VICTOBER 2025 discussion

A place to discuss your TBRs this year.

Shirley by Charlotte Brontë
Aurora Leigh by Elizabeth Barrett Browning
Turn of the Screw by Henry James
Salome by Oscar Wilde
The Doctor’s Wife by Mary Elizabeth Braddon
Armadale Wilkie Collins

The Warden by Anthony Trollope
Our Mutual Friend
The Tenant of Wildfell Hall
Victorian drama - a play by Robert Browning...not sure which one yet
Wilkie Collins--The Woman in White... and Arthur Conan Doyle -The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes
Mary Elizabeth Braddon's The Doctor's Wife

I'll be reading Barnaby Rudge by Charles Dickens. Last October I started Martin Chuzzlewit, which I finished on 1st December. Dickens' tomes take me a while to get through.

I’m still undecided on most of mine as I’m not sure how much I’ll manage to cram in this yr which is disappointing. I’ll definitely be reading The Doctor’s Wife, Katie’s 2nd novel that I’ve had since release day and Anthony Trollope’s The Warden. I’m struggling with some reading challenges this yr though so I need to keep those u too but they don’t fit in with victober

I had already set my mind on reading 'Ruth' by Elizabeth Gaskell this Victober. I will probably also re-read 'North and South', but as an audiobook narrated by the wonderful Juliet Stevenson. I just started reading 'The Letters of Mrs. Gaskell', which is an impressive tome of more than 1.000 pages and which will keep me busy for a while. I might read some other books as well, but it seems that my Victober theme will be Elizabeth Gaskell this year.

As always, I have a lot of hopes and dreams but I will for sure do the bonus prompts and read The Sign of Four and No Name. I have already started No Name.
Others I will try to get to:
Silas Marner
The Picture of Dorian Gray
East Lynne
Nicholas Nickleby

We can always hope anyway. 😊

My TBR, organized by challenge:

Serialized: Phineas Finn, Anthony Trollope, a re-read on audiobook
Form: Round the Sofa, Elizabeth Gaskell, linked short stories
Religion: The Heir of Redclyffe, Charlotte. M. Yonge
Play: G. B. Shaw, play (or plays) to be decided later
In memory of Alice: A Study in Scarlet, A. Conan Doyle
In memory of Jennifer: Man and Wife, Wilkie Collins

I am not reading the Group Read, as I read that last year.

As time permits:
Red Pottage, M Cholmondeley, a "New Woman" book I didn't get to last Victober.
The American Senator, Anthony Trollope
The Mystery of Mrs Blencarrow & Queen Eleanor and Fair Rosamond, Mrs Oliphant
Travels with a Donkey in the Cevennes, R. L. Stevenson--nonfiction travel memoir
Brief Lives: Elizabeth Gaskell, Alan Shelston, short biography
Can Jane Eyre Be Happy?: More Puzzles in Classic Fiction, John Sutherland, literary puzzles and conundrums

Lindenblatt wrote: "I had already set my mind on reading 'Ruth' by Elizabeth Gaskell this Victober. I will probably also re-read 'North and South', but as an audiobook narrated by the wonderful Juliet Stevenson. I jus..."

@Lindenblatt "North and South" is a great read. I have read a few times and enjoyed alot.

Here is my TBR for Victober 2024.

"The Warden" by Anthony Trollope.
"Cranford" by Elizabeth Gaskell
"The Tenant of Wildfell Hall" by Anne Bronte
"The Moonstone" by Wilkie Collins
"The Importance of Being Earnest" by Oscar Wilde

I may read something by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle however I find his stories a bit boring.

I won't be reading the group read this year as I cannot find a reasonably priced copy of the book and the reviews of the story are not encouraging.

I read/listened to Cranford last year and absolutely loved it!

Michelle Hyland wrote: "Here is my TBR for Victober 2024.

"The Warden" by Anthony Trollope.
"Cranford" by Elizabeth Gaskell
"The Tenant of Wildfell Hall" by Anne Bronte
"The Moonstone" by Wilkie Collins
"The Importance o..."

I think I'll read Little Dorrit by Charles Dickens, North and South Elizabeth Gaskell and A Study in Scarlet by Arthur Conan Doyle

Hello,

North and South is a lovely read.

Jim wrote: "I'll be reading Barnaby Rudge by Charles Dickens. Last October I started Martin Chuzzlewit, which I finished on 1st December. Dickens' tomes take me a while to get through."

Hi Jim, we'll be reading Barnaby Rudge over at the Victorians! group: https://www.goodreads.com/group/show/... We'll start on 13th October and will finish in December, I believe. If you like discussions on GR, maybe you would like to join the group read over there.

Lindenblatt wrote: "Jim wrote: "I'll be reading Barnaby Rudge by Charles Dickens. Last October I started Martin Chuzzlewit, which I finished on 1st December. Dickens' tomes take me a while to get through."

Hi Jim, we..." Thanks I might join you...

@Lindenblatt..
I didn't know about this group. I have just joined it now.
Thank you.

Michelle Hyland wrote: "@Lindenblatt..
I didn't know about this group. I have just joined it now.
Thank you."

Welcome to the Victorians! group 😊 It's a very active group with lots of insightful discussions.

What I had missed in my other post: I had found a recording of The Doctor's Wife on LibriVox, which is free. If you are into audiobooks at all, of course. I considered this option for a while, but agree that the reviews for this book are not encouraging. So I settled on re-reading (listening) North and South instead, which I hope to enjoy a little more the second time around.

Hi @Lindenblatt thank you very much.
I will see if I can find the recording of "The Doctor's Wife" on Librivox.

Ah North and South so lovely. Enjoy.

This is my first year with this group, so hi everyone. Is there a prompt or board downloadable for Victober? Maybe I'm just not seeing it? Thanks for your help.

Welcome, Elaine! Hope you'll have a great Victober with this group.

The prompts are in the group description on the main page. Just expand the text under Greetings all!. Hope this is clear enough 😊

Lindenblatt wrote: "Welcome, Elaine! Hope you'll have a great Victober with this group.

The prompts are in the group description on the main page. Just expand the text under Greetings all!. Hope this is clear enough 😊"
Thank you :)

Hello fellow book lovers :) I have finally settled on what I'll be reading this Victober (so many books to choose from!)

I'll join in the Group Read (if you own a Kindle, Amazon has The Doctor's Wife available for free)
I'm combining the Serialized and Doyle prompts with The Tragedy of the Korosko
Religion: Lilith by George McDonald
Play: Pippa Passes by Robert Browning
Form: The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym by Edgar Allen Poe
And if I have the time to squeeze it in before the end of the month, I'll read No Name by Wilkie Collins

I feel that this might be a bit ambitious as I'm reading Philippa Gregory's Normal Women with my sister--we have weekly discussions, it's fun; but I'm definitely looking forward to diving in!

Happy Victober everyone! I’ve encouraged three of my friends to join in this year…

My list:
Turn of the Screw
Woman in White
The Importance of being Ernest
Armadale
And I’ll try and keep up with the group read the Doctors Wife.

I’m trying to get my September reading done so I can focus on Victober!

I loved North and South when I read it a long time ago but I only got half-way with Ruth which a completely different book. It’s a very religious book and the character of Ruth really annoyed me.

Hello! This will be my 5th Victober (I think) and I hope to read:
- The Doctor’s Wife, Mary Elizabeth Braddon
- The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins
- The Mill on the Floss - George Eliot
- The Importance of Being Ernest - Oscar Wilde
- The Island of Dr Moreau - HG Wells

I don't have time for reading next month but still want to participate. I'll try to listen to Great Expectations by Dickens. The audiobook narrated by Matt Lucas is excellent.

Ok I think I have decided on my Victober 2024. :) I have chosen more books than I can read in a month. :)

DONE Kate's challenge: Agnes Grey by Anne Bronte

Katie's challenge: Elizabeth and Her German Garden by Elizabeth Von Arnim

DONE Marissa's challenge: Agnes Grey by Anne Bronte

DONE Ros's challenge: Lady Windermere's Fan by Oscar Wilde

Group challenge: The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins

DONE A Scandal in Bohemia - a Sherlock Holmes Short Story by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Janice wrote: "Ok I think I have decided on my Victober 2024. :) I have chosen more books than I can read in a month. :)

Kate's challenge: Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
or [book: Agnes Grey|1435..."

Janice, you picked some good one's. Agnes Grey, The Woman in White and The Importance of Being Earnest are all favorite 5 star reads for me. Have fun!

Finally sharing my TBR!

I hesitate to declare this book my main read, since last year, I didn't actually manage to read my main read, but.... the book I really want to read this year is The Woman in White. It's a book by Wilkie Collins, so it works for the group challenge, but it was also serialized (Marissa) and it could also possibly be used for Katie's challenge (form).

I'm also really looking forward to reading some plays, so for Ros's challenge, I selected two. Mrs. Warren's Profession which I wanted to read last year and Lady Windermere's Fan, because I do love an Oscar Wilde play and this is one I didn't read yet.

I honestly don't think I will manage to read more, but for Kate's challenge (religion) I selected Mary Barton which I really wanted to read last year, but didn't manage. I since got an academic edition in English second hand - really it was a steal, it was almost for free... So I'm really looking forward to that one.

If I have time (I won't...) to do a separate book for Katie's challenge (form), I'm going to read The Tenant of Wildfell Hall. Although I do have an audio for this one, so maybe I can squeeze it in.

I also have Sherlock Holmes: The Definitive Audio Collection which is narrated by Stephen Fry. I probably won't do the whole thing, it's just so long, but I might do a few short-stories for the other part of group challenge.

I also have a few books that I don't think fit any of the challenges (they could though, I don't know) but that I would like to read.

I had Gloriana, or the Revolution of 1900 on my TBR last year, but didn't get to it. Would really love to read it now. (Spoiler, I already finished that one!)

Carmilla has been on my TBR for ever, but for some reason I always forget about it when Victober comes. It's really shorts, so... would love to read it.

And the last one is The Night is Darkening Round Me which is a selection from Emily Brontë's poetry I bought... last year, I think. So yeah, would be cool to get to that one too.


I'm not joining the group read this year. I am quite interested Mary Elizabeth Braddon, but I would prefer to try Lady Audley's Secret and apparently there are also some spoilers for Dombey and Son, which I didn't read yet and you know, maybe I never will, but... yeah.

I really enjoyed our buddy read of Agnes Grey last year though, so if someone is interested in buddy reading something let me know. I'm willing to even add something on my tbr if it's not too long (or if I really want to read it...).

Jassmine wrote: "Finally sharing my TBR!

I hesitate to declare this book my main read, since last year, I didn't actually manage to read my main read, but.... the book I really want to read this year is [book:The ..."

Wow what a TBR. Mind seems miniscule in comparison.
Fab choices.

@Michelle: I'm definitely not going to read all of those in October. I mean last year I managed to read two pretty short books and two short-stories, so I'm not holding my breath, but those are my priorities right now. In previous years I also used my Victober TBR during the whole year, picking up books I didn't get to which worked pretty great for me, so... yeah, I do prefer to overestimate a little bit.

Jassmine wrote: "Finally sharing my TBR!

I really enjoyed our buddy read of Agnes Grey last year though, so if someone is interested in buddy reading something let me know."

An ambitious TBR, Jassmine! But the planning is half the fun, at least for me. The reading is an entirely different story, of course... My Victober TBR changed twice already, so I haven't dared to share it beyond what I am currently reading.

Another Victober buddy read would be wonderful, but I probably won't be able to squeeze it in. Mary Barton is on my TBR as well, but not for Victober. Since I am reading Gaskell's Ruth as well as North & South, I wanted to save up her other novels for later. If you don't get to it and want to buddy read it later, say sometime in 2025, let me know!

And something that has puzzled me now for the second time: Gloriana. Have you read it? Are you reading it? Or is it on your TBR still? I am confused 😂

Lisa wrote: "The Warden by Anthony Trollope
Our Mutual Friend
The Tenant of Wildfell Hall
Victorian drama - a play by Robert Browning...not sure which one yet
Wilkie Collins--The Woman in White... and Arthur Co..."
Our Mutual Friend...surprised me...it was so good!

Fr. Richard wrote: "Not only is this my first Victober, but I had no idea there was such a thing as "Victober" before Monday. I happened to see it on YouTube and became super-intrigued. Well, I'm in. Here is my (surel..."

Hello and welcome to Victober. Jane Austen isn't a Victorian writer. She is thought of as a Regency writer as she wrote before the reign of Queen Victorian however Persuasion is a fabulous autumnal read.

Hi! This will be my first Victober.

-The Doctor's Wife by Mary Elizabeth Braddon
-Ester Ried by Pansy
-The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde
-That Affair Next Door by Anna Katharine Green
-(maybe) The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle
-(maybe) Countess Kate by Charlotte Marie Yonge

Lindenblatt wrote: "Mary Barton is on my TBR as well, but not for Victober. Since I am reading Gaskell's Ruth as well as North & South, I wanted to save up her other novels for later. If you don't get to it and want to buddy read it later, say sometime in 2025, let me know!"

Oh, yes, we could definitely do that! I honestly don't think I'll get to it this Victober, but I do really want to read it... sooner rather than later, but somewhere in the first half of 2025 would work for me.

About Gloriana, I already finished it! I included it because it was part of my original TBR although I had it finished when I was posting it here. I really want to write a review for it soon, but I didn't have the energy lately...

Hello friends,

Mary Barton is a great read, if a little sad. I read it two years ago and I found the start slow but the pace improved later on.

Excuse my ignorance but what is Gloriana?🤔😳

Rhys-Marie wrote: "Hi! This will be my first Victober.

-The Doctor's Wife by Mary Elizabeth Braddon
-Ester Ried by Pansy
-The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde
-That Affair Next Door by Anna Katharine Green..."

Hello,

Great choices and many ones that I have not heard of.

Michelle Hyland wrote: "Excuse my ignorance but what is Gloriana?🤔😳"

Gloriana, or the Revolution of 1900

Hi Jassmine,
Thank you. This book sounds interesting. I had never heard of it before.

So I jumped the gun and started early, reading and finishing “The Parasite” by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle at the end of September. It was really good and now I’m on to this book I’d never heard of before but found while I was looking for an entirely different book. It’s called “Mistress Bridget and Other Tales” and the title story is a short historical novel that takes place during the English Civil War and features Mathew Hopkins as a character and so far it’s been fantastic. I picked this for Kate’s challenge, religion, and it begins with a legend of a haunted bell tower before going back to the time of the war and telling the story of how it became haunted in the first place. I’m really enjoying it.

Reading: Barnaby Rudge by Charles Dickens

by Charles Dickens

Who would have thought...this book is a great read so far!!  ch 1-16!!

Hi Alice,

I started my reading early too. Oops.

Matthew Hopkins "The Witchfinder." What a fraud. 😒😡

My Victober 2024 TBR:

-The Doctor’s Wife ME Braddon Group read & Marissa serial
-The Notting Hill Mystery Charles Felix aka Charles W Adams (130 pages) serial & Katie form
-The Annotated Alice: Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass Lewis Carroll Katie form and looks at morality so possibly Kate religion
-Doctor Thorne Trollop Kate religion
-Bran, The Scholar’s Story, and Sketches Among the Poor Gaskell possibly Kate religion
-Miss or Mrs.? Wilkie Collins (85 pages) and looks at morality so maybe Kate religion
- Watch: The Moonstone Wilkie Collins
-H.M.S. Pinafore; or, The Lass That Loved a Sailor Gilbert & Sullivan (35 pages) Ros Drama
-Watch: The Pirates of Penzance G&S Ros Drama
-Ghostly Tales: Spine-Chilling Stories of the Victorian Age anthology includes “The Captain of the Pole-Star“ Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Michelle Hyland wrote: "Hi Jassmine,
Thank you. This book sounds interesting. I had never heard of it before."

I really enjoyed it! I had it on my TBR last year for the "new woman fiction" prompt but didn't get to it! I'm no glad I started this Victober with it... (yeah, I also started early) I shared a (slightly chaotic) review in the "currently reading" thread if you are interested in more information.

Nancy wrote: "Reading: Barnaby Rudge by Charles Dickens

by Charles Dickens

Who would have thought...this book is a great re..."

Yes, I was completely surprised how much I enjoyed it. And it only gets better as it goes on.

Kathy wrote: "Nancy wrote: "Reading: Barnaby Rudge by Charles Dickens

by Charles Dickens

Who would have thought...this book..."
Totally agree, the mob scenes can be a bit overwhelming but you get the point: social chaos!

Lindenblatt wrote: "Jassmine wrote: "Finally sharing my TBR!

I really enjoyed our buddy read of Agnes Grey last year though, so if someone is interested in buddy reading something let me know."

An ambitious TBR, Jas..."

Linda and Jassmine, I second that about Mary Barton. I am in, in 2025, if you both don't read it before. I also say we should just plan a buddy read for next Victober. Maybe wait till Aug. or Sept. of next year and then we can all throw some names of books in and see how everyone feels. This year I am just trying to read things I kept putting off in previous years.

Theresa wrote: "Lindenblatt wrote: "Jassmine wrote: "Finally sharing my TBR!

Linda and Jassmine, I second that about Mary Barton. I am in, in 2025, if you both don't read it before. I also say we should just plan a buddy read for next Victober..."

Great, I am happy that you plan to join us! I hope we'll find a time that works for all of us. Maybe we can have it here, if we are not bothering anybody? Have a separate thread for a "January/February Mary (Barton)" or a Mary Barton March or something.

I also agree that it might be good to plan a little ahead next Victober. Before all the TBRs are complete 😊 It is better to have some critical mass for one or two books in order to have a good discussion. Fingers crossed that this will work next year.

Lindenblatt wrote: "Theresa wrote: "Lindenblatt wrote: "Jassmine wrote: "Finally sharing my TBR!

Linda and Jassmine, I second that about Mary Barton. I am in, in 2025, if you both don't read it before. I also say we ..."

I am free January-Feb. or April-May. If it doesn't work out I know I will get to it eventually. No worries.