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I would consider the most depressing book I have read to be Giants in the Earth, by O. E. Rolvaag. It tells the story of Norwegian immigrants facing the hardship of settlement on the Midwestern prairie, and ultimately succumbing to the dark wilderness of the land and the dark religion of the...

Perhaps the most humorous scenes in the book (especially for BAR super-readers) occur when William brings Lily home at Whitsuntide. After the mandatory flower scene, when Paul threaded daisies and a touch of ragged robin in Lily's hair, and the scenes where William "hates" Lily because of her...

That echoes my thoughts. Part 1 was kind of interesting in its portrayal of working-class life in the coal fields of England. The characters seemed realistic. But in Part 2, it seemed like everything ground to a halt while they stopped to smell the roses.... and the daffodils, crocuses...

The only emotions the author seems able to describe are hate, love, anger, joy, and brooding. There is no grey. That is one reason I find the book disappointing.

In Chapter 2, Gertrude has a heavy feeling about her new-born infant. "'My lamb!' she cried, softly. At that moment she felt, in some far inner place of her soul, that she and her husband were guilty." "A wave of hot love went over her to the infant. ... With all her force, with all her...

The ministers or would be ministers in Gertrude's life seem to give her intellectual enjoyment, but not much in the way of character. John Field in Chapter 1 became a teacher and married his landlady, a widow with property. All she got from him was a Bible. Rev. Heaton in Chapter 2 was...

If she had grown up in an irreligious but proud middle class home, would she have treated them any differently?

I think the flowers are a sign of or substitute for love or desire. At the end of Chapter 1, the flowers are a substitute for the love the characters are unable to share. Later on, they become a sign of suppressed sensuality.

Her puritanical upbringing taught sin, but more importantly in this context it taught the need for thrift and delayed gratification. Walter was unable to live that way.

Wait until you get to the flowers in Part 2.

Oops. Didn't mean to post twice.

A theme throughout the book is flowers. In the first chapter, we see "the little garden at the Bottoms become fragrant. Mrs Morel went out to look at the flowers and to breathe the evening." Later, when she is locked out of the house, she becomes aware of the white lilies, white phlox and...

A theme throughout the book is flowers. In the first chapter, we see "the little garden at the Bottoms become fragrant.. Mrs Morel went out to look at the flowers and to breathe the evening." Later, when she is locked out of he house, she becomes aware of the white lilies, white phlox and...

In some ways I feel sorry for Walter. He enjoys being with people and has a great need to be liked. That is what attracted Gertrude when they first met. But the need to be liked eventually led to his downfall in her eyes. Throughout their marriage, Walter is afraid to tell Gertrude the...

This book is really two books in one. Part 1, the first six chapters, is an interesting slice of life in and around the collieries of Nottinghamshire. Part 2 is a very different story, and one I found disappointing. I'd suggest we discuss Part 1 first, and leave Part 2 aside for a week or...

I'm in for Uncle Tom. I think it premature to start discussing the December selection. Wait until Sept 1, talk about choices during the month of Sept and winnow them down to half a dozen, then have a poll from Oct 1-15 to select the favorite. That gives six weeks to read the book.

No surprise there. Even Paul, who wrote more New Testament books than anyone else, said: "I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do - this I keep on doing. ... What a wretched man I am!" A...

The Mill on the Floss

Detective stories take tangled tales and come up with clear answers.

The masses in those days being much more credulous than we are today ....