content: Rarely have I enjoyed a classic with more surprise than Middlemarch. It looks to be an endless and boring morality tale from the plot summary, but reads like a work of high psychological art.The only other writer who has taken me so convincingly inside the thoughts of so many characters is Shakespeare. A strong compliment, but Eliot shows that she had the goods and somehow weaves an epic and beguilingly entertaining tale out of a quite depressing subject and period.I recall not wanting this book to end; for an 800-pager, that's strong praise indeed.They don't write 'em like this anymore!I love this Penguin edition; they've been doing it right for so long that their versions of the classics have all the right, simple touches.Truly great writing makes you feel ennobled for having read it; Middlemarch is most decidedly one of those books.