A Victober Reading Vlog | AD

#Victober
In which I vlog some Victorian reading . . .

This video is very kindly sponsored by Serious Readers. All opinions are, as always, my own.

Music:

*More About Victober*

Hosts and their announcement videos:

Challenges:
Kate’s challenge: Read a Victorian book where religion is a component of the story
Katie’s challenge: Read a Victorian book that plays with form in some way
Marissa’s challenge: Read a Victorian work that was originally serialized
Ros’s challenge: Experience Victorian drama: read, watch or listen to a Victorian play
Group challenge: Read a Victorian work by Wilkie Collins and/or Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Group Read: The Doctor’s Wife, Mary Elizabeth Braddon

*Books Mentioned*

*My Novels*

_The Trouble with Mrs Montgomery Hurst_

_The Secrets of Hartwood Hall_

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*General Links*

[scallydandlingaboutthebooks]

That's high praise for Ayala's Angel. It wasn't even on my possible list for my next Trollope till now. I had a lot of fun with London Assurance too.

[sketchesbyboze]

Rach and I had a similar experience when we finished The Mystery of Edwin Drood at the end of September for our Dickens reading club. We sat outside listening to the last half-hour on audio as the sun was setting, and cried when we reached the end because it was so sad to think of this inimitable voice, this font of character and story, suddenly falling silent. He gave so much to the world and I'll forever mourn the books he might've written had he lived another twenty years.

[Praire]

I am SO HAPPY that you loved Ayala’s Angel. I have always felt that it should be talked about more. I have read all of Trollope’s novels and I would definitely put it near the top as one of my favorites. Probably at #2 behind Dr Thorne. 😊

[KierTheScrivener]

I just watched London Assurance on stage in the end of September and loved it!

[disakland]

Victober Eve! Love that! This is my first Victober and I’m loving every second! I’m absolutely completely falling in love with Victorian Literature, and it’s amazing just leaning completely into it all month!

[launchedathousand]

I was only planning on reading 2 Victorian books this month and I've already finished them. Through the Looking Glass by Lewis Carroll and The Princess and Curdie by George MacDonald. I really enjoyed Lois the Witch when I read it a few Victobers ago, looking forward to reading others thoughts in the Discord.

[larrymilliken]

I finished The Doctor's Wife, and reading The Odd Women, and Mary Barton. Your enthusiasm is a great help to me! Thank you, Katie.

[clarepotter]

I've watched 'An Ideal Husband' with Jeremy Brett, that was fun - also reading it via P Guttenberg. I'm listening to 'A Little Princess' (Edwardian, but I haven't read it since childhood). I'm reading 'Rhys Lewis' which is a success so far, I'm enjoying it.

[laracroft]

I’m glad you thought Ayala’s Angel is great. I thought you would like it. I had a really good time reading it. It’s great you are talking about it so more people might be inspired to read it.

[reader]

Your top 5 Trollope list, now with Ayalyas Angel, is ever changing, so delightful.

[reader]

I'm loving my Victober so far: finished audio reread of Tenant of Wildfell Hall and a reread of Goblin Market and other Rossetti poems. In progress with An Eye for An Eye (Trollope), Mary Barton ( E. Gaskell), selected Tennyson reread (in my glorious Penguin Victorian verse anthology) and De Profundis and Other Prison Writings by Oscar Wilde, in a Penguin Classics edition introduced by Colm Toibin. Spurred to read the latter by a new historical novel by Louis Bayard, The Wildes: A Novel in Five Acts. Really enjoyed 4/5s of it, still thinking about the final section two weeks after finishing it.

[jamesduggan]

I finished James' Portrait of a Lady fairly quickly, enjoying it immensely. He sets out to create a very special woman; one might even call Isabel Archer the ideal woman. And then he discovered (I imagine) that was insufficient to support an entire novel so was therefore forced to create a story around her. What James does with her is completely counter-intuitive, which gives the novel an avant garde male pov feminism. Reading it in 2024 one cannot decide if it doesn't quite ring true because it's crafted by a man, or possibly feminism has evolved through so many phases since the 1890s it is almost unrecognizable as an exploration of a modern lady.

Additionally, I read two plays (so far). Technically both are for me rereads but after 45 years I suppose my recall is vague enough to count them as first-timers. The first is GB Shaw's Arms and the Man, a.k.a. the Chocolate Cream Soldier, a rom-com that begins quite farcically then steadies itself into a serious exploration of maturity and reasonable expectations. Slightly troubling is the conclusion that real love is a rare and special thing available only to a lucky few, and perhaps the clever couples who work hard enough at marriage to make it seem like love.

The day after it was Oscar Wilde's Importance of Being Ernest, which is both farcically funny and also sublime in the aftertaste one is aware of when thinking about the pair-bonding that takes place. Its premise may be that in the civilized world it is necessary to moderate one's expectations to enjoy any personal pleasures. Unlike Sartre, who would conclude a half-century later that 'Hell is other people', Wilde depicts a world where the meaning of life is learning how to live with others. There are in all the things we do obligations and duties both explicit and implied. To succeed in the modern world one must adapt and compromise.

[novellenovels]

I loved poor miss finch but then I am a massive fan of Wilkie Collins. Going to start the vicar of bullhampton over the weekend.

[kirstyhatton]

I finished reading Mary Barton yesterday. I can't believe it took me so many years to start reading. So thank you Victober! Now listening to and reading A Christmas carol. There is an audio version on BBC sounds

[theflyingninja]

Just visited the Bronte Parsonage in Haworth and saw your book on display, so i bought it.

[SaraIsReading]

I had to post this lovely quote on a Victober thread! I'm currently reading (not for Victober) Stella Gibbons' 1932 novel 'Cold Comfort Farm' and in it the heroine, Flora Poste, spends her first night at her relatives' farmhouse... 'Flora pounced on some books which lay on the broad window-sill: 'Macaria or Altars of Sacrifice', by A.J. Evans-Wilson; 'Home Influence', by Grace Aguilar; 'Did She Love Him?', by James Grant, and 'How She Loved Him', by Florence Marrayat. She put these treasures away in a drawer, promising herself a gloat when she should have time. She liked Victorian novels. They were the only kind of novel you could read while you were eating an apple.' 😀

[notmyrealname]

Hi, Katie! I've never read a sensational novel before (though I am familiar with several major Victorian writers). Do you think it a good idea to start with the Doctor's Wife or should I read something else first? I want to join the group read, but I'm worried that I'll miss all the references to the trademarks of the genre. Would appreciate some advice 🍂

[isabellemenez]

Trollope is such a wonderful writer ! I have nearly finished Oliver Twist, but it won't be my favourite book... I have higher hopes for Framley parsonage, though. Enjoy Victober 💜