Well, friends, here we are! About to boldly forge into Roxane Gay's An Untamed State (remember, we're reading this handy part you can access online, please arrive prepared next Monday!), let us look back on our sweet and prickly journey through George Eliot's life and work, as well as the glorious writing of Rebecca Mead.

This picture of me with Rebecca Mead? It's the best picture of me I've ever seen. You can't tell that my face is 90% gums and ears, and that I usually lose my upper lip completely when I smile. I'm going to post it every single day until it gains sentience and walks among us. So, as you may know, I went to NYC for less than 24 hours, entirely for the purpose of doing…

If you’ve somehow missed being hounded by me to read (first) Middlemarch and (in the New Year) My Life in Middlemarch, you can catch up here. You have now (ideally, but it's almost a hundred and fifty years old, you can take another couple of weeks) finished George Eliot's masterpiece, and have arrived in this place to share your impressions with the rest of us. Share away! It's been such a pleasure reading this wonderful book…

Two relevant pieces of information for Middlemarch book-clubbers: 1. Our next discussion will be Monday, January 20th at 2pm EST, and we will read...TO THE VERY END. 2. Last time, we talked about the wee meet-and-greet that Rebecca Mead will be doing for Toast readers prior to her NYPL event on January 29th. That meet-and-greet will be from 5:45pm to 6:30pm, and you WILL need to be on the list, as the room…

If you’ve somehow missed being hounded by me to read (first) Middlemarch and (in the New Year) My Life in Middlemarch, you can catch up here. I am sure you have all dutifully read to the end of Volume 7? It's a very long chunk, but ideally you hid in the room with the coats during lackluster holiday parties in order to catch up. If not, just pipe in where you can, and dedicate yourself anew…

If you’ve somehow missed being hounded by me to read (first) Middlemarch and (in the New Year) My Life in Middlemarch, you can catch up here. I thought our last discussion was delightfully engaging and sprightly, and I really appreciate how many of you have dived into a seemingly-staid task with such vim. The book only gets better (at least, I feel that way), and I hope that you're beginning to pick up speed. Like…

If you've somehow missed being hounded by me to read (first) Middlemarch and (in the New Year) My Life in Middlemarch, you can catch up here. So, I very nicely requested that everyone (who has any interest in doing so) read to the end of Book One (Ch. 1-12), a very reasonably-sized chunk of George Eliot's masterpiece. If you haven't yet done so, that's perfectly fine. I anticipate this comment thread/discussion will…

We here at The Toast are delighted and excited to formally announce our first big communal book-reading exercise, which will be challenging and fun and gripping and life-affirming and a wonderful bonding experience for us all. We are going to be reading TWO books together: George Eliot's Middlemarch, and Rebecca Mead's not-yet-on-shelves My Life in Middlemarch, which is one of the best things I've ever read about the reading life, being a woman,…