VICTOBER 2025 discussion

A 2020 currently reading thread . . . Victober is almost upon us. What are you starting with?

The Tenant of Wildfell Hall

The Pickwick Papers

I've started Shirley to prevent against getting behind the schedule.

I'm going to start with Shirley and Glass Town, if they arrive from the library in time. :)

The Curious Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevens.

Jane Eyre

Probably Jane Austen ? Not sure 🤔

Dombey and Son

I'm probably going to start my audiobook a little bit early. It's going to be The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins. My first physical book will be The Goblin and the Princess but I still have 160 pages of my last September book to get through

The Pickwick Papers too!

I've started The Beetle by Richard Marsh. I've reached the half-way mark and starting to really like this book. It reads quite modern with a smart-alek protagonist facing what amounts to an ancient evil.

The Story of a Governess by Mrs. Oliphant. I've only read some of her supernatural stories, so I will try a novel.

I am just over two-thirds of the way through Jane Eyre, so I'll be finishing that up before moving on to...something else. I have a lot of potential options, and I am having a difficult time narrowing them down!

I think I’ll start with The Story of a Governess and Shirley. If the first doesn’t capture my attention, I’ll start Kilvert’s Diary instead.

Miss Miles by Mary Taylor, friend of Charlotte Bronte. I'm excited to get into it because I have no idea what to expect!

I'm starting with Jane Eyre, which I have been meaning to read for years.

I just started listening to North and South. Tomorrow I'll be starting Shriley and Kilvert's Diary. It's going to be a great reading month!

I started My Reminiscences and plan to read chapter 1 of Shirley tomorrow!

The Hound of the Baskervilles

Katie wrote: "A 2020 currently reading thread . . . Victober is almost upon us. What are you starting with?"

I plan to start with North & South by Elizabeth Gaskell, Shirley by Charlotte Brontë, Frankenstein by Mary Shelley and to top it off Far From the Madding Crowd by Thomas Harding. I might add Wuthering Heights ( been ages since I read it last) and possibly Great Expectations by Charles Dickens! Whew 😅 I hope I can do this!

I am starting with A Tale of Two Cities on audio and The Englishwoman in Egypt as my text read. And sprinkling in some of Meta Orred's poems and starting the Shirley group read, so lots on the go at the beginning of the month!

I'm starting with Wuthering Heights (a reread) and Mugby Junction :)

I have started New Grub Street by Gissing.
Have also read first chapter of Shirley.

Hi everyone! I’m starting with Tales of the Mystery & Macabre by Elizabeth Gaskell!

That sounds so interesting! Let us know how you like it! Happy Reading!

I'm about to start Shirley, and may start The Time Machine by H.G. Wells later today.

'Shirley', though it's probably my least favourite Bronte novel and also reading Sheridan le Fanu's 'In a Glass Darkly'.

im hoping to start with the Warden by Anthony Trollope. This is the first time ill be reading any of his books so hopefully i enjoy it

Shirley and Phantastes at the moment.

The Warden by Anthony Trollope

I’m continuing with my theme in Australian Victorian classics. I’ve started ‘Seven Little Australians’ - apparently very cute and wholesome in its Australiana feel.

Definitely looks like I’ll be shoving Australian literature down all your throats this month 🤣

I will be starting with Shirley and the Oxford Book of Victorian Ghost Stories, both of which will be ongoing all month. Also reading Queen Victoria by Lucy Worsley.

Started listening to Dorian Gray, and reading Jezebel's Daughter and A Study in Scarlet.

I've started Shirley, and I've finished the short story Green Tea by J. Sheridan Le Fanu.

I was reading Opium and Absinthe by Lydia Kang, a Victorian-era murder mystery with a Dracula twist (!), but I’m going to put it aside for now. As an aside, it’s excellent! I also read The Impossible Girl by Kang, also Victorian-era, about resurrectionists (grave robbers!) and their race to find the best specimens while doing their best to avoid becoming specimens themselves!

I will only be reading Shirley with the readalong this month. Hopefully next year I'll be able to take part in more challenges. But to start with I intend to go easy because I'm a slow reader, have been wanting to read Shirley, and dislike reading more than one book at once (as I discovered much to my detriment in the JAJuly earlier this year). I look forward to chatting with lots of you more throughout this month especially in our readalong thread!

I want to finish off my September reads first: Andrea Barrett's The Voyage of the Narwhal and James Hogg's Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner. Neither quite Victorian, but close enough to get me in the mood. (The Hogg is from 1824, and Voyage is a historical novel about polar exploration set during the 1850s). After that, I will likely pick up a Dickens, but I haven't decided whether it will be Oliver Twist or Bleak House, and I certainly haven't planned further than that. XD (Mood reader, hey!)

Starting out with Love and Mr Lewisham by H.G Wells. I'll have to catch up with the Shirley readalong as I'd rather read a physical copy and my library doesn't open until Tuesday

I'm starting with a short story: The Withered Arm by Thomas Hardy.

Innes wrote: "I am starting with A Tale of Two Cities on audio and The Englishwoman in Egypt as my text read. And sprinkling in some of Meta Orred's poems and starting the Shirley group..."
I'm so glad someone else decided to tackle A Tale of Two Cities! I've switching between a physical copy and the audio book read by Simon Vance. So excited for that famous ending!

Mary wrote: "Innes wrote: "I am starting with A Tale of Two Cities on audio and The Englishwoman in Egypt as my text read. And sprinkling in some of Meta Orred's poems and starting the..."

I read Tale of Two Cities for Victober last year and it was amazing! You're in for a treat!

I read Shirley earlier this year so I'm going to read Villette instead

I'm doing victober for the first time! Now I'm reading The Turn of the Screw

Started with The Princess and the Goblin and will read Shirley this evening.

I'm starting with Shirley and The Professor both by Charlotte Brontë!

I'm on Chapter 10 of Middlemarch. Reading reviews of it had me both afraid and intrigued. I actually really like it. Wasn't expecting it to be funny but it's very witty.

Cathie and Alvaro, welcome! Victober is so much fun. Please feel free to jump in and ask any questions you need to--someone will try to answer. Enjoy!

I started with Silas Marner by George Eliot. And I’ve also read the first two chapters of Shirley for the group read-along.

I've just finished The Prisoner of Zenda this morning. What a great read! My review is here:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

I'm new to Victober so if I've posted this in the wrong place, would somebody kindly let me know? Thanks!