I discovered Booktube a couple years ago and from that was introduced to Victober--a month devoted to discovering, reading, and discussing Victorian literature. I listened to some videos with interest these past couple years, but this year I decided to participate so joined Goodreads and the group discussion there.
Each year there is a group read and some challenges/prompts. People participate in all, some, or none of these as they wish and read as many and whichever Victober books/poems/stories/plays strike their fancy.
This year the group read is Mayor of Casterbridge by Thomas Hardy. I've not read any Hardy and suspect he is the sort of author I would have to be in the right mood for as he is apparently depressing. I won't be taking part in the group read this year.
I will definitely read some things for a couple of the prompts/challenges while the others are maybes. They are to read something from the Victorian era in the following categories: a poem, a short story, a coming-of-age story, a novel in which one of the characters has an illness or disability, and a novel that has a film or TV adaptation to watch.
Things are loose for my TBR right now, but two I definitely plan to read are Weird Women: Volume 2: 1840-1925: Classic Supernatural Fiction by Groundbreaking Female Writers, edited by Lisa Morton and Leslie S. Klinger (short stories prompt), in which 10 of the 16 stories are Victorian.
Today I started Trail of the Serpent by Mary Elizabeth Braddon (chronic illness/disability prompt).
I might read North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell and/or John Halifax, Gentleman by Dinah Mulock Craik--not sure if either of those would be coming of age novels, although I think they would fit in with the illness/disability prompt. I have learned from experience not to look too deeply into plot descriptions for classics because there are often spoilers really give away major plot points. A couple of years ago, I read a classic after reading the back cover. It was not until I got to the last few pages and the main character learned something that everything hinged on that I realized it was supposed to be a surprise for the reader, too. But it was stated on the back cover, so I read the entire several hundred pages knowing what I was not supposed to know. My experience of the book would have been much better had I not known. So now I don't read the back covers or introductions until after I've read the books.
I might read some Oscar Wilde poetry or Aurora Leigh by Elizabeth Barrett Browning (which is a long coming-of-age poem)--not sure.
I don't enjoy watching things so won't be taking part in that challenge, although I might read a book and listen to a radio adaptation instead. It will depend on how much time I have and what I feel like doing later in the month. Also what my library has available in the e-audiobook section of the website, where there are a few Victorian radio dramas from BBC.
I've also been wanting to start a re-read of Anthony Trollope's Palliser series, so might pick up Can You Forgive Her?
Some of these books are ones I own and some are on my e-reader from Project Gutenberg, which is a really great place to try out authors from an earlier time. I have discovered authors I'd never heard of (like Dinah Mulock Craik) and now love from booktube and have been able to click over to Project Gutenberg and get some of their work. I've been on a big classics kick for a couple years now and I'm thrilled that I have so many new-to-me authors still to discover.
Happy reading, everyone!
1 comment:
Not off to a great start--LOL! I gave up on Trail of the Serpent. It's the second time I've tried with this book--an e-book this time and a couple years ago an audio version. I made it a little further this time, but I lost patience. I looked up the plot summary to see what happened in the second half of the book and that only made me more certain that I didn't want to waste time on it. On to another book! Life's too short to spend time on books I don't like! :-)
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