I was writing a post on my July TBR – but my manifest guilt over MIDDLEMARCH was holding back my inspiration. Thus, I present, at long last (for the 2.9 % of you that were waiting with bated breath)
Middlemarch Book VI – The Widow & The Wife.
Tag: so-proper-ill-die-romance
An Independent Woman, Betty Neels (or a secret gift from the cleaning fairies…)
This week I had SO many things I was determined to get through – the least of these being that I would finish the 6th (!) part of Middlemarch and finally post about it.
Alas.
Twas not meant to be.
There I was, grouching over the vacuuming (yet again) when hunkering down to extinguish the ever present (and LARGE) dust bunnies under a bookcase – what did I discover?
June Bingo (or the month that practically NOTHING went ANYWHERE…)
Yep. I am blaming the bingo card. Not my (possibly appalling) reading choices. Externalising blame…it’s much safer that way! I hadn’t noticed until I started BINGO-ing (can that be a verb?), … Continue reading June Bingo (or the month that practically NOTHING went ANYWHERE…)
Middlemarch Book V, The Dead Hand, (or when you-know-who, finally does you-know-what…)
I have neighbours. Well, actually I have to two seperate sets of neighbours.
One set live in a large yellow brick house with an enormous hedge of trees that cut them off from the road. Practically invisible to the general passerby; their front screen-age is so immense, a battalion from Battlestar Galactica could land on their front lawn, and you would never know.
May BINGO @ Blue Castle (or the month Valancy won NOTHING…not that that’s the point or anything….)
I had great hopes for May…Alas – twas not meant to be. In short: I read books, I filled squares. And NOTHING lined up in a row. It didn’t help that some of the books were so incredibly bad, that really using them as a BINGO square was the only thing that kept me going….
But here are the contenders:
Almost a Scandal, Elizabeth Essex, (or the worst named, best sea-faring romance ever…)
I haz shame. I am SUPPOSED to be doing a BINGO Post…and also a Middlemarch one…but here I am, pontificating about something else entirely.
But that is because it is just so good.
I am bringing out the wallow pig.
Middlemarch Book IV, Three Love Problems, (or better late than never…)
So very late…BUT for those of you middling along with us marchers…
We are now at mid point. The ABUNDANCE of characters have levelled off and whilst there are all sorts of THINGS happening, we have settled into three main storylines. (a bit of a relief really, I am not sure my character map could fit much more in…)
Middlemarch, Book III, Waiting for Death (or knee deep in the provincial life…)
I have decided. Eliot is like casserole. A long, slow-cooked casserole that fills the house with its smell and impregnates itself into the curtains.
APRIL B.I.I.I.I.I.I.I.I.I.I.I.N.G.O (Or Dirty knees, All the threes & Sherwood Forest…)
SO, Valancy never wins at anything. ANYTHING.
Not at knocking over the milk bottles or ring toss. Laughing clowns have NEVER paid up. And, it is always the person next to me that guesses how many jellybeans in the jar.
But I will lament my horrid luck more
Night Magic, Midnight & Wild Orchids, Karen Robards, (or my rare-magical-unicorn-author scale…)
Everyone reads differently. Right? Some fast; some slow; some not all (and we pity those poor uninformed uni-bots masquerading as people…).
Middlemarch: Book II, Old and Young (Or, not everything is coming up roses…)
When last we left them, the Middlemarchers were fair to middling in their various life choices.
We had met Dorothea and DESPAIRED of her marrying that dull prosy old fart (Casaubon); and had made a tentative acquaintance with Tertius Lydgate.
The Madwoman Upstairs, Catherine Lowell (or Valancy, now forever afeard of attics….)
We are a passionate bunch here at BlueCastle. We love and loathe in equal measure.
Topping the list of most hated include:
Moustachioed heroes. (I may include the recently read Karen Robard Wild Orchid’s Max as my ONLY current exception to this rule.)
Classic Review: Middlemarch, George Eliot (or venturing into provincial life…)
One of my New Year’s resolutions was to read (or re-read) classic novels. You know, those books literati refer to with arched eyebrows and smug smirks, to which I nod knowingly about and bluff my way through, whilst never having ACTUALLY really read. (Advanced English & Cliff’s Notes for the win).
Not a Review (a book brag, with a side of cover wince…)
I have to share – because REASONS!!! All 290 of them!!!
Do you see my pretties??
They followed me home so I kept them.
Dixie Browning, (or how Valancy blatantly, unrepentantly over-used brackets in this post…)
TBR CHALLENGE: MARCH 2016
It’s been a little while since I posted…IRL has been NUTS – and I’ve missed posting and commenting and friendly-stalking pretty blogs (or is that something only I do…?)
Into the Wild, Molly O’Keefe (or Valancy, ruined for all other HistRoms…)
I would love to review these, talk about the intriguing dynamics, illusory metaphors and heart-wrenching relationships…
But I can’t – because I HAVE NO PERSPECTIVE ON THIS!!!!
None.
Not even a bit.
I am shamelessly WALLOWING in the FEELS.
A Grave Matter, Anna Lee Huber, (Or there’s more of gravy than of grave about this…)
<<TBR CHALLENGE: FEBRUARY 2016>> There is a place where book series go to perish. It’s just outside of BlueCastle. You walk down the green valley and take a sharp right and there before … Continue reading A Grave Matter, Anna Lee Huber, (Or there’s more of gravy than of grave about this…)
A Company of Swans, Eva Ibbotson (or The Archive of the Dis-Remembered…)
Isn’t funny how books slip through your memories? When you are first discovering them, reading them and subsequently being enchanted by them, you think you are NEVER going to forget … Continue reading A Company of Swans, Eva Ibbotson (or The Archive of the Dis-Remembered…)
Banished to the Harem? (or my foray into the world of sheikhs…)
I am nosy by nature. I like ferreting out information, seeking clues, finding answers and generally just knowing. My previous life was filled with research, statistics, funding submissions, quotas and … Continue reading Banished to the Harem? (or my foray into the world of sheikhs…)
The Making of a Marchioness (or is there a heroine dumber than Emily Fox-Seton?)
When I was 12, already entangled in all the Annes (green gables, avonlea, windy willows – and my favourite of all – the island…) and the Emily’s (of the new … Continue reading The Making of a Marchioness (or is there a heroine dumber than Emily Fox-Seton?)
Blue Castle Considerations 
You must be logged in to post a comment.