Once I get started reading a Victorian novel I'm good, but it's the getting started that's the problem. For me the best quotes from Jane Eyre are "I am no bird; and no net ensnares me; I am free human being with an independent will...." I also love the line that Rochester says about a string tied to his life rib and I think the line about not being an automaton is in the same scene. The "do you think me soulless and heartless" always come to mind. So many great quotes but they're very long.
Did you say late medieval early renaissance? 😍 Now I’ll be searching to see if you have videos about your favorite books related to that period! And yes, A Tale of Two Cities, how can you not cry? I pretty much cry at some point during almost every Dickens novel. Ole Chuck! He gets me right in the gut every time!
The Tale of Two Cities was the Dickens that really won me over to him for myself, rather than reading his books because we were studying them at school. It's no longer my favourite but the ending stays with you. Margaret Hale is an example to us all. That Jane Eyre dressing gown scene is seriously intense. I'll bear in mind Jezebel's Daughter.
So fun! 👏🏻 I also cried at the end of A Tale of Two Cities! When I thought about how the book started, and. then how it ended...it was just poetic! Oscar Wilde's short story, The Happy Prince, also brought a tear. ❤ Just downloaded Varney the Vampire to my Kindle. 🤓 Thanks for sharing!
I first came across mention of Varney the Vampire back around 2008/2009? I’m so grateful to the blogger on Livejournal (a woman living in Alabama whose name I have sadly forgotten, blogging about Life on The Shelf - the hidden life of all her fandom dolls - it was fabulous!) who also introduced this absolute classic to her readers. I’ve been reading it this year on my Kindle and my print issues of Vol 1 & 2 arrived today! Time to go back to the beginning with the story and enjoy the original illustrations etc.
So need to reread Wuthering Heights! I think I was 19 or so first time and remember enjoying it but I wonder so many decades later what I’d make if it now. I love that you were so inspired by Victober to delve into Victorian lit- it’s influenced so many of us!
DICKENSIAN 🥰 It'll hit you even harder when you've read Bleak House, I guarantee it. There's a line from one of the Bleak House characters that just BREAKS ME because of its relation to a line in the book. 😭
It must be an age thing - I was a child in the 60s and 70s - but Victorian novels were a mainstay of my childhood reading, especially American ones! I read the Little Women quartet, the Anne of Green Gables series, Susan Coolidge's Katie books while I was in primary school. I also read (no doubt bowlderised) versions of Jane Eyre, Wuthering Heights, David Copperfield, Oliver Twist, etc. I read Barchester Towers when I was 10 and Pride and Prejudice (slightly out of period I know) when I was 12. Since I live in the UK, we also frequently benefitted from the BBC's teatime classics, which made the books seem very accessible and interesting. The downside was we often read "the classics" at an age when we were just too young to appreciate the emotions portrayed. It's one of the reasons that I don't watch young booktubers - they just don't have the emotional experience to engage with some of the books they are talking about, and they often don't realise that their reaction to a novel will change with life experience. I certainly didn't! My son was born in the 1990s, and was the beneficiary of the boom in childrens' publishing led by the Harry Potter books. Now I wonder if there is so much new and "relevant" literature aimed at young people that there's no time for them to read older books? Regarding Wuthering Heights, I read it when I was school age. When I was in my 30s I re-read it, and discovered the soundtrack in my head was the Kate Bush song. It must have made the emotional link for me!
I began reading Varney the Vampire last night. I am well acquainted with all the creatures in the 17th and 18th century gothic realm but not Varney outside a mention. 😮
I love your Victorian literature advice, so spot on. I downloaded Varney the Vampire to my Kindle a while back because of you, and I really need to get to it! ❤I also really need to re-read A Tale of Two Cities, 🥺I think I read it in high school but can't remember lol. I just started Barnaby Rudge as part of Victober. So many books not enough time!! 🤓
Hi Jennifer, have you seen the 1993 film of Wuthering Heights, with Ralph Fiennes as Heathcliff? I love that one! Also, I've just gotten back into reading the classics, and am currently reading Daisy Miller (Henry James), and am about to start The Woman in White....
Loved this so fun!🤗 Would never have picked you for being drawn to The Whirlpool Jenny! It really appeals to me so is on my shelf & yes you as Margaret Hale.. except a little more feminine actaually 💐💕🤓
