netherlands, The Only Game In Town, Thomas Carlyle, Victor Serge, Yugoslavia | 33 Comments

Middlemarch and Tolstoy

Posted on August 30, 2008 by sheila

Ted is reading Middlemarch and I have so been loving his thoughts on the book. One of the main responses I had to the book was that it actually excited me. It was an exhilarating read. Omniscient and personal, at … Continue reading →

Posted in Books | Tagged George Eliot, Leo Tolstoy, Middlemarch, War and Peace | 4 Comments

Fred in Middlemarch

Posted on June 4, 2008 by sheila

Zadie Smith’s analysis of and reflections on Middlemarch, by George Eliot – particularly Henry James’ review of said book, where James repeatedly wondered: “Why so much Fred?? Let’s stay with Dorothea … why Fred?” It’s a valid question – and … Continue reading →

Posted in Books | Tagged George Eliot, Middlemarch | 2 Comments

Tag Archives: George Eliot

“You can understand a lot about yourself by working out which fairytale you use to present your world to yourself in.” — A.S. Byatt

For International Women’s Day: Ladies I Love

“[I wish] to trace the gradual action of ordinary causes rather than exceptional.” — George Eliot

2015 Books Read

Recommended Books: Fiction

The Books: Passions of the Mind, ‘George Eliot: A Celebration,’ by A.S. Byatt

The Books: Arguably, ‘The Dark Side of Dickens’, by Christopher Hitchens

2013 Books Read

Middlemarch and Tolstoy

Fred in Middlemarch

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