Victorians! discussion

Please begin nominating books for our April group discussion. Refer to our bookshelf to see what has already been discussed as a group here in Victorians. Remember to select works published between 1837 and 1901.

The last day for nominations is February 28. The nominations will then be listed in a poll for all members to vote for the book they would like to discuss in April.

Would The Scarlet Letter count?

Yes The Scarlett Letter was published in 1850 so it falls into the Victorian time frame.

Silver wrote: "Yes The Scarlett Letter was published in 1850 so it falls into the Victorian time frame."

Great:)

It was touch choosing what I wanted to nominate, but we have not read Elliot in a while so I will go with

Silas Marner

I'm going to nominate Lorna Doone. I don't think it's read that often these days, but it was a huge bestseller in its day, it has never been out of print, and it has a devoted following (somewhat akin to the Anne of Green Gables fans). I've never read it, but want a reason to so I can see why it was such a huge literary and commercial success in its day, and getting it picked here would be a perfect opportunity for reading and discussing it.

It's a fictional work, but is apparently quite accurate historically (akin to George Eliot and Sir Walter Scott, who both also used very accurate historical backgrounds for their books). It was set in a part of Devon where Blackmore's grandfather was once Rector. The BBC here describes a walk you can take through Lorna Doone country.

There have been nearly a dozen movies made of the book, of which I have seen none.

I would like to nominate He Knew He Was Right by Anthony Trollope.

I saw the movie for this and loved it!

Louis Trevelyan seems the most fortunate of mid-Victorian gentlemen: young, rich, well-educated, handsome, and with a beautiful wife. But his life is ruined by ungrounded jealousy. In the later mad scenes, in which the unlucky hero has been utterly consumed by an obsession with his wife's imaginary infidelity, Trollope's writing reaches a Shakespearian pitch unmatched anywhere else in his vast fictional output. In the sub-plot dealing with the marriages of his English and American heroines, Trollope engages head-on the issue of women's rights. And in the person of Miss Jemima Stanbury, the virtuous dragon of Exeter Cathedral Close, Trollope created one of his most notable comic characters.

I saw the movie last summer and loved it. Trollope seems too wordy for me, maybe it was the subject matter. Have not seen this book on the shelves of my library.

Yeah I'm not sure how available it is. I got the e-book for free on my kindle.

Jamie wrote: "Yeah I'm not sure how available it is. I got the e-book for free on my kindle."

It's free online :

http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/5140

I already can't decide on these great nominations. Such a reminder of why I love this great group.

I'll take this moment to do plug our group discussions. Our members are nominating some very interesting fiction. Whichever is voted to discuss (and I hope we discuss more than one through Side Reads actually), please do try to participate in the discussions. You will likely discover a great work you haven't read before AND enjoy some interesting discussion in the process.

In our discussions there are no requirements. You can comment as often or as little as you like. If no one has mentioned the parts of the story you loved (or hated!), you are welcome to steer the thread to that part of the book. The group moderators are informal discussion leaders, but anyone is welcome to bring their points to attention. It is truly a "roundtable" format. There are no experts, and we share the talking time.

So take a look as our nominations are posted here and later placed in the poll for actual vote, and please consider joining in our book discussion when it begins.

It'll be a hard choice for me between Lorna Doone and the Trollope selection! I've been dying to read the Trollope, but I have to put in a plug and a second for Lorna here.

Everyman, truly I have many favorites among Victorian Lit, but Lorna Doone is very near the top of the list. I discovered a beautiful old copy some years ago at a thrift shop and just fell in love. The language is absolutely gorgeous, the whole thing is exquisitely done. I don't know if there is a character in all my reading that I love more than John Ridd (main character).

Another plus for any who enjoy a great love story, this is one of the sweetest, and can never be done justice in a movie (although the most recent A&E version tries). It's hard to capture the way John loves Lorna, the man John is...etc. etc. I could go on and on.

I dragged my town bookgroup through this, and some loved it, but some thought it was too wordy and had trouble with the bits of "dialect." But none of them are really Victorian lit lovers and I think all of you on this list will appreciate it more.

If you look around a bit on the net, as Everyman did, you can see pictures of bits of this story, as in the church (which I can't tell you about yet) and the Ridd farm.

If you can't tell, I am highly delighted with this nomination and can't recommend the experience of reading Lorna Doone enough!!

I'm going to throw The Egoist by George Meredith out there. He was highly respected in is time, a favorite author of Oscar Wilde, and President of the Society of British Authors. I'm going to read it sometime this year, and April is as good a month as any.

I have been wanting to investigate that book, also Joshua. I also have it on my shelf. I truly want to find more authors who aren't as known today because there hasn't been a recent resurgence of interest or films of their work, for example. I think we are missing out on interesting novels by not looking into them. And K. that is great feedback on Lorna Doone -- I certainly hope interest grows about this book too.

I'venever read Lorna Doone so I'll go with that.

I loved the A&E movie Lorna Doone, so I would definitely be interested in reading the book.

Another book I would love to read is The Count of Monte Cristo.

Rachel wrote: "Another book I would love to read is The Count of Monte Cristo."

Rachel -- you do know The Count of Monte Cristo is currently being discussed in the "The Readers Review: Literature from 1800 to 1910" group?

I would like to nominate The Way We Live Now by Anthony Trollope.

Lily wrote: "Rachel wrote: "Another book I would love to read is The Count of Monte Cristo."

Rachel -- you do know The Count of Monte Cristo is currently being discussed in the "The Readers Review: Literature ..."

Lily, I read it a couple of months ago and it's one of my favorite books ever. If you have a chance, and a lot of time (it's long) READ IT! Though it's long, it's didn't drag at all for me.

I'm again on Trollope: Can You Forgive Her?; I've read He Knew He Was Right last yaer...

Lily wrote: "Rachel wrote: "Another book I would love to read is The Count of Monte Cristo."

Rachel -- you do know The Count of Monte Cristo is currently being discussed in the "The Readers Review: Literature ..."

Whoops! I didn't know that. I had only checked the group's bookshelf and I hadn't seen it. Thanks for letting me know! I have a copy that I bought last year, and I never got around to it.

Lorna Doone sounds like a good read. I nominate that one as well.

Lorna Doone was 166 in the BBC top 200 novels voted for by the british public in 2003. That's not a bad reccommendation.

Everyman wrote: "I'm going to nominate Lorna Doone. I don't think it's read that often these days, but it was a huge bestseller in its day, it has never been out of print, and it has a devoted followi..."

How long is it? I have been looking at the online listings and see multiple volumes? Wasn't able to figure out even a rough page count, but decided to try this "easy" way before doing more research.

Mine is 646 pages, but it is an old copy (1930), larger (6+ x 8+) with almost 1" margins. I remember seeing copies much thicker than mine.

Lily wrote: "Everyman wrote: "I'm going to nominate Lorna Doone. I don't think it's read that often these days, but it was a huge bestseller in its day, it has never been out of print, and it has ..."

I'll nominate Lorna Doone as well...though the bookseller I just checked says the book is 750 pages :)

How long will we get to read/digest Lorna Doone, I hope a few months. Need to start the Buddy Reads with Wives and Daughters and that is a long book as well. March/April I am planning on having the Buddy Reads.

It goes fairly quickly once you get the hang of the dialect (and the dialect is only really in the first bit). I think if we did more than one month we'd end up with most people done early like with our Little Dorrit reading--but I'm in no hurry.

I like to savor books, I am a quick reader if I get the dialect fairly early, don't know one way or the other with this one. Sounds interesting, Lorna Doone.

Yes, I even love the name (Blackmore is send to have invented the name of Lorna, don't know if that's true or not). It is surely a book to savor, the language and description---just gorgeous. I would love to be part of a discussion about this book!

Robin wrote: "How long will we get to read/digest Lorna Doone, I hope a few months. Need to start the Buddy Reads with Wives and Daughters and that is a long book as well. March/April I am planning on having t..."

That will be decided if and when the book actually wins. We do not want to get ahead of ourselves and plan for something which has not in fact happened yet.

Robin wrote: "I like to savor books, I am a quick reader if I get the dialect fairly early, don't know one way or the other with this one. Sounds interesting, Lorna Doone."

Robin, we can read Wives and Daughters at a later time if you end up reading another chunky one...or we can try it, it's up to you, I have plenty to keep me busy

I know, sorry, just wishful thinking!

This is a bit out of no where, but I was wondering if anyone on here would be interested in reading a nonfiction book about the Victorian era? I was thinking of picking up Matthew Sweet's Inventing the Victorians. Just an idea, though not necessarily a recommendation for April.

Bernadette wrote: "Lily wrote: "Everyman wrote: "I'm going to nominate Lorna Doone. I don't think it's read that often these days, but it was a huge bestseller in its day, it has never been out of print..."

I have Lorna Doone on my challenge list for this year. I read it the summer I was 13 & visiting my grandparents. It was on my grandmother's bookshelf. I loved the book & have often wanted to read it again. Wish I had my grandmother's copy. :-)

Joshua wrote: "This is a bit out of no where, but I was wondering if anyone on here would be interested in reading a nonfiction book about the Victorian era? I was thinking of picking up Matthew Sweet's [book:In..."

I think that sounds interesting, Joshua.

Joshua wrote: "This is a bit out of no where, but I was wondering if anyone on here would be interested in reading a nonfiction book about the Victorian era? I was thinking of picking up Matthew Sweet's [book:In..."

If you are interested you are welcome to start your own discussion on the book in our Buddy Reads forum. Also we do have a Non-Fiction forum where members are welcome to discuss any Non-Fiction works about the Victorian era.

Would love to read "Lorna Doone: A Romance of Exmoor", a novel by Blackmore.
A classic tale complete with murder, revenge, love, & of course a cliff-hanger ending.

- Ninney

I would like to nominate The Awakening by Kate Chopin.

I wanted to recap the nominations so far in a neat list AND to verify:

The Scarlet Letter - Nathaniel Hawthorne
Silas Marner - George Elliot
Lorna Doone - R.D. Blackmore
The Egoist - George Meredith
The Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas
He Knew He Was Right - Anthony Trollope
The Way We Live Now - Anthony Trollope
Can You Forgive Her? - Anthony Trollope
The Awakening - Kate Chopin

Rachel, I wanted to verify that yours was an actual nomination because it wasn't clear if you were going to another group to discuss this one. Let us know so we can keep it on the list!

And as we have seen in the past, if there are multiple books nominated by an author, they can have a hard time getting the big vote. Do you Trollope fans want to confer and go with one of these as a nomination instead? No response necessary to this, if you don't want to.

Thanks for these fabulous nominees! You have no idea how torn I am in my own mind on these! <3

February 28 is the last day to add to the list! Merci!

What an awesome list of choices!! I want to read them all!!

I know, Martha!

I believe all of the choices are available for free as well. (since I just ordered them all on my kindle!) That is another fabulous part.

I do want "The Count of Monte Cristo" to be nominated for the Victorians group. Sorry the confusion!
I think most of the choices look wonderful!

Another great one!! And, yes, it's wonderful that they are available free!!

Thanks Rachel!

And "free" doesn't hurt either, does it Marialyce?! I am still not E-reading much but hope a lot of members can take advantage of the savings.

Wow, only one of those is a "God, No!" with me. (I still have nasty flashbacks to diagramming sentences from Silas Marner in high school.) Some very interesting choices, this will take thought.

How about some Jules Verne? One of my favorites is The Mysterious Island, although there are a lot more fun books out there by Verne.

I don't have a problem with taking He Knew He Was Right by Anthony Trollope out of the running seeing as I want to read the other two Trollope nominations also (and other nominations). Unless others really were planning on voting for it I could just nominate it another time.

oohhh!!!! I would love to read the Mysterious Island by Jules Verne too. Now I don't know what I will vote for. I think I have it down to 3, unless something else comes along!