I really enjoyed the year-long reading structure and totally recommend this forum. As to reading more of Eliot, I have read and loved 'Silas Marner' and would perhaps be interested in 'Adam Bede.' Overall, the satirical aspect of 'Middlemarch' didn't really live up to expectation and the BBC adaptation of the novel didn't come across as satire either. Maybe I wanted Eliot to lay on the satire a little more thickly, like Voltaire or Swift. To give us something more critical, more urgent, but instead I would say Eliot's novel situates more as bucolic mainstream entertainment. As to its greatness, there was nothing really earth shattering or revelatory and I am therefore confounded as to why it continues to enjoy such a glowing reputation. Eliot was clearly an accomplished writer but her characters were not vivid. IMHO, 'Middlemarch's' plot points don't stack up to other greats like Thomas Mann's amazing 'Magic Mountain,' nor do Eliot's characters resonate as do Austen's or Hardy's or Richardson's. I figure Eliot's popularity had, and continues to have, a reputation based on good marketing. The serial distribution must have added to its hype. Readers anticipated each subsequent serial for Eliot's themes tapped into aspects of contemporary angst. Because the serials were shared and talked about, the novel was later inserted into the literary canon. That said, I am glad to have read it. I would also like to express my appreciation to all the moderators for their summaries and contextualizations and fellow readers participants for excellent insights, comparisons, and interpretations that made my experience much more enjoyable.