The TBR thread

[Henri]

Hey hey! So, this year, I'll be reading The Mayor of Casterbridge, of course, and one recommendation from each of the hosts: namely, The Law and the Lady, A Dark Night's Work, In a Glass Darkly, David Copperfield, A Shropshire Lad. Happy reading, all!

[TRP]

I have massive and somewhat inflexible TBR but I have these prospects for Victober

Leo Tolstoy - The Cossacks, The Death of Ivan Ilyich, The Kreutzer Sonata
Harriet Martineau - Deerbrook
George Grossmith - The Diary of a Nobody
George Meredith - The Egoist
Fyodor Dostoyevsky - The Idiot
Thomas Hardy - The Hand of Ethelberta, The Return of the Native
Guy de Maupassant - Bel-Ami

I've got a couple of Thomas Hardys coming up so I'll probably not re-reading The Mayor of Casterbridge
Assuming that non-British authors are allowed, I think The Idiot fits Kate's challenge (Prince Myshkin has Epilepsy)
There's a 2007 adaptation of Diary of a Nobody written by Andrew Davies (1995 Pride and Prejudice) and starring Hugh Bonneville (Downton Abbey and Paddington)

I put my Victober TBR on my BookTube channel TimsTooManyBooks

[Bianca]

Hi, I am Bianca. This is also my first Victober and I have some prior engagements with my Dutch bookclub. Besides that I also want to join the Mega Dickens Readalong. So I will be focusing on 'The Mayor of Casterbridge' and 'The Pickwick Papers'. Maybe I will be trying to squeeze 'The Tenant of Wildfell Hall' in since I have been dying to read that for ages!

[Bibliolyra]

I will attempt to read:

North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell
(Disability/chronic illness representation – Victorian Novel/adaptation)

Tennyson’s poetry
(Victorian poetry, long or short)

In a Glass Darkly by Sheridan Le Fanu
(Victorian short story)

Not part of any challenge, but I also want to start reading How to be a Victorian.

[Anastasia]

After an unexpected turn of events, this Victober seems to lead me towards exploration of literary nonsense! 🙃

It first came to my mind after Ros mentioned Edward Lear’s limericks in her poetry recommendations for her challenge. I remembered that I had read some of them at school and thought it would be fun to revisit them. Then I came across an inexpensive Wordsworth edition with his complete nonsense works, and that sealed it for me.

And then today I also realised that Lewis Carroll was a Victorian writer, and I wanted to read his The Hunting of the Snark for a while. I couldn’t find a copy in bookshops around me but found an edition with Tove Jansson’s illustrations in a library. THAT Tove Jansson, who created the Moomins! Unfortunately I can't take that particular book to read at home but I can read it in the library, and since it's not long, I will surely do that!

So to my own surprise and delight, I now have two books of nonsense verse added to my Victober TBR:

- Complete Nonsense by Edward Lear
- The Hunting of the Snark by Lewis Carroll

I wonder where else this Victober will take me… 😊

[Virginia]

My TBR for Victober

Group Read : The Mayor of Casterbridge

Kate's Challenge: The Woman in White by Willie Collins

Katie's Challenge: Uncle Silas by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu

Marissa's Challenge: The Lifted Veil by George Eliot

Petra's Challenge: The Pickwick Papers by Charles Dickens

Ros' Challenge: How Lisa Loved the King by George Eliot

[Rachel]

Anyone else set out their tbr and then every time they see another person's they keep wanting to swap them around? There's so many good suggestions

[Debra]

My ever-changing TBR list:
(Yes, to Rachel's question!)

1. Chronic illness or disability (Kate’s challenge): The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins

2. Victorian bildungsroman/coming of age (Katie's challenge): will probably re-read Tess of the D'Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy

3. Victorian short story (Marissa's Challenge): Will choose one or more stories from The Complete Short Fiction by Oscar Wilde

4. Victorian book w/ screen adaptation (Petra's Challenge): Middlemarch by George Eliot

5. Victorian poetry, long or short (Ros's Challenge): something by Alfred Lord Tennyson.

[Vanessa]

Victober 2022

1-Group Read- The Mayor of Casterbridge by Thomas Hardy
2-Long/Short Victorian Poetry-The Goblin Market by Christina Rossetti and Maude by Alfred Tennyson
3-Read Victorian Novel and watch an adaptation-Cranfod by Elizabeth Gaskell
4-Victorian Coming of age story-A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man by James Joyce
5-Victorian short story-The Chimes by Charles Dickens
6-Victorian story with chronic illness/disability-Middlemarch by George Eliot

[Anastasia]

Vanessa wrote: "Victober 2022

1-Group Read- The Mayor of Casterbridge by Thomas Hardy
2-Long/Short Victorian Poetry-The Goblin Market by Christina Rossetti and Maude by Alfred Tennyson
3-Read Victorian Novel and ..."

Just in case, Vanessa, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man is not a Victorian novel. It was first published in 1910's. James Joyce started writing it earlier but it was still after Queen Victoria's death.

You can of course ignore that - after all, Joyce was born and grew up during the Victorian era, his own "coming of age" happened during that period, so I guess it's possible to count him. But if you want to be more strict with these challenges, maybe it's worth picking a different book (but of course I don't want to say that you should!)

[Tracy]

I have been in "comfort re-reading mode" for the last six months or so, but I am trying to break out of this. As I made my list, I looked at my ever-growing TBR pile for inspiration. I may do some as audiobooks, my favorite format right now.

Disability: North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell--this is a book I have started and abandoned but I really want to finish it.
Bildungsroman: Villette by Charlotte Bronte--another I started and abandoned.
Short Story: The Happy Prince and other Stories by Oscar Wilde.
Book/screen: Daniel Deronda by George Eliot
Poetry: I have checked out a Victorian poetry anthology. I will just skip around and read what I like.

I am sticking with the more well-known authors but I may change things up, especially if I decide I need a comfort re-read. I hope to read Mayor of Casterbridge, but no promises! I am about a third of the way through Tess of the d'Urbervilles and I don't know if I can do another Hardy novel so soon. I'm starting with Villette and the short stories.

[Huda]

My victober 2022 TBR :

1. Chronic illness or disability (Kate’s challenge): The life of Charlotte Bronte by Elizabeth Gaskell

2. Victorian bildungsroman/coming of age (Katie's challenge): John Halifax, gentleman by Dinah Craik

3. Victorian short story (Marissa's Challenge): Wessex Tales by Thomas Hardy

4. Victorian poetry, long or short (Ros's Challenge): The night is darkening around me by Emily Bronte.

I'll be busy during the month of October so I won't take part in the rest of the challenges

[99Kylies]

I'm reading the group read, the Mayer of Casterbridge, as well as Wives and Daughters and Jane Eyre. I'll watch a copy of Jane Eyre, too. I'd also like to read some poetry by Emily Bronte and maybe a short story or two, but I haven't decided which one. I'm sooo excited for my first Victober!

[Janice]

I have also decided to read books on my shelves. :) I will not be participating in the group read but hope to complete all the other prompts.

Marissa's challenge: The Best of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle, and I will be reading the first short story, " A Scandal in Bohemia."

Ross's challenge: Evangeline: A Tale of Acadie by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. I saw a play of this poem a few years ago and loved it!

Katie's challenge: Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte

Petra's challenge: The Importance of Being Earnest and Other Plays by Oscar Wilde, and I plan to watch an adaptation I found on YouTube * Is it okay to read a play for this prompt? *

Kate's challenge: Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte

[Alexandra]

This Victober I hope to read only books that are new to me. I have a fairly big collection of Penguin Black Classics (>100, plus the box set of 80 Little Black Classics) and accumulate them faster than I can read them, so this is a great opportunity to reduce my very long TBR.

So far I have:
Wilkie Collins - The Law and the Lady
Charles Dickens - Oliver Twist
Thomas Hardy - The Mayor of Casterbridge
Henry James - The Turn of the Screw and Other Ghost Stories
But I hope to double that by the end of the month!

[Camilla]

Janice wrote: "I have also decided to read books on my shelves. :) I will not be participating in the group read but hope to complete all the other prompts.

Marissa's challenge: [book: The Best of Sherlock Holm..."

I love The importance of being Earnest! I've seen the adaption with Colin Firth, but I must check which adaptions are available on YouTube!

[Alwynne]

Anastasia wrote: "After an unexpected turn of events, this Victober seems to lead me towards exploration of literary nonsense! 🙃

It first came to my mind after Ros mentioned Edward Lear’s limericks in her poetry re..."

That edition of Carroll's is really lovely, a friend gave me a copy along with her illustrated Alice's Adventures in Wonderland which is gorgeous,

https://www.themarginalian.org/2014/0...

[Anastasia]

Alwynne wrote: "Anastasia wrote: "After an unexpected turn of events, this Victober seems to lead me towards exploration of literary nonsense! 🙃

It first came to my mind after Ros mentioned Edward Lear’s limerick..."

Oh, I didn't know that Tove Jansson illustrated Alice's Adventures in Wonderland too! Thank you for sharing, Alwynne! 🤗

[Lisa]

I read the first two chapters of The Mayor of Casterbridge this morning.
After finishing Betsy Was A Junior, I'll go on to Victorian Lit but I'm not sure where I'll start. My TBR list includes Jane Eyre, The Ring and the Book, something by Mrs. Gaskell, something by Dickens, and a short story.

[Froggles]

I'm taking part in the read-along of 'The Mayor of Casterbridge', and plan to also read some of Hardy's poetry, to take up Roz's challenge, and continue on with a collection of ghost stories I started last year, for another one of the challenges. (My apologies for not remembering whose is the short story challenge.)

Other than that, I'm reading 'Wives and Daughters' by Elizabeth Gaskill, having really enjoyed 'North and South' two Victobers ago, and I hope to finish 'David Copperfield' (Check coming of age story!) & 'East Lynne', both of which I got far into last Victober.

[Shari]

Things are loose for my TBR right now, but two I definitely plan to read are Weird Women: Volume 2: 1840-1925: Classic Supernatural Fiction by Groundbreaking Female Writers, edited by Lisa Morton and Leslie S. Klinger (short stories prompt) and Trail of the Serpent my Mary Elizabeth Braddon (chronic illness/disability prompt). I finished The Face in the Glass: The Gothic Tales of Mary Elizabeth Braddon yesterday. I might read North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell and/or John Halifax, Gentleman by Dinah Mulock Craik--not sure if either of those would be coming of age novels. I might read some Oscar Wilde poetry or Aurora Leigh--not sure. I don't enjoy watching things so won't be taking part in that challenge, although I might read a book and listen to a radio adaptation instead. It will depend on how much time I have and what I feel like doing later in the month. Also what my library has available in the e-audiobook section of the website! I've also been wanting to start a re-read of Anthony Trollope's Palliser series, so might pick up Can You Forgive Her?
Happy reading, everyone!

[Maggie]

After a last minute's change, this is what my tbr is going to be:
Disability: North and South, by Elizabeth Gaskell
Coming of age: Great expectations, by Charles Dickens
Adaptation: The vanity fair, by William Thackeray
Short story: Christmas storms and sunshine by Elizabeth Gaskell

I just started North and South and so far I'm intrigued by the story, I would love to hear your opinions, if you've read any of these books!

[Kailey (Luminous Libro)]

I'm going to be reading along with "Mayor of Casterbridge" too!
I'm also reading:
* Round the Fire Stories by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle for the short stories challenge
* Olive by Dinah Craik for the coming of age and disability representation challenges
* The Lady of the Lake by Sir Walter Scott for the poetry challenge

I will be watching the 2003 screen adaptation of "Mayor of Casterbridge" for the movie challenge!
Here is my Booktube TBR video: https://youtu.be/EyiajqSfZv8

[Diane]

Hi! I started my first Victober in September. I couldn’t help it. I downloaded all these books and couldn’t wait two weeks to start reading them. (I am so grateful for ebooks and audiobooks. Without them I couldn’t participate.) I decided to take recommendations from others and pick authors/books that I am unfamiliar with. Which turns out to be A LOT! I thought I was well read in my favorite genre/time period. Wrong! So, here is my TBR list:
Mrs. Oliphant - The Chronicles of Carlingford. I’m going to count The Rector as my short story challenge because it is a novella and I don’t enjoy short stories.
Dinah Maria Craik: I read Olive and John, Halifax, Gentleman, either of which could count for the disability challenge. Both are completely fantastic. I will read more, more, more from this author whom I had never heard of until Katie from Books and Things recommended her. Next up, A Life for a Life, then A Noble Life.
George Macdonald: Phantastes. Because it’s been on my kindle forever and it’s the first book that turned C. S. Lewis towards Christianity.

Wilkie Collins: The Woman in White which will count as the screen adaptation challenge. I’ve never read or seen it.
Charlotte Yonge: Another author recommended by Katie whom I never heard of. I downloaded nearly all her books for .99. There are a lot of them. Im going to start with The Daisy Chain and Countess Kate and see how many I can get through in October.
Anthony Trollope: Miss Mackenzie and The Claverings. And maybe Ayala’s Angel because that’s an amazing title and I’ve never heard of it. And the audiobook is $3.42 on Amazon. Recommended. I’m always up for Trollope I haven’t read.
Tennyson:Idylls of the King for the poetry challenge. I got it on audiobook, which is how poetry should be read. Out loud. I’m also listening to Paradise Lost and Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage, but those are the wrong era.
G. K. Chesterton: if I run out of other stuff, because I always want to read Chesterton and end up bored. I’m not going to read The Mayor of Castorbridge. I’ve read it and seen it. Didn’t enjoy it enough to do either again. In November I will start The Pickwick Papers for the Mega Dickens read-along. That’s it!

[Alwynne]

Lisa wrote: "I read the first two chapters of The Mayor of Casterbridge this morning.
After finishing Betsy Was A Junior, I'll go on to Victorian Lit but I'm not sure where I'll start. My TBR list includes Jan..."

I realised Alice also counts as a variation on a coming-of-age novel, so dug it out and reread, it was really great!

[Jassmine]

Maggie wrote: "After a last minute's change, this is what my tbr is going to be:
Disability: North and South, by Elizabeth Gaskell
Coming of age: Great expectations, by Charles Dickens
Adaptation: The vanity fair..."

I read North and South... two years ago? I really loved it, it also has an amazing adaptation that does some things differently than the book - in some cases for the better (I think), but there were few changes I really didn't love. Still it's definitely worth to watch too, if you are so inclined.
I didn't read Vanity Fair yet, but I watched the adaptation sometimes this year(?) and I really enjoyed that one too.

[Camilla]

I've had a bit of a slow start this weekend and only begun reading The mayor of Casterbridge.

Other books that I've planned to read are:

Coming of age: Elizabeth Gaskell - Wives and daughters
Short story: Edith Wharton - The quicksand
Adaption: Anthony Trollope - The way we live now
Poetry: Found a book from when I studied literature at uni with poetry from early 1800s - ww1, so I'll be reading the part with british poets.
Disability: Not yet decided but I'll try to find an audiobook!

[Daniel]

My eyes may be bigger than my reading hours in October, however here's the hopeful TBR:

1. Mega Dickens Read Along: Pickwick Papers by Dickens
2. Group Read: The Mayor of Casterbridge by Hardy
3. Chronic Illness/Physically Challenged: Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
4. Coming of Age: Villette by Charlotte Bronte
5. Short Stories: Gothic Tales by Elizabeth Gaskell
6. Poetry: Sonnets from Portuguese by E.B. Browning
7. Read and Watch: Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte

[Michael]

My TBR / Possibilities List

Books with chronic illness or disability
(based on recommendation videos, supposedly these will work)
* The Heir of Redclyffe by Charlotte Mary Yonge (1853)
* Middlemarch by George Elliot (1872)
* The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins (1868)
* Barchester Towers by Anthony Trollope (1857)

Bildungsroman
* Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte (1847)
* Jude the Obscure by Thomas Hardy (1895)

Short Stories
* The Battle of Life by Charles Dickens
* The Haunted Man by Charles Dickens
* In a Glass Darkly by Sheridan Le Fanu (1872)

Book and Adaptation
- The Moonstone (see above)
- Wuthering Heights (see above)

Although I'm not going to read Great Expectations by Charles Dickens this Victober (one of my favorite books), my wife is going to this month. So I'm going to make her watch the adaptation.

Poetry
* Edward Lear
* A Shropshire Lad by AE Houseman (1896)
* A Child's Garden of Verses by Robert Louis Stevenson (1885)
* Poetry by Oscar Wile
* "Goblin Market" and other poems by Christina Rossetti (1862)

I have read none of these before except Carmilla (which is one of the stories in the Le Fanu collection) and A Child's Garden of Verse which I realized when putting on my list that I read as a child via a "Little Golden Book".

I may also start the Pickwick Papers by Charles Dickens (1837) for the Dickens program. But since there's quite a lot here already, I'll probably wait to start in November.

[Mamatigerj]

l only discovered VICTOBER at the end of September, and I am long-term-temporarily living in a different state, so I am limited to digital books. It has been a mad scramble, and I am a very slow decision maker, but I finally have my list.

Group Read: The Mayor of Casterbridge by Thomas Hardy

Kate's Challenge: Barchester Towers by Anthony Trollope

Katie's Challenge: Aurora Leigh by Elizabeth Barrett Browning

Marissa's Challenge: Victorian Short Stories: Stories of Successful Marriages, which I found on Project Gutenburg, containing a story each by Elizabeth Gaskell, Thomas Hardy, George Moore, Walter Besant, and Henry James

Petra's Challenge: Cranford by Elizabeth Gaskell

Ros' Challenge: The Hunting of the Snark by Lewis Carroll and some of The Bronte Sisters poetry from Poems by Currer, Ellis, and Acton Bell

Other Books:
The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Stevenson
Frankenstein, or the Modern Prometheus by Shelley (it's pre-Victorian, but i have never read either of these and wanted to read them together.)
Possibly, The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Bronte if i get to it; I hope to as least make a start.

Hardy, Gaskell, and Trollope are all authors I have never read but wanted to for a long time (excepting a book of Hardy's poems), so this was the nudge I needed.

[Kathy]

Mamatigerj wrote: "l only discovered VICTOBER at the end September"
Welcome to Victober! You have some great reads on your list. In order to understand & appreciate Barchester Towers (book 2 of the Barsetshire Chronicles) , it would be helpful to read the first book in the series, The Warden. The Warden is much shorter and is a delightful book. Happy reading!

[Jessica]

Short stories and poetry are my jam so these prompts are awesome. Marissa over on her Blatently Bookish YT channel reminded me of Project Guttenberg & I was able to find everything I wanted to read right there! I chose these based on authors that I’ve both never read before and found recommended here, with the exception of Wilde. I read him when I was way too young and understood nada, lol.

Here’s my starting TBR pile for the #victober challenge:

The Old Nurse’s Story, Gaskell (Marissa/Short Story)
The Importance of Being Earnest, Wilde (Petra/Adaptation)
Carmilla, Le Fanu (Katie/Disability)
The Goblin Market, Rossetti (Ros/Poetry)
North and South (Kate/Coming of Age)

I plan to pick up a couple Victorian short story anthologies at my library for additional inspiration, and to break up North & South.

[Mamatigerj]

Kathy wrote: Welcome to Victober! You have some great reads on your list. In order to understand & appreciate Barchester Towers (book 2 of the..."

Thank you!

[Jassmine]

Mamatigerj wrote: "Frankenstein, or the Modern Prometheus by Shelley (it's pre-Victorian, but i have never read either of these and wanted to read them together.)"

Glad to meet another Mary Shelley cheater! 😂 I included her Matylda on my Victober TBR as well, because would really like to read it and still can't get to it...

[Amy]

I started Mayor of Casterbridge and am absolutely loving it! It's my first Hardy and I can completely understand why people enjoy his writing so much! I'm also reading a few poems a day from Robert and Elizabeth Barrett Browning! Hoping to start North & South and Jane Eyre soon!

[Theresa]

This is what I want to read.

Group Read: The Mayor of Casterbridge

Kate's and Katie's: Great Expectations

Ros: Thomas Hardy

Petra's: Probably Great Expectations

Marissa's: Something by Dickens, Gaskell, and (or) Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.

If time permits I will read Treasure Island and Ruth.

[Barbara]

Cranford, Frankenstein and Barchester Towers are my TBR choices.
I am totally enjoying The Mayor of Casterbridge. Forgot what it feels like to not be able to put a book down. The classics always deliver!

[Briana]

Not sure I'll finish all of them this October, but my tbr is
1. Goblin Market and other poems by Christina Rossetti [librivox]
2. Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte [my own physical copy]
3. Gothic Tales by Elizabeth Gaskell [Hoopla]
4. Aurora Leigh by Elizabeth Barrett Browning [Hoopla]
5. Olive by Dinah Maria Mulock Craik [librivox]
And I plan to start Charles Dickens's The Pickwick Papers [librivox].

[Ioana]

I've got Bleak House as my big challenge, spread during the whole month, so I rushed and finished already The mayor of Casterbridge, what an enjoyable ride that was! Now onto North and South, keeping two books in parallel throughout the month.