Calvino wrote the forward? Um, Italo Calvino? In which case, I might want to reconsider my love of The Periodic Table. OTOH, sometimes it's best not to re-read things you didn't remember as misogynistic before feminism ate your brain. I mean, I adored Milan Kundera once upon a time as well...

*cough*

[edited to add]: And if it's any consolation, while I have read Middlemarch, I have never gotten past page 3 of A Tale of Two Cities without falling asleep.