VICTOBER 2025 discussion

Victober is over! How did we all do?

I read 12 books - the biggest highlights were The Vicar of Bullhampton by Anthony Trollope and The House by the Churchyard by J. Sheridan Le Fanu.

I read more for this Victober than for my previous two:

For Kate's challenge, Lady Audley's Secret
For Katie's challenge, A Tale of Two Cities (a reread)
For Lucy's challenge, Jane Eyre (a reread)
For the group challenge, Agnes Grey (and high time, too, as that's my car's name and I have had it seven years!)
For the bonus challenge I listened to "Idle Thoughts of an Idle Fellow" by Jerome K. Jerome (e-audio)
And I read the readalong, Gothic Tales

I would like to have participated more in the discussions but I have had a crazy month. :-(

I would like to suggest some challenges for next time involving poetry and/or nonfiction.

Thank you to moderators and participants for making this year's Victober possible!

Thanks to all who contributed to Victober 2021.

Katie's Challenge: Great Expectations
Lucy's Challenge: Jane Eyre (re-read)
Group challenge: Treasure Island

Really pleased to have been able to finish three Victorian classics.

I read five books for this challenge.

Kate’s challenge: Lady Audley's Secret by Mary Elizabeth Braddon

Katie's challenge: The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde

Lucy's challenge: The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Bronte

Group challenge: Dracula by Bram Stoker

Readalong challenge: Gothic Tales by Elizabeth Gaskell

I only read one, Lady Audley's Secret, but it had been so long on my TBR that I consider this a success :)

I read two - Lady Audley's Secret and The Tenant of Wildfell Hall and absolutely loved both. I'll save Mary Barton and The Woman in White to look forward to next Victober! Thank you to Katie, Lucy and Kate for hosting.

I only read Dracula and East Lynne. Dracula started well but it started to bore me a bit after the first section. East Lynne was good but rather melodramatic.

Best highlight is Bleak House, my favorite Dickens (so far)

I managed to read three books this October: North and South, Wuthering Heights and The Picture of Dorian Gray. They had all been on my TBR for ages, so I'm glad that I read them. I can't decide between Dorian Gray and Wuthering Heights for my favourite. Looking forward to the next Victober already!

I read only two and a half books (Agnes Grey, Lady Audley‘s Secret and the first half of Ruth) and listened to the audiobook Dracula.
It was my first Victober and I really enjoyed it.

I read five books and managed to finish all the challenges:
-Kate's challenge: The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins (which I partly listened to on audio)
-Katie's challenge: North And South by Elizabeth Gaskell
-Lucy's challenge: The Half-Sisters by Geraldine Jewsbury (least favorite)
-Group challenge: Tess of the D'Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy (favorite)
I didn't read the whole Gothic Tales by Gaskell, but I managed to get to Lois the Witch.

I enjoyed Victober with the search for the books as well as the reading of them. I was able to read Lady Audley's Secret, The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, Wuthering Heights, Cranford, half of Gothic Tales, and finishing off with The Diary of a Nobody. Also began to read How to Be a Victorian which is quite interesting! This was my first Victober and so enjoyed the videos, comments, and the reading all month focused on the Victorian period. Thank you so much to the organizers!

This was my first Victober and I want to thank the hosts, especially Kate and Katie, for providing so many interesting videos throughout the month to keep me engaged.
I finished what I set out to read, with a few extras:
-Sensation novel: Desperate Remedies, Thomas Hardy
-Female main character: Jane Eyre, C. Bronte (re-read)
-City setting: Reuben Sachs, Amy Levy (London)
-Small town/country setting: The Mystery of Edwin Drood, Dickens
-Popular in its time: The Claverings, Anthony Trollope
-Audiobook: Cranford, Gaskell (re-read)
-Group read: Gothic Tales
I also completed:
-London Crimes, a collection of Dickens pieces about London detectives first published in Household Words
-Two novellas by Gaskell: "Mr Harrison's Confessions" and "My Lady Ludlow"
My favorites were The Claverings, Mr Harrison's Confessions, Reuben Sachs, and my re-reads of Jane Eyre and Cranford.

I finished Wuthering Heights, Gothic Tales, and I listened to a portion of Dracula on audiobook. I’m hoping to finish the other books from my TBR before the end of the year. I had a great Victober! 😊

Finished the group read Gothic Tales and Tess of the D`Ubervilles. Both great books. I'll write reviews soon, and then I'll read & review Lilith, which I didn't have time to finish yet.

This was my first Victober and I loved it. I got sick halfway through so didn’t read as many as I would’ve liked.

Cranford
Far From the Madding Crowd
Hard Times
Gothic Tales
The Woman in White

I wish I could read 12 books a month or even 5,but I just can't seem to get organized enough. It took an extra couple of days but I completed 2.5 books. I just finished up my audio of Cranford and I completed The Woman in White and read half of Under The Greenwood Tree by T. Hardy. I am putting Under the Greenwood Tree on hold till Dec. because I want to participate in NF. Nov.

I forgot to say that I really enjoyed both The Woman in White and Cranford but I think The Woman in White was my favorite this Victober.

Victober 2021 I completed all the challenges and more by reading 7 titles totaling 2250 pages (more than my average amount of reading). Thanks, everyone!

I read: The Woman in White Wilkie Collins, Tess of the d’Urbervilles Thomas Hardy (audio), Sylvia’s Lovers Elizabeth Gaskell, (all 3 very sad), Intentions: The Decay of Lying; Pen, Pencil, and Poison; The Critic as Artist; and The Truth of Masks Oscar Wilde (delightful nonfiction essays), Both Sides the Border: A Tale of Hotspur and Glendower G.A. Henty (1898 historical fiction for boys ages 10 and up), Elizabeth Gaskell Adolphus William Ward, and Mrs. Gaskell and Knutsford Rev George Payne.

I also watched: The Woman in White 2018 miniseries, The Hollow Crown season 1, episode 2: Henry IV, part 1, and Carmilla 2020. It’s too bad Carmilla bore so little resemblance to the excellent novella by J Sheridan Le Fanu.

I didn't get much read for Victober, but I did read Dracula and Agnes Gray, so it wasn't bad, just a bit lackluster. I did attempt a few more like Armadale, Our Mutual Friend, and Lady Audley's secret. I'm going to come back to all these, but I was trying to do too much this month.

I have a really good Victorian ghost story to recommend: 'At Chrighton Abbey' by Mary Elizabeth Braddon.

I found it in 'The Oxford Book of Victorian Ghost Stories', edited by Michael Cox & RA Gilbert, but you can read it for free here:

https://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks06/060...

It checks all my boxes for a Victorian gothic tale: old country house, cozy domestic details, a holiday ball, eerie atmosphere... I'd give it five stars.

I think Kate Howe would particularly like it.

Thanks for sharing :)