Victorians! discussion
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Conversations in the Parlor
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General chit-chat and information (part 2)
Has anyone thought about reading Her Fearful Symmetry by Audrey Niffenegger?"Though echoes of Edgar Allen Poe can be heard throughout Her Fearful Symmetry, Niffenegger says, "The book Im consiously modleing on are Wilkie Collins' Women in White and Henry James Turn on the Screw and Portrait of a Lady. She acknowledges that other influence may be a play as well.
While it true that English lit buffs will relish the many literary allusions and Victorianisms in Her Fearful Symmetry, you don't have to be an English major to enjoy this spellbinding story. - Book page page 7, October 2009
I saw this book mentioned on the October Goodreads newsletter. I have to admit, it looks more interesting than The Time Traveller's Wife which I should have read a month ago but can't even seem to start.
Agreed, Paula. TTTW looks woeful but I'm willing to give Her Fearful Symmetry a go. I have to stop judging books on what their author's have already written (esp. if I have not even read that book but deduced my opinion from bad reviews & over-all corniness of the plotline).
The Time Traveler's Wife was well-written. The plot may not appeal to all types of readers, but I think the author knows where she is going. I would say about TTW -- I might not keep it on my favorites shelf, but I am glad that I read it, and Niffenegger is a strong author in "Current Lit," as I call it.
Paula, you've been doing a fantastic job.
I am so impressed with what both of you have done with this group, Boof and Paula! All of us in the group are very much enjoying all of the discussions. Keep up the great work, Ladies! Cheers! Chris
Christopher wrote: "I am so impressed with what both of you have done with this group, Boof and Paula! All of us in the group are very much enjoying all of the discussions. Keep up the great work, Ladies! Cheers! ..."Amen and amen!
Rebecca wrote: "Has anyone thought about reading Her Fearful Symmetry by Audrey Niffenegger?"Though echoes of Edgar Allen Poe can be heard throughout Her Fearful Symmetry, Niffenegger says, "The book Im consious..."
I have just read this and really enjoyed it. I did enjoy TTTW too but HFS was totally different from that. It is set around Highgate Cemetery in London and there are references to Victorian writers who are buried there.
Rebecca wrote: "Has anyone thought about reading Her Fearful Symmetry by Audrey Niffenegger?"Though echoes of Edgar Allen Poe can be heard throughout Her Fearful Symmetry, Niffenegger says, "The book Im consious..."
Hi,I read it the day it came out and I loved the quirkiness of it...I know I can hear the howls from here but to me it wasthe perfect quioxtic escapeand I have many happy memoriesof cemetaries!!!!!!(And all those books!).Feel free to check the review I gave it......
For those not familiar with The Teaching Company, they produce and sell very high quality college level courses on tape, CD, and DVD. I know a number of people here on GR who use and enjoy their courses.Their course on Victorian Britain is currently on sale. I don't have this course yet, so I can't vouch for its quality personally, but will be getting it soon.
Full disclosure: I have no connection with the Teaching Company other than as a satisfied purchaser of over two dozen of their courses over the past ten years or so.
Let us know more about how we purchase, price, and after viewing if you can recommend it to us.
Boof & Paula, I agree with everyone else that you are doing a good job. Thank you for your efforts. You really do make this group feel like a family.
Wasn't somebody talking about reading "Diary of a Provincial Lady?" I started reading it last night and I'm half way through it. It's great. I love British dry wit.
Hi Barbara - the group "Between the Wars," is reading Diary of a Provincial Lady beginning on Oct. 26. It's a little late for our Victorian-era, but I just finished it this weekend and highly recommend it! There are parts where I literally laughed out loud, prompting odd looks from my boyfriend.
Barbara wrote: "Boof & Paula, I agree with everyone else that you are doing a good job. Thank you for your efforts. You really do make this group feel like a family."I like that - a little electronic family of bibliophiles - I'm sure glad I found this group!
I'm glad I found this group also. Although my own family has many readers, I'm far and away the most bibliophilic. (is that a word?) It's good to know that there are so many others like me in this world. And chatting with people world-wide is amazing! Not to mention people who communicate on the internet who can spell and use punctuation.
Barbara wrote: "Wasn't somebody talking about reading "Diary of a Provincial Lady?" I started reading it last night and I'm half way through it. It's great. I love British dry wit."Barbara you would be more than welcome to join us for it,the more the merrier!!!
Paula wrote: "Laurele wrote: "Everyone who adores Trollope has a different idea as to where a Trollope virgin should start. Mine is to begin with The Warden and then go through the rest of the Barchester chronic..."and the beautiful art work that was painted by both brother and sister for their poems
Susan wrote: "Paula wrote: "Laurele wrote: "Everyone who adores Trollope has a different idea as to where a Trollope virgin should start. Mine is to begin with The Warden and then go through the rest of the Barc..."I agree with that.
Rebecca wrote: "Has anyone thought about reading Her Fearful Symmetry by Audrey Niffenegger?I just reserved it at the library.
Does anyone know what format profile pictures need to be in to upload? I just spent an extremely unproductive 20 minutes trying to update my profile pic with no success. Thanks!
I think jpg, Paula :) Though maybe it is a matter of size?
Lauren wrote: "I think jpg, Paula :) Though maybe it is a matter of size?"Ok, that made me giggle - I know you're talking file size, but it's a picture of me so of course I translated it into size of content on the pic :)
Paula wrote: "Lauren wrote: "I think jpg, Paula :) Though maybe it is a matter of size?"..."And thanks for the tip!
Paula wrote: "Lauren wrote: "I think jpg, Paula :) Though maybe it is a matter of size?"
Ok, that made me giggle - I know you're talking file size, but it's a picture of me so of course I translated it into s..."
:-O!!
Ok, that made me giggle - I know you're talking file size, but it's a picture of me so of course I translated it into s..."
:-O!!
Boof wrote: "I've just had the best weekend! It was my birthday on Friday and we went to Paris for 4 days and my present from my husband was unmlimitless time in Shakespeare & Co bookshop and to buy myself 10..."Happy Belated birthday! :-) And WOW that bookstore (and your husband) sounds so amazing!!! (I also share an October birthday and a splendid husband only he took me to Carmel and Monterey!) If I ever get to Paris, I would love to see the bookstore. Their website alone looks amazing and I love your description of it! :-)
Barbara wrote: "Rebecca wrote: "Has anyone thought about reading Her Fearful Symmetry by Audrey Niffenegger?I just reserved it at the library.
"
I would like to read it as enjoyed Time Travellers Wife
Susan,I loved it.I hope you enjoy quirky books so that you get the most out of it.Feel free to check my review out.Hope you enjoy reading it.
DJ wrote: "Susan,I loved it.I hope you enjoy quirky books so that you get the most out of it.Feel free to check my review out.Hope you enjoy reading it."thanks DJ I will
Your Welcome.Anytime feel free to nose around and of I have read anything and not reviewed it yet,please let me know if you would like it done.Happy Reading.
Hi All-I just found out today that I'm being sent to Canada for a week or so, leaving tomorrow. Short notice, but highly flattering that they asked me to go. I'm not positive what kind of personal internet time I'll have, so am apologizing in advance for time spent away. I already have Pool's book packed, however, so hopefully will be able to keep up with my daily word posts :) The other good news is that nights spent in a hotel in a strange town leave lots of time for reading, because I still need to get through Drood!
Paula
Rebecca wrote: "Have a great time in Canada Paula. "Thanks! I love to travel, esp. the part where somebody else cleans your room for you :)
Paula wrote: "Hi All-I just found out today that I'm being sent to Canada for a week or so, leaving tomorrow. Short notice, but highly flattering that they asked me to go. I'm not positive what kind of perso..."
Where in Canada will you be, Paula? Hope you enjoy our fair country! : )
Sounds great, Paula. Will you do much sight-seeing?
My husband and I traveled to Quebec City, Montreal and Prince Edward Island in June and loved it! I've also been to BC. Beautiful country! Have a great trip.
In Montreal for a week or so. Totally for work - just got done for the day at 11pm. I love old Montreal; I got to see it a teensy bit when I was up here for work in May. I don't see any time for sightseeing; I also don't see me having those hoped for free nights to read if we don't finish work until 11pm each night!
Paula wrote: "In Montreal for a week or so. Totally for work - just got done for the day at 11pm. I love old Montreal; I got to see it a teensy bit when I was up here for work in May. I don't see any time for si..."Too bad you won't have much time to enjoy that lovely city!
Jane Austen plots or more precisely their central thread ,the heroine's story begin and end(example Northanger Abbey begins at Fullerton and ends at Woodstone; Sense and Sensibility at Norland Park and at Delaford) except Persuasion whose ending is left rather vague reveals a shape/ pattern on a map that adds something to the information that went into making it. A pattern emerges of exclusion. No Scotland,no Wales,no Ireland, no Cornwall, no 'Celtic Fringe' as Michael Hechter has called it; only England: a much smaller space than the United Kingdom as a whole. And then we find not even all of England: Lancashire,the North,the Industrial revolution--- all missing. Instead we have a much older England, celebrated by the 'Estate Poems' of topographical poetry:hills,parks, country houses. It tells us two things: What could be in a novel - and what actually is there. On the one hand, the industrialising 'Great' Britain of Austen's years; on the other,the small,homogenous England of Austen's novels.
A small England for us today,but less so at the turn of the eighteenth century,when the places on the map were seperated by a day,or more,of very uncomfortable travel. And since these places coincide with the residences of the heroine (the beginning), and that of her husband-to-be(the ending),the distance between them means that Austen's plots join together- 'marry'- people who belong to different counties. Which is new and significant: it means that these novels try to represent what social historians refer to as the 'National Marriage Market': a mechanism that crystalised in the course of the eighteenth century, which demands of human beings(women) a new mobility: physical, and even more so spiritual mobility. Because it is clear that a large marriage market can only work if women feel 'at home'- many of the names indicate homes - not only in the small enclave of their birth, but in a much wider territory.
If they can feel the nation -state as a true homeland - and if not the nation- state as a whole, at least its 'core area' (central England), as geography calls it : the wealthiest, most populated area where a young woman can move around without fear.
This is from an excellent book Atlas of the European Novel 1800-1900 by Franco Moretti: Verso; ISBN 1-85984-224-0
That was great. In the U.S., it's so big that you can feel alien while still being in your own country. As a Chicagoan, I felt like the South was a very strange place. Then again, I was in Manhattan, standing outside the Plaza. Our car had a license plate cover that showed our neighborhood in Chicago, and someone driving by yelled out "Hey! Elmwood Park!" It was really fun.
Moretti's book is a fantastic read and the maps he provides are fascinating. It would be a nice addition to the group's non-fiction section.
Barbara - you're in Chicago? I always tell people I'm from Chicago (everyone knows of this city) but am really from southern WI and work in a northern Chicago suburb. Are you right downtown?
No. I originally from the city, fourth generation Chicagoan, but now live and work in Elgin, 42 miles NW of the loop. Used to be out in the country, now it's a suburb.
Barbara wrote: "That was great. In the U.S., it's so big that you can feel alien while still being in your own country. As a Chicagoan, I felt like the South was a very strange place. Then again, I was in Manha..."Strange how sometimes the world seems so small like when you meet neighbours who have gone on holiday to the same place. Or when I speak to my American friends online. But at other times so large likewhen you cannot get to your friends who are in need of you
Darcy wrote: "Moretti's book is a fantastic read and the maps he provides are fascinating. It would be a nice addition to the group's non-fiction section. "how do we go about that
Go to the bookshelf. The form for adding books is on the left. I try not to click "Read" when I add them, because that shelf is for our group reads, I think. There's a non-fiction shelf.
Hello all-A few housekeeping items:
- The discussions for Possession have now been moved to a newly-created folder, "Previous Neo-Vic Group Reads." These discussions will remain open for new posts indefinitely.
- The books at the top of our home page have been switched around to reflect that Possession is now read, and Drood is currently being read.
- Folders have been set up for the Drood discussions. I thought 4 sections might be a nice cut - either one section per week for those reading as a 1-month read, or one section per two-weeks for those reading as a 2-month read.
- A few topics were moved into different folders, as they seemed more appropriate elsewhere.
Warm regards, Paula
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Victorians!
Books mentioned in this topic
The Count of Monte Cristo (other topics)The Portrait of a Lady (other topics)
The Count of Monte Cristo (other topics)
The Portrait of a Lady (other topics)
The Scarlet Letter (other topics)
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Authors mentioned in this topic
Anthony Trollope (other topics)Anthony Trollope (other topics)
Anthony Trollope (other topics)
Henry James (other topics)
Louisa May Alcott (other topics)
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Particularly as they might then be getting a slightly damaged copy!