Victober 2021
Sep. 5th, 2021 03:37 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
theophania Last year's participation in Victober ended in a complete disaster for me as I never did manage to pick up any Victorian classic until I decided to read Middlemarch by George Eliot for another book group. I DNFed Middlemarch indefinitely and while I hope to pick up the book in future, I have decided that I am not going to pick up anything by Eliot for a long time to come.
Which leads me to this year's Victober. I put my name down largely because I want to read more Victorian Literature, and because I think it is a great opportunity to share this experience with other people who are most likely going to be discussing what they are reading- which is always something that I find to be enjoyable. If you can speak to people who are reading the same books that you are, then it makes the reading experience fun.
My failure with last year's Victober was largely due to two things. Firstly, as a Canadian, I feel like I am a world apart from Britain where its literature and authors have no connection to the Canada of the Victorian period. So, I felt a huge disconnection to authors like Dickens, Collins, and other British authors who would only discuss British affairs and social issues- which wouldn't have been present in the Canada that existed during their lifetime. Secondly, I am far more comfortable in the French contemporaries of the Victorian writers. My shelves are overcrowded with the works of Dumas, Hugo, Zola, Sand, and de Balzac more than authors like Dickens, Eliot, Gaskell, Collins, and others. The only Victorian author that can compete with the might and power of Dumas is Sir Arthur Conan Doyle... whose works I love dearly.
All that out of the way, I am going to go through the prompts and then discuss the books that I want to read for this year.
The prompts for this year's challenge are:
1. Read a Victorian Sensation novel
2. Read a Victorian book set in the countryside AND/OR the city
3. Read a popular Victorian book with a main female character
4. Group challenge: Read a popular Victorian book you haven’t yet read (how you define popular is up to you – could be popular now, popular on Booktube, popular in the Victorian period itself)
Then there is the Group Challenge Read, which is a work by writer Elizabeth Gaskell called 'Gothic Tales'.
PROMPT I: Read a Victorian sensation novel.
I had to do a little bit of research into this to figure out what it meant to be a sensation novel and found that I had a few selections on my bookshelves that I could easily read and enjoy. However, it became a tie between Great Expectations by Charles Dickens and The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins. In the end, Wilkie Collins won the battle and I have chosen to read The Woman in White for this challenge.
The edition I am reading from is the gorgeous Arcturus Publishing LTD edition that was published in 2018. The cover is absolutely stunning and was the first thing that grabbed my interest other than the little blurb on the back of the book. I heard from Booktuber Jennifer Brooks that Wilkie Collins authorial voice is strong and pulls you into the story- which I feel like I need these days.
PROMPT II: Read a Victorian book set in the countryside and/or the city.
This was a very difficult prompt for me to decide on as there's two options to choose from, and since I feel that Victorian literature is going to be a lot more difficult for me than their French counterparts, I am unable to read two books for the same prompt. I have Gaskell's North and South on my shelves, but I also have a fair bit of Thomas Hardy and Henry James as well. I also have many of the Brontë sisters on my shelves as well... and a fair bit of Dickens now that I am more interested in British-English literature.
When thinking about my book list for this challenge, I was set on reading Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens as I feel that it was relevant for its time, and it seems to be set in the city of London and nearby communities. However, when I was pulling books from my shelves, I found Gaskell's North and South, William Makepeace Thackery's Vanity Fair, and a fair bit of Thomas Hardy along with Henry James. Then there's Dickens' other works like A Tale of Two Cities, Great Expectations, and Bleak House.
Yet, I am also in the mood for an atmospheric read and have even considered reading The Hound of the Baskervilles by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Which is set in the Victorian Period, but was published within a year after Queen Victoria died. I might just pick up the Adventures or Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, which were published in 1892 and 1893 respectfully.
PROMPT III: Read a popular Victorian book with a main female character.
This one was easy to pick for me as I only want to read one specific book by a woman writer who I think is of great interest and renown. I want to read Villette by Charlotte Brontë, which has a main female character that seems to narrate her story. There's not much to discuss with this pick, outside of it fits the prompt and it is a book that I don't know anything about.
PROMPT IV: Group challenge: Read a popular Victorian book you haven’t yet read.
I have not made a decision on what book to pick up for this prompt yet, but I am thinking of picking up Vanity Fair, which is a book I have never read and I feel that it gained a lot of popularity after it was published. However, the size of the book is very off-putting to me when I look over the books I want to also read for this challenge. So Vanity Fair is definitely a maybe for me.
Which leads me to this year's Victober. I put my name down largely because I want to read more Victorian Literature, and because I think it is a great opportunity to share this experience with other people who are most likely going to be discussing what they are reading- which is always something that I find to be enjoyable. If you can speak to people who are reading the same books that you are, then it makes the reading experience fun.
My failure with last year's Victober was largely due to two things. Firstly, as a Canadian, I feel like I am a world apart from Britain where its literature and authors have no connection to the Canada of the Victorian period. So, I felt a huge disconnection to authors like Dickens, Collins, and other British authors who would only discuss British affairs and social issues- which wouldn't have been present in the Canada that existed during their lifetime. Secondly, I am far more comfortable in the French contemporaries of the Victorian writers. My shelves are overcrowded with the works of Dumas, Hugo, Zola, Sand, and de Balzac more than authors like Dickens, Eliot, Gaskell, Collins, and others. The only Victorian author that can compete with the might and power of Dumas is Sir Arthur Conan Doyle... whose works I love dearly.
All that out of the way, I am going to go through the prompts and then discuss the books that I want to read for this year.
The prompts for this year's challenge are:
1. Read a Victorian Sensation novel
2. Read a Victorian book set in the countryside AND/OR the city
3. Read a popular Victorian book with a main female character
4. Group challenge: Read a popular Victorian book you haven’t yet read (how you define popular is up to you – could be popular now, popular on Booktube, popular in the Victorian period itself)
Then there is the Group Challenge Read, which is a work by writer Elizabeth Gaskell called 'Gothic Tales'.
PROMPT I: Read a Victorian sensation novel.
I had to do a little bit of research into this to figure out what it meant to be a sensation novel and found that I had a few selections on my bookshelves that I could easily read and enjoy. However, it became a tie between Great Expectations by Charles Dickens and The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins. In the end, Wilkie Collins won the battle and I have chosen to read The Woman in White for this challenge.
The edition I am reading from is the gorgeous Arcturus Publishing LTD edition that was published in 2018. The cover is absolutely stunning and was the first thing that grabbed my interest other than the little blurb on the back of the book. I heard from Booktuber Jennifer Brooks that Wilkie Collins authorial voice is strong and pulls you into the story- which I feel like I need these days.
PROMPT II: Read a Victorian book set in the countryside and/or the city.
This was a very difficult prompt for me to decide on as there's two options to choose from, and since I feel that Victorian literature is going to be a lot more difficult for me than their French counterparts, I am unable to read two books for the same prompt. I have Gaskell's North and South on my shelves, but I also have a fair bit of Thomas Hardy and Henry James as well. I also have many of the Brontë sisters on my shelves as well... and a fair bit of Dickens now that I am more interested in British-English literature.
When thinking about my book list for this challenge, I was set on reading Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens as I feel that it was relevant for its time, and it seems to be set in the city of London and nearby communities. However, when I was pulling books from my shelves, I found Gaskell's North and South, William Makepeace Thackery's Vanity Fair, and a fair bit of Thomas Hardy along with Henry James. Then there's Dickens' other works like A Tale of Two Cities, Great Expectations, and Bleak House.
Yet, I am also in the mood for an atmospheric read and have even considered reading The Hound of the Baskervilles by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Which is set in the Victorian Period, but was published within a year after Queen Victoria died. I might just pick up the Adventures or Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, which were published in 1892 and 1893 respectfully.
PROMPT III: Read a popular Victorian book with a main female character.
This one was easy to pick for me as I only want to read one specific book by a woman writer who I think is of great interest and renown. I want to read Villette by Charlotte Brontë, which has a main female character that seems to narrate her story. There's not much to discuss with this pick, outside of it fits the prompt and it is a book that I don't know anything about.
PROMPT IV: Group challenge: Read a popular Victorian book you haven’t yet read.
I have not made a decision on what book to pick up for this prompt yet, but I am thinking of picking up Vanity Fair, which is a book I have never read and I feel that it gained a lot of popularity after it was published. However, the size of the book is very off-putting to me when I look over the books I want to also read for this challenge. So Vanity Fair is definitely a maybe for me.