In which we have many feelings, especially about the importance of good footnotes and endnotes, as well as our disappointment in Fred, Lydgate, Mr. Garth and Casaubon.

This week's references include:

Folger Shakespeare Library Editions and "The Annotated Alice: Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass" by Lewis Carroll, with added commentary by Martin Gardner and Mark Burstein.

Palate cleansers:

• Megan - Conversations with a Killer: The Ted Bundy Tapes (Netflix)
• Pete - Red Dead Redemption 2 (official gameplay video)

What Makes a Book "Big"?

We thought that because "Middlemarch" only weighs in at the 700-800 page range (compared to the 1200+ pages of "War and Peace"), there would somehow be less characters and relationships to keep track of...

We were wrong.

Luckily, other intrepid readers have come before us! Charles found and shared this hand drawn "Relationship Map of Middlemarch" posted by someone named Nickelini, on Photobucket.

This week's Palate cleansers -

• Pete - "The Library Book" by Susan Orlean, who will be at Central Library on February 20 for Arlington Reads.
• Megan - Mormom and the Meth-Head podcast
• Alex - "Lethal White" by Robert Galbraith

We recorded this week's podcast a day late due to a snowstorm, but nothing could stop our first Sunday night group discussion on Goodreads! Today we got to Tuesday-morning quarterback the discussion.

Shownotes - Shmoop.com is an education website aimed at students. The introduction and character analysis sections on Middlemarch are especially helpful, and entertaining. Any time you get behind in the reading, check out the Shmoop.com chapter summary of Middlemarch.

Palette cleansers -

• Pete - Oh Brother Where Art Thou
• Jennie - Brooklyn 99
• Megan - Tidying Up With Marie Kondo (TV show) and "The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up" by Marie Kondo

Welcome back to the Big Book Club!

In our introductory episode of Season 2, Jennie, Megan and Pete chat about the reading schedule for "Middlemarch" and the discussion format of this season's Big Book Club:

• We're reading for 3 weeks, and then taking a week off to catch up (and repeat)
• We're hosting 2 in person chats in the off weeks, for people who don't like online discussion
• We're holding the online discussion on Goodreads. It's a closed group, so if you haven't asked to join yet, do so before 8 p.m. on Sunday, if you want to take part in the conversation about chapters 1-9.

We also share our feelings about introductory sentences, wonder what the prologue means, Megan schools us on how much of a badass George Eliot was (especially for a Victorian lady), and Alex makes big pronouncements about "Wuthering Heights."

And of course we share our palate cleansers:

• Jennie - The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, season 2
• Pete - MAGFEST - the Music and Gaming Festival - and Super Art Fight - "The greatest live art competition in the known universe"
• Megan - Buffy the Vampire Slayer, season 1
• Alex - "The Devouring: a Billy Boyle World War II Mystery" by James R. Benn

A Big Book Club mini episode: A Rogue by Any Other Name vs. The Hitchhicker's Guide to the Galaxy. It's the first in a new series of mini episodes about reading outside our comfort zones!

Pete challenged Megan to read his very favorite book, "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy," by Douglas Adams...

Megan challenged Pete to read one of her favorite beloved romances, "A Rogue by Any Other Name," by Sarah MacLean...

Will prides be humbled? Will prejudices be confronted? Will there be lots of laughing?

Listen to find out!

(The other Sarah MacLean series for which Jennie and Megan can't remember the name of the books is Love By Numbers.)

Our Mission

To tackle reading the fairly big book, "Middlemarch" while talking about it online (and cheering each other on when necessary).

How to Participate

• Register now!
• Start reading by January 7
• Read approximately 100 pages each week (see reading schedule)
• Chat online about the book
• Meetup in person during our two off weeks - if you want
• Finish "Middlemarch" by the middle of March...

Chat About the Book Online

• Twitter - Vent or swoon throughout the week (depending on how you're feeling) using the #IdesOfMiddlemarch hashtag.
• Goodreads Group - Join us Sunday nights in the Ides of Middlemarch Group to chat with your librarian hosts and fellow readers: Jennie, Megan, Pete, and Alex.

Listen to this Podcast - Download our mostly-weekly Ides of Middlemarch wrap-up. Librarians Jennie, Megan, Pete and special guests will discuss the reading and ask or answer questions that come up during the Sunday discussion.

In which we try to figure out how we feel about "War and Peace" and why Tolstoy has such staying power. And Jennie sings ALL the songs.

The Chinese proverb Jennie refers to is often translated as either:

• "Heaven is high and the emperor is far away" or
• "The mountains are high and the emperor is far away" (which the Oxford Dictionary of Proverbs actually compares to the Russian proverb "God is high above and the tsar is far away").

Kim Pine in "Scott Pilgrim vs. the World" (also check out the graphic novels)

Bridget Jones's Diary - Smug Marrieds

Palate cleansers -

• Megan - Harry Potter series, Anne of Green Gables series, and "Sierra Burgess is a Loser" on Netflix
• Jennie - reading the Cybils Award contenders, and "Making It" on Hulu
• Pete - playing video games: Donut County, Spider Man and Red Dead Redemption 2

Important Announcements!

Vote now for the Big Book Club's Winter 2018/2019 book! The poll will remain open until the end of October.

The War and Peace Survivors Party is scheduled for Sunday, September 30, from 3:30-5:30 p.m. We hope to see you there! RSVP if you think you can make it, so we know how many snacks to provide.

Palate Cleansers

• Megan - "My Life as a Goddess" - by Guy Branum
• Pete - "The Everything Box" by Richard Kadrey and "Room to Dream" by David Lynch
• Alex - "Sophia" Russian tv show, available on Amazon Prime

This week's references include:

Waterloo - the upcoming battle in 1815, and the song by ABBA

We think Tolstoy would have liked ABBA's fatalism...

At Waterloo Napoleon did surrender Oh yeah And I have met my destiny in quite a similar way The history book on the shelf Is always repeating itself Waterloo I was defeated, you won the war Waterloo promise to love you for ever more Waterloo couldn't escape if I wanted to Waterloo knowing my fate is to be with you Waterloo finally facing my Waterloo

1812 Overture - written in 1880 by Russian composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky to commemorate Russia's defense of its fatherland against Napoleon's invasion in 1812. The overture debuted in Moscow on August 20, 1882, conducted by Ippolit Al'tani under a tent near the then-unfinished Cathedral of Christ the Saviour, which also memorialized the 1812 defense of Russia.

Closer to the Apothecary than God: Abortion in 17th Century England - What do we know about abortion in 18th century Russia? Not a lot, but thanks to this research, we do know that English apothecary shops carried books with recipes containing abortifacients available in domestic settings.

Random pop culture references:

• Evil Dead (Horror Movie, 1981)
• Get Smart (TV Show, 1965-68)
• Dragnet (Radio and TV Show, 1951-1970)

Palate cleansers

• Jennie - "Rich People Problems" by Kevin Kwan
• Megan - Binge Mode podcast
• Pete - Theodore Roosevelt Island

Which moments have been Pierre's worst? Is Tolstoy an unreliable narrator? Jennie heralds Gossip Girl's value in raising lexile levels! And Alex insists that what the 1812 Moscow fire really needs is zombies.

This week's references include:

Joseph Joffre, commander in chief of the French forces on the Western front during the initial stages of WW1, who, insisted on sticking to his usual schedule, even during battle. Pete learned about him in Dan Carlin's Hardcore History podcast episode, Blueprint for Armageddon 1

"Gossip Girl" by Cecily Von Zeigesar

Palate cleansers

• Megan is reading "Many Love" by Sophie Lucido Johnson, "The Clothes Make the Girl (Look Fat)?" by Brittany Gibbons, "Educated: a Memoir" by Tara Westover, and is watching Bored to Death.
• Pete is watching Disenchantment
• Jennie is watching early seasons of The Simpsons and is looking forward to reading Tessa Dare's new book, "The Governess Game."
• Alex is reading "Jell-O Girls" by Allie Rowbottom and "A Duke by Default" by Alyssa Cole.