VICTOBER TBR

Along with being the spookiest time of the year October is also for reading all things Victorian. One of my bookish goals this year was to read more classics since I used to read a lot more of them before I had kids. And my oldest is ten so its been a DECADE since I read more than one classic in a year. I already participated in #Classicsathon this year but when I heard about this readathon I couldn’t pass up another opportunity to read some more classics. To make sure that what I picked to read was truly Victorian I looked up this list on Goodreads and I was surprised by how many of these I already own. Also, just because I didn’t know what the actual definition of Victorian literature was, it is a book that was written when Queen Victoria reigned, 1837-1901. Most of the popular classics that we think of were written in this time so this is a pretty easy readathon to take part in. There are five challenges for this readathon and two group plays by Oscar Wilde. I don’t think I will be participating in the group read but if you want to know more about it and all the readathon info here is the link to the Goodreads group.

General Challenge: Read by candlelight

This is an easy one and one that can be done throughout the month

Lucy’s Challenge: Read an underrated Victorian book from the same year as your favorite Victorian classic

*This one I’m bending this challenge a little because my favorite classic is Little Women which was written in the Victorian era but I can’t find anything underrated that I want to read from that year. So I just decided to pick any underrated Victorian novel and that would be a good substitute.

When her father leaves the Church in a crisis of conscience, Margaret Hale is uprooted from her comfortable home in Hampshire to move with her family to the north of England. Initially repulsed by the ugliness of her new surroundings in the industrial town of Milton, Margaret becomes aware of the poverty and suffering of the local mill workers and develops a passionate sense of social justice. This is intensified by her tempestuous relationship with the mill-owner and self-made man, John Thornton, as their fierce opposition over his treatment of his employees masks a deeper attraction.

Katie’s challenge: Read a Victorian book under 250 pages and/or over 500 pages

A young governess falls in love with her employer in this classic coming-of-age tale set in nineteenth-century England.

Kate’s challenge: Reread a Victorian book

Generations of readers young and old, male and female, have fallen in love with the March sisters of Louisa May Alcott’s most popular and enduring novel, Little Women. Here are talented tomboy and author-to-be Jo, tragically frail Beth, beautiful Meg, and romantic, spoiled Amy, united in their devotion to each other and their struggles to survive in New England during the Civil War.

Ange’s challenge: Read a book by a Victorian female author (bonus: one that’s new to you)

*I can’t believe I’ve never read this book!!

An unpolished and devastating epic of childhood playmates who grow into soul mates, Wuthering Heights revolves around the willfully childish Catherine and the dark Heathcliff, who, in the words of Charlotte Bronte, “exemplifies the effects which a life of continued injustice and hard usage may produce on a naturally perverse, vindictive, and inexorable disposition.” Heathcliff and Cathy believe they’re destines to love each other forever. But when cruelty and snobbery separate them, their untamed emotions literally consume them.

Set amid the wild and stormy Yorkshire moors, Wuthering Heights is widely regarded as the most original tale of thwarted desire and heartbreak in the English language.

I would love to read all four of these books this month but realistically I will be happy if I can get through one of these. I also want to read all my thrillers I have planned so we will see how much I am able to actually to read by the end of the month.

~Cassie