Anyway, Middlemarch has, in my opinion, one of the best last sentences I've ever read in a book, so I will share it with you, my blog readers, to ponder as well...
But the effect of her being on those around her was incalculably diffusive: for the growing good of the world is partly dependent on unhistoric acts; and that things are not so ill with you and me as they might have been is half owing to the number who lived faithfully a hidden life, and rest in unvisited tombs.Wow! On our trip to PA we drove by many very old cemeteries, and it strikes me now that those grave markers mark the lives that shaped this country as much or more so than the often visited markers at Gettysburg.
Thanks again, Jen, for the recommendation. Now I'm off to read Jewel, which was recommended by another faithful blog-reader :-)
Wow! That's awesome that you finished it. Your statement about how well fiction drives home truth is EXACTLY why I love it SO much.
ReplyDeleteAlthough, I have a short non-fiction to recommend. It's called "The Great Dance".
Thanks for highlighting that ending again for me. Our lives are made up of so many of these "unhistoric acts", but through them we hope to change the world.
Jen,
ReplyDeleteI'll have to put "The Great Dance" on my must read list :-)
Barb
Oh, you are both very smart! I'm still trying to decode the sentence. I think it is saying that it is the little things we do when no one sees which affect future generations. Ok,maybe it says something totaly different and I am showing my lack of smarts.
ReplyDeleteNo, Tina, that pretty much sums it up. So, even if we're never famous, our lives may affect future generations more than we know.
ReplyDelete