Full disclosure, this is a response to the same question, that I wrote and am copying here:

It’s one of the best novels I’ve ever read that deals with the theme of the sins of one generation passing on to those that follow.

When it appears in pop culture lists, it’s often as an example of a great tragic love story (Catherine and Heathcliff), and that’s not unimportant to the story, but I find a lot of other things to love about it. I love the isolated feel of the houses on the moors. It creates a stifling atmosphere – as much as they’re situated in this wide open wilderness, the small handful of characters, all resentful of each other, are tied to this home and this twisted heritage.

I first read the novel in highschool, and I remember at the time, that it was one of the first novels I had ever read that really explored the grey area between right and wrong with its characters. None of the characters come off as thoughtlessly evil. Well, maybe Joseph does. But otherwise, they all have very well-defined motivations, and you can trace all the malice backward as you read.

There was also some fun to be had for me, in taking the picture of the present that we’re given at the beginning of the novel with Lockwood’s visit, and then jumping back with Nelly’s recitation of the past to kind of fit the puzzle together. The novel’s a study in patterns, imo. Most of the characters are shown as children at some point in the book, and you follow them all into adulthood, seeing each one gradually poisoned, and desperate that someone should escape alive. And then at the end, with Cathy and Hareton, it’s a real image of rebirth. One of the few hopeful, happy endings that has stuck with me as feeling completely articulate and genuine, whereas most feel either sappy or dishonest. You’ve gone this whole novel watching the story of a haunted house (haunted by spirits, but also by the living) play itself out, and it’s finally been cleansed. It’s a super well-earned and satisfying catharsis. But the possibility of unquiet slumbers still casts a shadow; I’m always partial to a well-placed note of uncertainty at the end of a novel.

I don’t know the answer to this, but I imagine one of the factors at play is that most used book retailers are flooded with copies of popular classics. If I didn’t already own Middlemarch and wanted a copy, I’d head to my local used bookstore and get a copy for ~$3/4. The fact that the authors for classics are no longer alive means I would always go for used copies over new.

So the number of copies that are being purchased and read includes more than just how many copies Amazon is selling new. Also, I wonder how this metric is arrived at. Because if ~10 copies of Middlemarch sold per day is just reflective of one of the many, many editions of the book available on Amazon, then I could see it. But if it’s all editions of Middlemarch, then that does seem a little low. We’re talking about the number one book retailer in the world.

My first inclination is that if you’ve given the novel a fair shake and it’s not working for you, then move on.

But isn’t Heart of Darkness on average like…75-ish pages? If you’ve already read 60 then I feel like you’re almost done, and in this case, might as well just finish it and decide for yourself.

Back in 2007, the movie for The DaVinci Code was coming out and some friends were planning to see it one evening. I was going to be seeing it with them around 5pm, and early in the day I decided I didn’t want to see it without having read the book first. So I grabbed a copy midday and just binged it in a handful of hours. It obviously helps that Dan Brown writes propulsively readably. But I wrapped it up shortly before I had to leave for the theater.

Series-wise, I couldn’t say. Lots of series of different lengths that I’ve had a go at. One of my favorites, A Dance to the Music of Time by Anthony Powell, I read in grad school, mostly between classes and assignments. I just had a copy of whichever book I was on with me at all times on campus, and whenever I had a spare moment I would dive in. And I got through the full 12 novels in a pretty brief span – maybe about a month. It makes me think back fondly on that school year, because of its association with reading that series.

I’m almost positive some are slipping my mind. But two that I read this year that I really enjoyed are:

– The Garden of Seven Twilights by Miquel de Palol. A story about a group of people who wait out a bomb scare by retreating to a wealthy guy’s isolated chateau in Spain. While they’re there, they contend with their interpersonal stuff, but also tell each other stories to pass the time. And it gradually becomes clear that the material and characters in the story show that there’s more going on with the guests (in the present) than they’re letting on. It was so engrossing and so well-written. Like an onion I wanted to get to the bottom of. Highly recommended.

– Dead Babies by Martin Amis. When Amis passed this year, I decided to give some of his novels I hadn’t tried a go. I only read one or two of his books before and wasn’t super into them. But this was a whole different story. Part dark British farce. Part comedy of manners between a group of bohemian students on a wild weekend. And things get pretty wild and hilarious. Several of the moments in the novel live rent-free in my head now. Also highly recommended.