Reviews 

Triggered by 509; these Victorian (or maybe post in Hardy’s case) novelists are so prolix; 450 pages. The plot wasn’t that similar to...

I have never read this, and enjoyed it, perhaps, more than I expected. Eliot is a heavy themed writer, swinging between good quality...

I had never read this and quite enjoyed it (P, who is more of an Austen fan than me, read it a few days later and didn’t, oddly). Read...

I found this difficult and hard work. The two sisters (Elinor – sense) and (Marianne – which I think means passion) both fall in love...

After my dismissive comment at no.429 above, I thought I should re- read Amis (I think this is the only book of his I have ever read,...

Another book unread (by me) since May 1977, when we bought it. I couldn’t (quite) get into it; it was good in parts, but the narrative...

I hate this but after about 160 pages I gave up on this. It was all unmitigated hard work. So I didn’t progress any further. Very...

Returned from holiday feeling quite alienated from reading and as a result struggled to get into this book (I must index this list as I...

I always try to take one big, difficult book on holiday, and am not a fan of Dickens, but persevere. Fairly typical of what I dislike...

Hadn’t read this before; quite hard work but interesting book, particularly given publication pre 1850. Maybe there were lots of similar...

Bought in February 1977 from the 2nd hand book store in the town where we then lived, but never as far as I can tell, read until now. One...

Another one from Bristol. I had read this years ago. Found it quite hard going; she doesn’t write very fluently about people so the...

I read this to compare and contrast with no.342 above, and despite being better known and perhaps regarded, I thought it was pretty dire....

Had been meaning, not very actively, to re-read this for some time, partly to remind myself of the plot. It is actually very good. What...

I didn’t read it in French, but don’t like the English translation (‘Abbe Mouret’s Transgression’ which misses half of the point) in my...

I suppose a pre-cursor of Middlemarch, this centres on the 1832 general election, which seems to have post-dated some electoral reform....

And now for something completely different, Paddy’s aeroplane reading, rather classier than mine. I haven’t read this for years and my...

I wouldn’t have chosen this, but it is very difficult to navigate a Complete Works on a kindle. This is an odd book, about a widow with a...

A bit of a need to read something masculine and classic (no connection meant) after the above. Leaves thinks highly of this, and, having...

I enjoyed 'Germinal' hugely and 'La Terre' quite a lot, but this, at best was like an early Shakespeare if you had started with say 'King...