VICTOBER 2025 discussion

Group challenge: Read a popular Victorian book you haven’t yet read.

What are you planning on reading? Any recommendations?

Katie wrote: "Group challenge: Read a popular Victorian book you haven’t yet read.

What are you planning on reading? Any recommendations?"
I think I'm going to go for The Picture of Dorian Gray :)

Last year I was going to read George Gissing but got so caught up with Dickens didnt get around to it. So this year I’ll try New Grub Street.

I´m going to read Wuthering Heights, It´s been on my TBR for so long and I think Victober is the perfect time to finally read it.

I'm planning to read The War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells. For some reason I hadn't realised Wells was a Victorian :') Thanks to Kate for mentioning him in her announcement video!

I choose The Pickwick Papers by Charles Dickens. I'm looking forward to reading it, this book has been on my TBR for about half a year and I think that Victober will be the best time for it!

Penelope wrote: "Last year I was going to read George Gissing but got so caught up with Dickens didnt get around to it. So this year I’ll try New Grub Street."

That is exactly what I'm going to do. New Grub Street has been on my shelf for 3 years. Now's the time.

I am thinking it will be The Picture of Dorian Gray for me. It has been on my shelf for years, but I have never picked it up.

i am planning to read North and South !:)

I'm reading North and South, also

Bleak House and either Mary Barton or Agnes Grey 🙃

I am reading Ghostly Tales: Spine-Chilling Stories of the Victorian Age.

Bleak House or Little Dorrit

I'll be reading Hester by Margaret Oliphant. It sounds like it will be quite a wild ride!

I think it's high time I read some Dickens, right?

I was considering reading Trilby by George du Maurier. It was extremely popular in its day. It was turned into a very popular play, and then a hat. Trilby was a young woman, so I think that would fit in with Lucy's challenge. I wondered whether it cold be considered a sensation novel, but I am not sure it really is one.

This is another either-or challenge, which I don't like. A book that is either popular when it came out or is popular now. Those are different things. Victorian books rarely become best-selling phenomenons in the 21st century, like Fifty Shades of Grey, even if they were best-sellers when they came out. I wonder how many Victorian books are really popular in that a lot of people actually read them. If a Victorian book suddenly becomes popular again it might be through some television adaption.
If it was a now-popular book I would have gone for Treasure Island, but I will go for East Lynne, which was a best-seller in its time.

I think that the hosts go with these either/or challenges because they want us readers to have more options, as well as to make more people feel relaxed and flexible about the readathon. Not everyone owns books for very specific challenges. Personally, if I don't own a physical copy of a particular book and I'm not able to get it for whataver reason, I'll try to find it on Scribd or Project Guttenberg, so I wouldn't mind a more specific challenge. However, there are many people who prefer physical copies and try to fit them into the readathon prompts. That's the reason why I think these kind of challenges are great.

This challenge specifically gives oportunity to readers who are new to Victorian literature to choose some extremely popular books like Jane Eyre or The Picture of Dorian Gray. For those who are well familiar with Victorian classics, this can be a chance to explore books that were popular upon release, but are not as popular today. Besides, if we don't like a certain challenge, we are free to read whataver we want, as long as it's Victorian.

I'm not sure if it was popular in its time, but I am going to be reading Dracula by Bram Stoker for this challenge. I know that once it got to Canadian literary circles in the Victorian period, that it was very well received and was well liked- but that might not have been the case for Britain.

... however, it's the book I am going to be reading. I've never read it before and I've never read Bram Stoker ever.

I'm planning to read The Claverings by Anthony Trollope. It's not widely read today, but I believe it sold fairly well when it came out (1867?).

I am also going to be reading North and South! :)

For this challenge, I'm reading The Haunted Man and The Ghost’s Bargain by Charles Dickens. This was the last of his Christmas ghost story novellas and sold well at the time although it is not read much now.

Two other popular novels I haven't read yet, but I'll be reading this Victober are The Woman in White and Tess of the d’Urbervilles. It is surprising that I haven't read Tess since I remember all the hype around the 1979 Roman Polanski film Tess starring Nastassja Kinski.

Reading Vanity Fair for this! Have waited for a Victober to read it and the day has finally come haha

I chose Wives and Daughters by Elizabeth Gaskell for this challenge.

I'm going to be reading Wives and Daughters for this challenge. I watched the movie version 4 yrs ago when it was recommended &loved it! I tried too soon last yr but think I'll try again this yr!

I am going to be reading a book that I read was popular at the time, and it is on a subject I find interesting. I am reading London Labour and the London Poor.

Backup will be something by Margaret Oliphant.

The other books I picked are all going to be read in other prompts now.

I plan on reading Great Expectations for this prompt!

Yep- another for Great Expectations here! : )

I am going to read "Shirley" by Sharlotte Bronte

"The Picture of Dorian Gray"

I'm going to read the Antiquary by Sir Walter Scott for this one. His novels were incredibly popular during his lifetime but have fallen out of popularity in recent years so will be interested to see what it's like.

The Picture of Dorian Gray

I love the popular culture depictions, especially through Penny Dreadful and the 2009 movie. But I know I will not truly know Dorian until I read Wilde's novel. This is the book I'm MOST looking forward to reading this month!

Natalie wrote: "The Picture of Dorian Gray

I love the popular culture depictions, especially through Penny Dreadful and the 2009 movie. But I know I will not truly know Dorian until I read Wilde's ..."

Natalie me too!

Lorri wrote: "For this challenge, I'm reading The Haunted Man and The Ghost’s Bargain by Charles Dickens. This was the last of his Christmas ghost story novellas and sold well at the time although it is not read..."

I am changing my choice of unread popular novel to Both Sides the Border A Tale of Hotspur and Glendower. G.A. (George Alfred) Henty was a prolific and popular Victorian author of historical adventure books for boys. This novel covers some of the same historical events as Shakespeare's Henry IV, part 1, which I read in Shaketember.

I will save the Dickens novella for another time.

Lorri wrote: "Lorri wrote: "For this challenge, I'm reading The Haunted Man and The Ghost’s Bargain by Charles Dickens. This was the last of his Christmas ghost story novellas and sold well at the time although ..."

Shaketember?!?? That's a new one for me, love it

AllisonLL wrote: "I chose Dombey and Son. I have a beautiful Folio Society edition that is part of the complete Dickens set. It has been on my shelf my whole adult life so it is about time! I am so excited about this!"

Allison, I'm reading Dombey, too. Let me know what you think. I'm a bit over the halfway point.

I’m reading Around the World in 80 days by Jules Verne. As an Australian with some SERIOUS wanderlust - this is as far as I can get. Travel through the written word.

So far it’s pretty quirky and fun :)

I finished Robert Hichens's The Green Carnation for this challenge, hugely successful when it was published anonymously in 1894 for its depiction of characters based on Oscar Wilde and his lover Lord Alfred Douglas, and said to have contributed to Wilde's downfall. Not a great read as fiction but fascinating for its insights into Victorian literary subcultures.

Link to my review:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...