Victorians! discussion

It's that time again, folks!

Please nominate the novel you would like to read with the group from April-mid May. Nominations will be open until 20th Feb (that's 10 days) OR until we have a maximum of 8 nominations.

When you nominate, please:

- say a little bit about your choice

- tell us if you would like to lead the discussion of your nomination should it win.

It's also helpful for other members if you can add the link to the book and author - just click on "add book/author" above the comment box.

Happy nominating!

Adam Bede by George Eliot

Adam Bede here's the link

I nominate A Tale of Two Cities because:

1. It's Dickens.
2. It's about Paris and London!

Yes, I would accept to lead the discussion, if no one else is available... :)

PS - I should have said that nominations will be open until 20th Feb (that's 10 days) OR until we have a maximum of 8 nominations. I'll edit my original post with the new info.

I nominate Esther Waters. He's a bit of a forgotten author but very good.

I nominate North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell. This book captures the essence of social change in the mid 19C.

I will be happy to moderate this novel.

Shirley by Charlotte Bronte! It is the bicentennial of her birth this year and it might be cool to read something by her.

Amanda wrote: "Shirley by Charlotte Bronte! It is the bicentennial of her birth this year and it might be cool to read something by her."

Adding the link: Shirley

I would like to re-read North and South again.

Taking a look at the books read by this group, I think this fits. I would like to nominate The Way of All Flesh by Samuel Butler. It has been a while since I read this, but I remember really enjoying it. I have an antique 25c paperback with a sort of "old south" photo on the cover, and given that and the title, I avoided it for probably 30 years. When I finally picked it up, I was amazed. I could try to lead.

Great nominations so far! Just two possible slots left. At this rate, I'll be opening the voting sooner than expected... Love everyone's enthusiasm :-)

All great nominations but I am nominating Hester by Margaret Oliphant
This is an author I have never read and appears to be a story about relationships: with 3 main characters. An aged matriarchal figure, Catherine Vernon, head of the family bank, and a young couple, Hester and Edward Vernon.

I would lead it if asked.

I'll nominate a book I hadn't heard of before -- Esther Waters by George Moore.

Why? I first became aware of it from a syllabus in a course on The Nineteenth Century British Novel. It was one of seven novels read in the course, which was to read "seven great novels from the 'golden age' of the genre in Britain." The others were Emma, Jane Eyre, Vanity Fair, Cranford, Great Expectations, and The Mill on the Floss. Any book in that company is worth taking a look at!

John Sutherland, in The Stanford Companion to Victorian Fiction, calls it "Moore's most successful novel." There is a hint of a trigger warning, since Sutherland says "because of the frankness of its sexual episodes, circulating libraries refused to stock it." Of course, that was judging it by the standards of 1894; I haven't read it, but doubt that any book published in that era, given the obscenity statutes on the books at the time, would shock a modern reader.

A minor disadvantage is that it doesn't appear as though copies are in print. But Gutenberg.org, of course, has the e-book in multiple formats, and there are plenty of copies of the 1995 Oxford World's Classics edition, the 1977 and 1994 Everyman Paperback edition, and other editions available at very reasonable prices from abebooks.com (around $8.00 including shipping).
http://www.abebooks.com/servlet/Searc...

And Alibris.com also has plenty of copies, including some new copies of the Oxford World Classics edition for $3.99 plus shipping.

So the book is readily available, probably cheaper than choosing a new book would be!

Everyman wrote: "I'll nominate a book I hadn't heard of before -- Esther Waters by George Moore.

Why? I first became aware of it from a syllabus in a course on The Nineteenth Century British Novel. It was one of s..."

Eman, we nominated the same book :). I've read it. It's a great read.

Everyman wrote: "I'll nominate a book I hadn't heard of before -- Esther Waters by George Moore...."

See Msg 6? Deborah has already nominated it, I believe?

Neat, though, to see your affirmation of the nomination, Eman.

I'll nominate Tennyson: Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, the Lady of Shallot, the Lady of the Fountain, and Other Classic Poems and Tales of Camelot

No, that was Ethel. (Sorry. I couldn't help myself.)

Renee wrote: "No, that was Ethel. (Sorry. I couldn't help myself.)"

LOL! Deborah or Esther or ... [was Ethel]? (I at least recognize you are riffing off the name characters parlor game, Renee.)

Lily wrote: "I'll nominate Tennyson: Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, the Lady of Shallot, the Lady of the Fountain, and Other Classic Poems and Tales of Camelot"

Hi Lily

If your nomination does not get enough support we could continue the study of Tennyson next month in Poetry Corner. Would you have any interest? I was thinking of doing a Browning poem but am certainly flexible to other's ideas as we get this new initiative up and running.

Lily, Peter (and Ethel?) Re: Tennyson,

I'm going to make a call on this one and say that we stick to novels for our 6-week group read. However, we're very much in favour of promoting poetry and if you are willing to follow up on Peter's suggestion in Message 20, it would be great to look at a bit more Tennyson in the Poetry Corner. Does that sound like a reasonable compromise?

That would mean there's still one more slot available for a nomination, and then we'll be off to the polls!

Okay. I'll follow whatever is of interest/decision to/of others on this one. I just had recently been coming across Tennyson several times as a major Victorian era figure and thought I'd try out group interest. I'd experienced, too, the Camelot related poems generating some interesting discussion. Sometimes a trial balloon indicates don't go there -- maybe I should have read the previous "In Memoriam A.H.H." response that way. No need to put Tennyson ahead of Browning from my perspective. Either would be fine. Since I know of no British or Irish authors of the Victorian era who wrote novels in poetry, it should be relatively easy to distinguish into poetry and novels. (Now somebody will probably point out where the boundaries are friable. [g])

Christina Rosetti is another author/poet I'd find of interest to explore, prompted somewhat by A.S. Byatt's Possession of a few years ago.

I'd like to nominate The Mill on the Floss. I loved Elliot's Middlemarch and Daniel Deronda and would like to discuss her work within a group forum.

Great selection! That's it. Nominations are officially closed and I'll put up the poll as soon as I'm in front of my PC.

Deborah wrote: "Everyman wrote: "I'll nominate a book I hadn't heard of before -- Esther Waters by George Moore.

Eman, we nominated the same book :). I've read it. It's a great read. ."

Oops, I missed that. But with you and I behind the book, how can it possibly lose? [g]

Lily wrote: "Everyman wrote: "I'll nominate a book I hadn't heard of before -- Esther Waters by George Moore...."

See Msg 6? Deborah has already nominated it, I believe?

Neat, though, to see your affirmation ..."

Embarrassed that I missed that. But I could hardly do better than essentially second a nomination that Deborah made, could I? Worshiping at the feet of the Literary Goddess!

Lily wrote: "Okay. I'll follow whatever is of interest/decision to/of others on this one. I just had recently been coming across Tennyson several times as a major Victorian era figure and thought I'd try out group interest.."

He was indeed a VERY major figure, beloved of Queen Victoria (who found great comfort in his In Memoriam, and she appointed him Poet Laureate after the death of Wordsworth.*

I'm not sure that doing him in the Poetry section would give enough scope for the works that Lily nominated. Might need to be a buddy read?

* (Fortunately, Tennyson wasn't attacked for taking the post as Wordsworth had been by Browning. IMO one of Browing's best poems as a poem:
http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/...)

The poll is up! Vote here: https://www.goodreads.com/poll/show/1...

Everyman wrote: "I'm not sure that doing him in the Poetry section would give enough scope for the works that Lily nominated. Might need to be a buddy read? "

Maybe not in the old poetry/prose/plays/essays etc folder, but the Poetry Corner has been specifically set up to discuss particular poetical works in detail and was created in response to members' requests for more focus on verse.

I'm going to close this thread now to additional posts, but please feel free to continue the discussion here: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...