Victober 2022

Victober
October 1-31
Victober Goodreads Group | List of Victorian authors on Victorian web
Spinster's Library Victorian Ladies Music Playlist (here)
#Victober
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Celebrating Victorian literature...
British and Irish literature published and/or written between 1837 to 1901
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host: Marissa, Blatantly Bookish
Marissa’s challenge: Read a Victorian short story

Gothic Tales
by Elizabeth Gaskell
Short Stories, Gothic, Horror, Victorian | Published: 2000 | Goodreads

host: Ros, Scallydandling about the Books
Ros’s challenge: Read a work of Victorian poetry, long or short

host: Kate Howe
Kate’s challenge: Read a Victorian work with chronic illness or disability representation

host: Katie, Books and Things
Katie’s challenge: Read a Victorian Bildungsroman/coming of age story

Group Read:
Also, host: Petra U
Petra’s challenge: Read a Victorian book and watch a screen adaptation of it

The Mayor of Casterbridge
by Thomas Hardy
Classics, Victorian | Published: 1962 (first 1886) | Goodreads

The Mayor of Casterbridge (2003)
Director: David Thacker
Screenplay: Ted Whitehead
Based on book by: Thomas Hardy
Stars: Ciarán Hinds, Juliet Aubrey
Drama | imdb
At a country fair, young hay-trusser Michael Henchard quarrels with his wife Susan, and in a drunken fit decides to auction off his wife and baby to a sailor for five guineas. The next day, realizing his loss, he swears not to touch liquor again for as many years as he has lived so far. Eighteen years later, Henchard has become Mayor of Casterbridge, a man well respected but not well liked. The unexpected return of his wife and daughter Elizabeth Jane sets off a turn of events that force him to face the consequences of his selfish impulses and violent temper.


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* image header source: Victorian Books list

Victober 2021

Victober
October 1-31, 2021
A Victorian literature themed readathon
hosted by Katie @Books and Things | Lucy @lucythereader | Kate @KateHowe
Victober Goodreads Group | List of Victorian authors on Victorian web
Spinster's Library Victorian Ladies Music Playlist (here)
#Victober
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The Challenges: Below are my possibilities...

Lucy’s Challenge: Read a Victorian novel with a female main character.

Aurora Floyd
by Mary Elizabeth Braddon
Classic, Victorian | Published: 2009 (first 1863) | Goodreads

Katie’s Challenge: Read a Victorian novel set in the countryside and/or the city.

The Moonstone
by Wilkie Collins
Classic, Mystery, Victorian | Published: 1998 (first 1868) | Goodreads

Kate’s Challenge: Read a Victorian sensation novel.

Woman in White
by Wilkie Collins
Classic, Mystery, Horror, Victorian | Published: 2005 (first 1859) | Goodreads

Group Challenge: Read a popular Victorian novel.

Carmilla
by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu
Classic, Gothic, Horror, Vampires, Victorian | Published: 2013 (first 1872) | Goodreads

Bonus Challenge: Read aloud a section of a Victorian novel or have it read aloud to you via a friend or an audiobook.

Audiobook:
Lady Audley’s Secret
by Mary Elizabeth Braddon
Classic, Mystery, Victorian | Published: 2012 (first 1862) | Goodreads

Read aloud: poetry
The Lady of Shallot
by Alfred Tennyson
painting by John William Waterhouse
Group Read:

Gothic Tales
by Elizabeth Gaskell
Short Stories, Gothic, Horror, Victorian | Published: 2000 | Goodreads

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* image header source: from @KateHowe

Waiting on Wednesday - 11.16.16

Waiting on Wednesday
sponsored by Jill at Breaking the Spine (details)
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I'm waiting for...

Victoria:
The Queen: An Intimate Biography of the Woman Who Ruled an Empire
by Julia Baird
-Biography, History
Release date: November 22, 2016
Amazon | Goodreads
From International New York Times columnist Julia Baird comes a magnificent biography of Queen Victoria. Drawing on previously unpublished papers, Victoria: The Queen is a stunning new portrait of the real woman behind the myth—a story of love and heartbreak, of devotion and grief, of strength and resilience.

When Victoria was born, in 1819, the world was a very different place. Revolution would begin to threaten many of Europe’s monarchies in the coming decades. In Britain, a generation of royals had indulged their whims at the public’s expense, and republican sentiment was growing. The Industrial Revolution was transforming the landscape, and the British Empire was commanding ever larger tracts of the globe. Born into a world where woman were often powerless, during a century roiling with change, Victoria went on to rule the most powerful country on earth with a decisive hand.

Fifth in line to the throne at the time of her birth, Victoria was an ordinary woman thrust into an extraordinary role. As a girl, she defied her mother’s meddling and an adviser’s bullying, forging an iron will of her own. As a teenage queen, she eagerly grasped the crown and relished the freedom it brought her. At twenty years old, she fell passionately in love with Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, eventually giving birth to nine children. She loved sex and delighted in power. She was outspoken with her ministers, overstepping boundaries and asserting her opinions. After the death of her adored Albert, she began a controversial, intimate relationship with her servant John Brown. She survived eight assassination attempts over the course of her lifetime. And as science, technology, and democracy were dramatically reshaping the world, Victoria was a symbol of steadfastness and security—queen of a quarter of the world’s population at the height of the British Empire’s reach.

Drawing on sources that include revelations about Victoria’s relationship with John Brown, Julia Baird brings vividly to life the fascinating story of a woman who struggled with so many of the things we do today: balancing work and family, raising children, navigating marital strife, losing parents, combating anxiety and self-doubt, finding an identity, searching for meaning. This sweeping, page-turning biography gives us the real woman behind the myth: a bold, glamorous, unbreakable queen—a Victoria for our times, a Victoria who endured.

AND...

Victoria:
by Daisy Goodwin
-Historical Fiction, Victorian
Release date: November 22, 2016
Amazon | Goodreads
“They think I am still a little girl who is not capable of being a Queen.”

Lord Melbourne turned to look at Victoria. “They are mistaken. I have not known you long, but I observe in you a natural dignity that cannot be learnt. To me, ma’am, you are every inch a Queen.”

In 1837, less than a month after her eighteenth birthday, Alexandrina Victoria – sheltered, small in stature, and female – became Queen of Great Britain and Ireland. Many thought it was preposterous: Alexandrina — Drina to her family — had always been tightly controlled by her mother and her household, and was surely too unprepossessing to hold the throne. Yet from the moment William IV died, the young Queen startled everyone: abandoning her hated first name in favor of Victoria; insisting, for the first time in her life, on sleeping in a room apart from her mother; resolute about meeting with her ministers alone.

One of those ministers, Lord Melbourne, became Victoria’s private secretary. Perhaps he might have become more than that, except everyone argued she was destined to marry her cousin, Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. But Victoria had met Albert as a child and found him stiff and critical: surely the last man she would want for a husband….

Drawing on Victoria’s diaries as well as her own brilliant gifts for history and drama, Daisy Goodwin, author of the bestselling novels The American Heiress and The Fortune Hunter as well as creator and writer of the new PBS/Masterpiece drama Victoria, brings the young queen even more richly to life in this magnificent novel.

=====> These both come out on the same day. Getting into the mood of reading about royals.

Stalking Jack the Ripper by Kerri Maniscalco

Stalking Jack the Ripper
by Kerri Maniscalco

Find out more about this book and author:
Amazon
Goodreads
Website
Facebook
Instagram
Pinterest | Tumblr | Twitter @KerriManiscalco

Just released: September 20, 2016
Publisher: jimmy patterson
Genre: Historical, Mystery, YA
Hardback: 336 pages
Rating: 4

series:
Stalking Jack the Ripper
book 2 - tba

First sentence(s):
I placed my thumb and forefinger on the icy flesh, spreading it taut above the breastbone as Uncle had showed me.

Seventeen-year-old Audrey Rose Wadsworth was born a lord's daughter, with a life of wealth and privilege stretched out before her. But between the social teas and silk dress fittings, she leads a forbidden secret life.

Against her stern father's wishes and society's expectations, Audrey often slips away to her uncle's laboratory to study the gruesome practice of forensic medicine. When her work on a string of savagely killed corpses drags Audrey into the investigation of a serial murderer, her search for answers brings her close to her own sheltered world.

The story's shocking twists and turns, augmented with real, sinister period photos, will make this dazzling, #1 New York Times bestselling debut from author Kerri Maniscalco impossible to forget.

My two-bits:

Loved how this book captured all the elements of a Victorian mystery with a YA perspective. I especially liked how the forensic world was incorporated. It was fascinating how clues were procured through observations.

Victorian etiquette and a light romance bring a little cheer and humor into the story.

This Ripper story gets pretty personal for the protagonist which lures the reader to an unexpected ending (at least to me).

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* review copy courtesy of publisher at BEA 2016

When It Rained at Hembry Castle by Meredith Allard

When It Rained at Hembry Castle
by Meredith Allard

Find out more about this book and author:
Amazon
Goodreads
Website
Blog
Facebook
Pinterest
Wattpad
Twitter @copperfield101

Just released: January 28, 2016
Publisher: Copperfield Press
Genre: Historical
Paperback: 464 pages
Rating: 4

The Hembry Castle Chronicles series:
When It Rained at Hembry Castle
book 2 - tba

First sentence(s):
The mourners lined the village roads as far as the castle, their umbrellas pointed like black wreaths at the crying sky.

From Meredith Allard, author of the bestselling Loving Husband Trilogy, comes When It Rained at Hembry Castle, a lush historical novel set in Victorian England.

Perfect for fans of Downton Abbey, it's the story of an aristocratic family, secrets that dare not be told, and the wonder of falling in love.When the 8th Earl of Staton dies, his eldest son, the unreliable Richard, inherits the title and the family's home--Hembry Castle.

The Earl's niece, the American-born Daphne Meriwether, is intrigued by Edward Ellis, a rising author with a first-hand knowledge of Hembry Castle--from the servants' hall. And Edward, though captivated by the lovely Daphne, has his own hurdles he must overcome.

Can Richard come to terms with his title before bringing ruin on his family?

Will Edward and Daphne find their way to each other despite the obstacles of life at Hembry Castle?

When It Rained at Hembry Castle is a page-turning, romantic novel with vivid characters and an engrossing story that will keep you guessing until the end.

My two-bits:

Mellow drama with a stately Downton Abbey-ish air.

A gentle push and pull of English etiquette and American ways along with changing times comes through in this story.

This is one of those stories that grabs you for its setting and daily living situations.

Definitely, something to sit down with in a comfy chair and cup of tea.

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* review copy courtesy of author

Smoke by Dan Vyleta

Smoke
by Dan Vyleta
Narrator: Allan Corduner

Find out more about this book and author:
Amazon
Goodreads
Website
Blog
Twitter @danvyleta

Release date: May 2016
Publisher: Doubleday
Genre: Fantasy, Historical Fiction, Victorian England
Hardback: 448 pages
Rating: 4

First sentence(s):
"Thomas, Thomas! Wake up!"
The first thing he does upon waking is to search his nightshirt, his bedding for soiling. He does this quickly, mechanically, still more than half asleep: runs a palm over his skin feeling for the telltale grit of Soot.

Welcome to a Victorian England unlike any other you have experienced before. Here, wicked thoughts (both harmless and hate-filled) appear in the air as telltale wisps of Smoke.

Young Thomas Argyle, a son of aristocracy, has been sent to an elite boarding school. Here he will be purged of Wickedness, for the wealthy do not Smoke. When he resists a sadistic headboy's temptations to Smoke, a much larger struggle beyond the school walls is revealed. Shortly thereafter, on a trip to London, Thomas and his best friend witness events that make them begin to question everything they have been taught about Smoke.

And thus the adventure begins... You will travel by coach to a grand estate where secrets lurk in attic rooms and hidden laboratories; where young love blossoms; and where a tumultuous relationship between a mother and her children is the crucible in which powerful passions are kindled, and dangerous deeds must be snuffed out in a desperate race against time.

PeekAbook:



My two-bits:

The focus in this story revolved around uncovering the mystery of the title, smoke. Set in a gritty Victorian England along with stuffy boarding school scenes, the colorful characters in this story tell the tale from their perspectives.

The world building rather than the mystery in this story captured my attention most.

I prefer this cover...

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* part of Audiobook Challenge