Friday Reads: Anthony Trollope & George Eliot

[@artandbooks5850]

The Claverings is one of my favorite books, I so enjoyed it. I love Trollope.

[@AaronReadABook]

He's definitely becoming one of my all-time favourite writers.

[@Maeve_Ever_Books]

More books to add to my list!! Great pickups!

[@YourTrueShelf]

Love thinking of George Eliot as the Tarantino of the victorians!! I like the sound of all the books you talked about. Omg pilgrim's progress 😒 we had to read that in secondary school and I absolutely detested it - must have been even worse at age 7!! It was sweet that you didn't know what a smirk was 😊 Talking of dreams, you were actually in my dream last night and you lived on a house boat, just in case that influences any life decisions!!

[@AaronReadABook]

Maybe you had the same teacher, it was a hellbeast by the name of Mrs Johnson. I already wanted to live on a house boat, the only thing holding back is my total lack of practical skills.

[@YourTrueShelf]

@@AaronReadABook hellbeast 😂 no we had it on the syllabus to study 🤦🏼‍♀️ it was awful!! Well if we were in boudica you'd have been off to find the boat from the dream!! My brother's friend lived on a house boat which he really liked but drunk people used to jump on the roof 😂

[@jf8559]

Oh! You have really inspired me to get to Silas Marner immediately. Thanks Aaron! Sounds like you are having a terrific October! I am reading Great Expectations and am enjoying it. Stephen Fry’s Sherlock Holmes is great. Such a wonderful time to be a reader. I loved Buchan’s 39 steps.

[@AaronReadABook]

I always struggled with Dickens but I did read all of Great Expectations last year and mostly enjoyed it. I wonder if I will be able to stop listening to Stephen Fry at the end of the first book, I think maybe not 😁Yay glad to hear Buchan is worth reading, thanks!

[@BookChatWithPat8668]

Oh Aaron! That story about the mean substitute teacher broke my heart! I can't bear the thought of someone being unkind to seven-year-old Aaron (or any aged Aaron, for that matter!). What was she doing reading Bunyan to seven-year-olds? The witch! (Your story somehow made me think of a teacher I had as a seven-year-old, a very elderly nun, who wrote my name on the board as "a bad Christian." Scarred me for life, but that's another story for another time.) You keep that beautiful "smirk" on your face! Anyway, about the books. I have read Bunyan--back in college. You're not missing much. I also read John Buchan in March for the first time--The 39 Steps--which was quite a bit of fun. Everyone is talking about Trollope these days, and he is someone that, somehow, I've never read at all. I am about to change that. I do love George Eliot. This was my first reading of a Braddon novel. I felt the same way--it was very uneven. I liked the beginning a lot and thought it was going to be fun and funny. And then it just wasn't. It just didn't work for me. I am now reading lots of Oscar Wilde, and that has been wonderful.

[@AaronReadABook]

Trollope seems almost nonexistent outside of Booktube, although I do see his books pop up in charity shops so someone must be reading him, I hadn't before Booktube either. I have only read one Oscar Wilde and that was many years ago, I need to get some more! I've definitely read a few scary nun teacher books, I'm glad I didn't experience those 😁

[@BookChatWithPat8668]

@@AaronReadABook I’ve been thinking about my Trollope gap a great deal of late. He definitely was never emphasized in any of the courses I took in college or graduate school. I wondered if it was an American peculiarity in how we teach British literature, but I guess not. Well, I’ve ordered a copy of The Warden, so soon, I will see what everyone is raving about! 😊

[@josmith5992]

Poor young Aaron accused of smirking! 😂 I haven’t read The Enchanted April but the movie is one of my favorites of all time and I like the other Ardens I’ve read. The Claverings isn’t a real favorite for me but still a solid Trollope. I love Silas Marner, it was one of the first Victorian books I read so when I reread it a few years ago I thought I’d change my opinion- nope! I don’t consider myself a particular sentimental reader but it just gets me every time. I’ve nearly finished The Doctor’s Wife and of the three Braddons I’ve read, it’s by the far the least sensational. You should read The Trail of the Serpent, her first one, it’s so much fun!

[@AaronReadABook]

Have you read all of Eliot's novels? Sarah told me you are buddy reading Mill on The Floss with her, that sounds like the scariest one! I will read more Braddon, to be fair to the book I was so into the other books I was reading at the same time it was the one I was least looking forward to each day.

[@josmith5992]

No, I’ve been saving a couple as she wrote so few but Silas wouldn’t be at the bottom.

[@ReadBecca]

Hah nothing like following your dreams 😂 I am gobsmacked you've not heard of Enchanted April! I expect you will like it, but also there is a film that's very good. Silas Marner is also a good one that has inspired so many others, including the great/nostalgic film A Simple Twist of Fate. I really need to find a copy of the book and reread it,I don't think I'd realized it was George Eliot.

[@AaronReadABook]

I recognised the film cover of Enchanted April, it's probably one of those things where I will see it mentioned everywhere now.

[@RaynorReadsStuff]

I really enjoyed The 39 Steps and I have a couple more of Buchan’s to read but I’ve not heard of that one. I’m really getting into Trollope, just read The Warden, only my second Trollope, but I need to read the rest of the Barchester Chronicles now. The Claverings sounds great. I have Silas Marner to try to get to next week. Sounds fab. I must say The Doctor’s Wife was definitely not my favourite. Great wrap up 😊

[@AaronReadABook]

@@RaynorReadsStuff if possible I would advise going straight into Barchester Towers as it's the only book in the series where lots of the characters transfer over, plus it is such a funny book. All the others are almost standalone apart from the last one. I thought you might have read Buchan 😁

[@genteelblackhole]

Ooh, I'm glad you found the Enchanted April! I did enjoy it indeed, I hope you will too. I'm going to add the Claverings to my wishlist, I've been wanting to try Trollope for a while and this does sound like a good starting place. I've read the 39 Steps, I didn't realise there was a sequel. Personally I preferred the Hitchcock film to the book, but your mileage may vary.

[@AaronReadABook]

I think there is a whole series with that spy in. To be fair it's hard to beat Hitchcock when he is at his best. I already had Enchanted April from Project Gutenberg, but I couldn't resist a paper copy.

[@bookstalgic]

2:11 so good ☀️ Silas Marmer sounds really interesting and loved to hear your thoughts. I bet it would be good on audio if she uses the dialect in her writing. I still haven’t read anything by her, but I have a copy of Middlemarch to get to when I’m ready for the next giant book lol. Good to know about Sherlock Holmes and Stephen Fry! That sounds like a perfect audio match. Sounds like you are enjoying Victober 🎉

[@AaronReadABook]

Weirdly I don't like listening to audiobooks of writers who write really beautiful prose, because I feel like normal reading is a better way to savor and understand them, but yes the accents would help. I love Middlemarch so much, I think you will too, it is hard at first though, I tried it about 3 times before I finally read past the first chapter.

[@bookstalgic]

@@AaronReadABook interesting about you and audiobooks. I think for me, if I’m reading a book written by a British author I really like hearing it spoken in a British accent rather than my own American accent in my head. Luckily you already have that accent in your head. 😄

[@hesterdunlop3982]

Lovely to see a review of The Claverlings . I've yet to read it but, like you, I've not read a bad one yet and can recommend another less well known stand alone , Orley Farm , unless you've read it , of course.

[@AaronReadABook]

I haven't read Orley Farm yet but I do have a copy! I always wonder about that one as it's so massive I'm surprised I don't hear more about it, so glad to hear you liked it 😁

[@Nastya-readsandlifts]

The Unwomanly Face of War crashed me. I really like your edition’s cover.

[@AaronReadABook]

Is that a good thing or a bad thing? 😁

[@Nastya-readsandlifts]

@@AaronReadABook Well, it is a traumatizing reading, CW for the mentions of rape and sexual assaults, misogyny, sexism, starvation and, obviously, death. But I couldn’t stop reading. And I cried. Fiction (opposed to this nonfiction) almost never make me cry. I wish this book was just an imagination, a fiction, but it is a bloody truth of war.

[@YourTrueShelf]

PS - I've nearly finished a study in scarlet and I'm glad you said what you did, because I wished it hadn't gone to Utah and could've been put off reading more if I didn't know so many ppl who loved it.

[@AaronReadABook]

I would advise reading the short stories. They are the best. To be fair, the other novels are better than this one too, he really improved.

[@YourTrueShelf]

@@AaronReadABook oh I assumed this was a short story haha!

[@KatJack-vl8xj]

I loved the story about the mad Irishwoman reading Bunyan aloud. She must have been Northern Irish, as Pilgrim's Progress is such a Protestant book. (The book features in Little Women, and when I first read it, I had no idea what she was talking about.) Did Silas Marner have something about an orphan in it? I remember my mother telling me that she had to read it in school and it was so depressing that it put her off reading:)

[@AaronReadABook]

@@KatJack-vl8xj it does have an orphan but I wouldn't describe it as depressing at all because it has a very happy ending. I think she was northern irish, her and the local CoE victor were the only religious people I'd ever met so Pilgrims Progress was so weird to me, I should read the beginning to see if i remember it.

[@vesch5083]

I just finished 39 Steps and it was quite fun

[@AaronReadABook]

It does sound up my street, glad it was fun!

[@readandre-read]

I think I read Major Barbara by Shaw back during college. I can't remember much ...maybe it was funny? I'm interested in The Claverings now!

[@AaronReadABook]

@@readandre-read I know there is a film called that with Wendy Hiller who is a funny actress, she is in Pygmalion too which is another Shaw. I hope it is funny!

[@TheBookThing]

Great choices. Silas Marner was a recent read for me and I really enjoyed it, but I did find the language a bit inaccessible at times. I’m not sure I’ll be diving into any more of hers for a little while

[@AaronReadABook]

Yes I remembered your review when I was getting to some madly long sentence. I think this was actually more difficult than Middlemarch somehow, because it has less dialogue to break it up, and she is so great at dialogue too.

[@TheBookThing]

@@AaronReadABook I agree, when she gets into the personal interaction it shines. Maybe I’ll be a bit braver about Middlemarch

[@GinaStanyerBooks]

Another book haul!!! I enjoyed The Enchanted April, but the movie is even better than the book.

[@AaronReadABook]

@@GinaStanyerBooks I must see this movie, I'm getting good recommendations. This is definitely the last book haul for at least ten days 😁

[@cathycrandall5264]

@@AaronReadABookI’ve watched the movie several times and read the book twice & I have to say that the book and the movie were extremely similar as I recall; unlike so many times when they completely change the movie from what was originally written-I highly recommend both actually 😊

[@GenreBooks23]

And so the TBR gets that little bit longer… thanks!

[@AaronReadABook]

Glad to be of service 😁

[@libertylady4041]

Why did I think Silas marner was a scary one? Uncle something? Which one am I thinking of? Always enjoy your thoughts on books .

[@AaronReadABook]

@@libertylady4041 Uncle Silas 😆 I never thought about they have the same name. That's the first locked room mystery, and I guess Silas Marner spends a lot of time in his room weaving too.

[@libertylady4041]

🤣 thank you!

[@groovypoptartwashere]

I read a children's version of Pilgrim's Progress lat year because I just couldn't do the actual one from Bunyan. The Unwomanly Face of War has been on my TBR for ages. I saw a movie adaptation of Silas Marner a few years ago and really enjoyed it. I should read the book. A Study Scarlet is my least favorite Holmes. I'm not Mormon but I live in Utah so the second half annoyed me. Stephen Fry is a fantastic narrator.

[@AaronReadABook]

@@groovypoptartwashere I do find the portrayal of Mormons in it very odd. I grew up in a very secular place, that teacher was the only religious person I had ever met so Pilgrims Progress was utterly confusing. I didn't know that there was a film of Silas Marner, I must seek that out! I still haven't watched all of the middlemarch adaptation.

[@groovypoptartwashere]

@@AaronReadABook I haven't read many classic books but I've seen many movie/tv adaptations of classics. I'm slowly working my way up to reading classics.

[@ellethinks]

That childhood story sounds traumatic. 😅 I understand not wanting to read any Bunyon. I'm also wondering... If she did that with your class .. how many times has that woman read that book? It feels slightly obsessive.

[@AaronReadABook]

@@ellethinks she did it with all classes. There was also another substitute teacher at my secondary school who you could trick into talking about rugby all lesson, my school was awful 😂 we had a below 40% pass rate and the lowest scores in the county.

[@ellethinks]

@@AaronReadABook wow! 😧 I guess we're lucky you found a love of reading outside of school then! 😂