Spent last weekend in Tennessee celebrating the birthday of my father-in-law, who told me that his favorite book is “Adam Bede” by George Eliot. While I’ve had “Middlemarch” recommended to me several times over the years, I think this was the first time anyone has recommended an Eliot book to me that was not “Middlemarch.” My father-in-law admitted he had a few false starts with this book, but he kept at it and found it to be one of the most rewarding reads of his lifetime. What do you think, readers – does this one go on the list? Or, if I only read one Eliot book, should it be her defining work rather than a deeper cut?

Should I read “Adam Bede”?