The Readers Review: Literature from 1714 to 1910 discussion

Do you have a favorite author or two of this time period? Which one(s), and which of that author's work do you praise more highly than the others?

Yes, as you know, I'm exploring Balzac. I also have a penchant for Zola and Trollope.

So far for Zola, L'Assommoir (The Dram Shop) is my favorite. For Trollope, my current favorite (subject to whim) is Phineas Finn.

My favorite authors are Trollope and Elizabeth Gaskell.

Do you have a favorite Trollope?

No, I have loved every one I have read.

I love Trollope and Wilkie Collins.

I'm reading The Moonstone right now and I'm loving it.

☯Emily wrote: "I'm reading The Moonstone right now and I'm loving it."

I have read only this and his Woman in White, both of which I really liked. I recently shelved a Wilkie Collins biography, Wilkie Collins: A Life of Sensation. Don't know when I might get to it, but I thought it looked worthwhile.

Oh, jeez, favorites...for me it is Hardy, Eliot, Bronte, Austen, Zola, Wharton, James, Trollope, and Dickens...well, something like that anyway.

For 'feel good'--Austen, Dickens, and probably Trollope;
'Naturalistic' (i.e., 'not so feel good')--Zola, Eliot, Hardy, Wharton and James. All pretty much in this order.

Austen, Gaskell and Eliot. Only bits of Dickens. Robert Louis Stevenson tells a good story. And I loved George Meredith's The Egoist but haven't yet read any of his others.

Emily and Charlotte Bronte, Austen, Gaskell, Dickens, Poe. I've only read Vanity Fair by Thackeray, but it's one of my favorites.

I don't know if this is meant to be only within the timeframe of this group, but Shirley Jackson is another favorite. And a brigade of mystery authors, leading off with Christie, Sayers, and Marsh, with more recent authors Grimes, Hart, and Peters.

For this time period my favourite is Thomas Hardy for English literature, Dostoevsky for the Russians and Zola for the French.

Clary wrote: "My favourite has always been Victor Hugo, until recently when I read a couple of Edith Wharton’s books. Despite them being completely different, just compare the length and the language of say "Les..."

I agree with you about Edith Wharton, Clary. The Age of Innocence and House of Mirth are largely about what doesn't happen. That's very different from Hugo or Dickens (who I also like) which are about what happens. I would say Wharton is more "modern" than "romantic". I love her light-hearted book, The Glimpses of the Moon. Two young people like each other but each has to marry money. They decide to marry each other temporarily, live off the wedding presents and their friends' hospitality as long as possible, and divorce when better options come along. It turns out to be not that simple. There is a satiric view of the society world.

I love Jane Austen, in particular. I also really loved 'Little Women' and Anne of green gables'. I also love Charles Dickens, of course.

That's a favourite of mine too, Adria.