Waverley: background and reading schedule

[Tracey]

This has been chosen for our second book to read in the Sir Walter Scott challenge. We will begin in November.

[Lori]

I love these novels because they help me learn more about history. In this case, it's the Jacobite rising of 1745, when Charles Edward Stuart tried to win back the British throne, almost 60 years after the Glorious Revolution. I found the Wikipedia page helpful:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacobit...

The page does tell how the historical events played out, so I guess they could be considered spoilers, but of course the page does not tell what happens to the heroes and heroines of the book (aside from the ones who were real historical figures).

[Rosemarie]

I am looking forward to reading it with the group.

[Tracey]

There are 72 chapters in the book so if we divide that by 8 for the weeks in November and December that makes 9 chapters a week. Sound good? Over to you Rosemarie.

[Rosemarie]

Sounds good to me.

[Tracey]

The book has a double title and alerts the reader to both an individual and a moment in time.

[Rosemarie]

Waverley's method of education is based on Walter Scott's own education. As a teenager he had a medical condition that calles for complete rest, so the only thing he could was read. He read whatever books were handy, including a lot of romances. As a young man, he read more non-fiction and as his health improved, he studied law.
He published the novel anonymously because he was already well-known as a poet.

[Tracey]

It is nice to know that reading has such an influence on the human mind and education. I also was very ill as a child and had long periods (up to a year at a time) when I could not attend school. I read everything my local library had. What I missed out on I am attempting to make up for now but still, I believe I had a good education.

I am very behind in reading this book but I have a week off over Christmas and intend to sit down and immerse myself in the pages of this book and not come up for air till my kids tell me it's time to eat. I will post in the threads as I read.

[Rosemarie]

That sounds like a good plan. It will be too cold to do much outside.