Happy October 🎃🍂🦇 October means the start of my favourite month-long readathon, Victober! Victober takes places throughout the whole of October and is hosted by Katie, Kate, Marissa, Petra and Ros. The main aim of the readathon is to read as much Victorian Literature as you can throughout the month of October.
– The Challenges –
- Read a Victorian Bildungsroman or Coming of age story.
- Read a Victorian work with chronic illness or disability representation.
- Read a work of Victorian poetry – long or short.
- Read a Victorian short story.
- Read a Victorian work and watch an adaptation of it.
- Group Read: The Mayor of Casterbridge by Thomas Hardy
– My Tentative TBR –
- Ruth by Elizabeth Gaskell – Elizabeth Gaskell is one of my favourite Victorian authors and also one of the authors who’s work I have been working my way through. I thought Ruth would be the perfect novel for read a Victorian Bildungsroman or coming of age story challenge. I will also be buddy reading this one with my friend Matt hopefully.
- Barchester Towers by Anthony Trollope – I’ve been wanting to continue the Barchester Chronicles since I read The Warden last year, so, when I watched Kate’s Victober 2022 Announcement video and she recommended Barchester Towers I knew that was going to be my pick for Victorian work with chronic illness or disability representation.
- Selected Poems by Thomas Hardy, On the death of Anne Brontë by Charlotte Brontë and In a London Drawingroom by George Eliot – for the challenge read a work of Victorian poetry my main pick is going to be selected poems by Thomas Hardy however, there are a couple of pieces of poetry I would like to read as well so I have chosen a poem by Charlotte Brontë as well as a poem by George Eliot.
- The Lifted Veil and Brother Jacob by George Eliot – Over the last year or so I have been working my way through George Eliot’s works with my friend Matt. So far we have buddy read: Middlemarch, The Mill on the Floss, Adam Bede and Daniel Deronda together and we have both quickly fallen in love with her writing. So when I saw the challenge of read a Victorian short story and watched Marissa’s Victober 2022 Announcement video and saw her recommend The Lifted Veil I knew right there and then that my pick for this challenge was going to be The Lifted Veil and Brother Jacob by George Eliot and I cannot wait to dive into this gothic short story.
- Great Expectations by Charles Dickens (Reread) – Great Expectations is one off my favourite Dickens novels and I’ve been meaning to reread it at some point as the last time I read it was over 10 years ago now. So I decided to reread this book for the read a Victorian work and watch an adaptation of it, that way I can also rewatch one of my favourite adaptations which is the 1946 adaptation of Great Expectations directed by David Lean.
- Group Read – When it comes to the group read I will not be taking part in this challenge as I read The Mayor of Casterbridge last year as a buddy read with my friend Matt.
- As bonus reads I have picked 3 other books I would like to read during Victober they are: Wives and Daughters by Elizabeth Gaskell, Silas Marner by George Eliot and The Rector and The Doctor’s Family by Mrs Oliphant.
As always I’m normally a mood reader so I always make any TBR that I may do on the odd occasion tentative. That way I still have some freedom of changing books for challenges.
Are you taking part in Victober? If so, What are you hoping to read this month?
(Cover Photo is from Unsplash and text added by me. Photo of books is my own please do not copy/take without permission first).
Where there's Ink there's Paper 