VICTOBER 2025 discussion
Victober 2023
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Wrap Up Thread 2023
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I had more calls on my time this year and haven't even finished Jane Eyre yet, tho' I only have a couple of chapters to go. On Halloween I'd intended to finish reading Jane Eyre and start Wuthering Heights, but I fell asleep on the couch after supper :o. I'm still planning to start Wuthering Heights today. Next October I doubt the calls on my time will have changed much, but I'll see if I can read a bit more.
hey! I read Agnes Grey, Jane Eyre, and then a couple of M.R.James ghost stories which was fun. I wish I'd have done some forward planning to push the boat out a bit more, but still really enjoyed them! Hope you manage to finish and enjoy Jane Eyre Lisa! I'm thinking of rereading Wuthering Heights next year :)
Thank you, Elizabeth! Jane Eyre is a great novel, a reread for me, and I've noticed more about the poetry and vividness of the landscape description. I haven't read Wuthering Heights in a long time and I'm sure I'll notice something.
Elizabeth, how did you like Jane Eyre? How'd everybody who read Agnes Grey like it? It's been ages but I need to reread it too.
Jane Eyre is probably my favourite book. I love how much soul it's got. The landscape definitely stood out for me this time, and how real and earthy it all felt. It always strikes me how depressed she was as a child, and how she's learning to go about life with her chin up even when people are awful, and to work out how to balance desire and duty - whereas often it's usually one or the other! Reading it after Agnes Grey makes me realise how much of a good deal Jane got with Ms Fairfax and Adele!I've not reread WH since like, 2015/6 so I'm looking forward but slightly nervous haha!
Lisa wrote: "Elizabeth, how did you like Jane Eyre? How'd everybody who read Agnes Grey like it? It's been ages but I need to reread it too."Agnes Grey was a re-read for me and I loved it just as much as I did the first time.
Oh I know, and apparently the employers/kids characters in Agnes Grey were modelled after real people! Mrs. Fairfax and Adele were probably wishful thinking for Charlotte! In Shirley, there's info about the difficulties of governess life...no more tho' to avoid spoilers!Yes, it is usually one or the other--Jane ends up getting what she wants on her own terms.
In Shirley. Not so much in Villette--more difficulties with teaching a class.
ah ok! it's been a while since I read Shirley so got a bit confused cos it's mostly mills and such! but I think I'm with you now :)
Yes, there's a lot about workers in Shirley but other stuff too--women's roles and work and responsibilities.
Hello everyone,My name is Thaizi Ono and I am from Brazil.
I read two books in this Victober that I loved.
1) Gloriana, or, the revolution of 1900 by Lady Florence Dixie. It completed Katie's challenge (read a 'new woman' fiction) and Marissa's challenge (Victorian work by an author who is new to you). This book is amazing, it is a feminist utopian novel. In my opinion, it is the opposite of The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood (a feminist dystopian novel). In this utopian book, Gloriana, the main character pleads woman's cause and defies gender norms.
Lady Florence Dixie was a Scottish writer and it was the first book I read from her. I saw her bio and Lady Florence Dixie was the President of the British Ladies' Football Club in 1895. She saw the potential in women at sports and gender equality.
2) David Cooperfield by Charles Dickens. It completed Kate's challenge (Victorian work featuring a stranger/outsider), Petra's challenge (Read a Victorian first-person narrative) and Ros's challenge (Read a Victorian work in which class features strongly). This book by Dickens became one of my favorites.
It is a bildungsroman, a genre I really like, it has the most engaging opening line, accessible classic book and memorable characters.
There is a scene in the movie "Hugo" by Martin Scorsese in which the character Isabelle says to Mr. Labisse that she is falling in love with David Cooperfield.
Finally, thank you to the hosts for the Discord discussion, it was so much fun!
I only completed one book of my four that I chose for Victober and that was The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins. I used this for both Kate's and Marissa's prompts. I just finished it today and loved it!!! It was my first Wilkie Collins book, but not my last. :)
Hi everyone,Well done on all your reading.
I read the following:
"Agnes Grey"
"North and South"
"Cranford"
"The Happy Prince and Other Stories"
"Uncle Silas"
I enjoyed them all. "Uncle Silas" was particularly good, the suspense and tension 😬
Elizabeth wrote: "hey! I read Agnes Grey, Jane Eyre, and then a couple of M.R.James ghost stories which was fun. I wish I'd have done some forward planning to push the boat out a bit more, but still really enjoyed t..."Agnes Grey excellent. It is lovely.
After a crazy year of illness, surgery, selling our house, downsizing, moving in with my ailing parents, and retiring, I was pleased to participate as much as I did this Victober! I met all the challenges except the readalong. Thank you to the hosts and fellow participants. I read:The Haunted House
Mary Barton
“Silly Novels by Lady Novelists"
Mrs Warren’s Profession (reread)
The Invisible Man: A Grotesque Romance
At Agincourt: A Tale of the White Hoods of Paris
I know I haven't been active on Goodreads this Victober as I have been on Discord, but I usually make a wrap up thread at the end of the month, a place for people to discuss what they've been reading.
I hope everyone's Victober went well :) I read some great things - highlights would be especially The Beth Book by Sarah Grand, A Struggle for Fame by Charlotte Riddell, An Eye For An Eye by Anthony Trollope and Man and Wife by Wilkie Collins.