The Unsurprisingly Overly Ambitious Victober TBR

[@Thecatladybooknook_PennyD]

I love the way you put that..."This is what we've been training for all year long" ❤🎉

[@ArtBookshelfOdyssey]

@@Thecatladybooknook_PennyD I mean, I read Victorian literature all year 😂 it’s just in training for Victober!

[@Thecatladybooknook_PennyD]

@@ArtBookshelfOdyssey yes yes same here!! 👏👏

[@michellehyland3675]

😅😅

[@scallydandlingaboutthebook2711]

I'm so glad you said you like the changing challenges. Me too! And it is fun trying to make sure they offer plenty of choice for different readers.

[@ArtBookshelfOdyssey]

@@scallydandlingaboutthebook2711 It helps keep it fresh for sure! Sorry I could t remember your channel name and mangled it 😂 I’ll remember next time.

[@scallydandlingaboutthebook2711]

@@ArtBookshelfOdyssey when I picked it I never imagined anyone other than me needing to say it 😉

[@katiejlumsden]

I think you’ll find The Beetle really interesting. Also, what a treat you are in with Wives and Daughters next year! I haven’t reread it for a while, so I would join you for a buddy read gladly!

[@ArtBookshelfOdyssey]

I'd love to do a buddy read with you on that! I'll reach out in a couple of months and make some plans. Do you use voxer or discord or something else for buddy reads?

[@Bookslovejenna]

I really enjoy that collection of Bronte letters. A wonderful TBR. Enjoy!

[@ArtBookshelfOdyssey]

I'm really looking forward to reading it! October can't get here soon enough!

[@TheEclecticLibrary]

I've been really curious about The Beetle! Hope you love it. You've got a great pile of books!

[@ArtBookshelfOdyssey]

@@TheEclecticLibrary I can’t wait to read it. I’m in the mood for something spooky!

[@lisabailes1065]

A snail named Miss Havisham!!!! 😆This is a great TBR. I'm looking forward to the Gaskell buddy read!

[@ArtBookshelfOdyssey]

@@lisabailes1065 I named her that because she has an off white dingy looking shell and she lurks around the fish tank… it seemed to fit. And I don’t know how to gender snails but she’s definitely a she because she keeps laying eggs when the water gets to low 😂

[@darrylfriesen]

All hail nerdy bookworms!! Love your list, Art!!

[@ArtBookshelfOdyssey]

@@darrylfriesen thanks Darryl! Can’t wait to share more as I read.

[@ReadingIDEAS.-uz9xk]

Not many Cicadas here in wet windy darkest Lancashire, England! Best wishes and happy reading.

[@ArtBookshelfOdyssey]

@@ReadingIDEAS.-uz9xk I knew I was living in the wrong place! Your weather sounds ideal to me.

[@believeinyourshelf]

I just found your channel tonight and subbed. Happy Victober!

[@ArtBookshelfOdyssey]

@@believeinyourshelf thank you! Are you participating in Victober?

[@darrylfriesen]

Art-have you ever watched the Rupert Everett/Colin Firth adaptation of The Importance of Being Earnest? It is utterly brilliant and laugh-out-loud hilarious, and would be an awesome option for completing Ros’s challenge!

[@ArtBookshelfOdyssey]

Yeah I did see that one. I didn’t actually enjoy the play very much… scandalous, I know!

[@darrylfriesen]

@@ArtBookshelfOdyssey 😱

[@MyMessyBookshelf]

Love the list! I hadn’t heard of The Dead Secret before and now I’m intrigued! A reread of Dracula may be in the cards for me though! Looking forward to seeing what you get into!

[@MyMessyBookshelf]

Also I LOVED Madame Bovary… super scandalous lol!

[@ArtBookshelfOdyssey]

Hooray for scandals! (As long as they don’t happen to me…) I love Dracula! It’s a perfect read for a cold, dark October night.

[@hyacinthh6900]

❤ Dombey and Son ❤

[@ArtBookshelfOdyssey]

I'm really looking forward to it! I hope it holds up on a reread - although I'd be surprised if it didn't lol

[@miblitz]

The Importance of Being Earnest is a great play to read.

[@ArtBookshelfOdyssey]

I have read it and have seen a movie version. But for some reason, I just don’t care for it. I’m sure I’m in the minority though!

[@miriamelizabethreads]

Awesome plans!! Hope it's an awesome reading month for you!

[@ArtBookshelfOdyssey]

@@miriamelizabethreads I’m really looking forward to it!

[@BookZealots]

oh no. We were supposed to prepare for this? uh oh. Well. I know how to swim, so I'm diving in! 📚📚 You did a great job explaining all of the prompts. Thank you.

[@ArtBookshelfOdyssey]

Thank you! Jumping in is the best way to do it.

[@RaineyDayReads]

Wow that is quite the list! But like you said, this is what we’ve been training for! It’s go time!

[@ArtBookshelfOdyssey]

@@RaineyDayReads That’s right! We’re not playing around. Victober is what separates the men from the boys… or something. 😂

[@RaineyDayReads]

@@ArtBookshelfOdyssey I’m hearing Chariots of Fire in my head right now. 😂

[@ArtBookshelfOdyssey]

@@RaineyDayReads 🤣🤣🤣

[@zombieprincess82]

Great Victober TBR! I loved Garfield too when I was a kid. We used to spend a lot of time in Norway when I was growing up, and they were crazy about him there, so I used to get all the books, and there would be a fantastic Garfield diary every year, which had loads of different sections for other things, so it was more like a journal. Sadly they don't do these anymore, I've looked! Anyway, happy reading!

[@ArtBookshelfOdyssey]

Garfield is the best. I'm really looking forward to Victober too!

[@josmith5992]

Great list Art! I’ll be interested in what you make of The Beetle as that kind of intrigues me and I’m also reading The Dead Secret so I hope that’s a good Collins! Most wonderful time of the year here we come!

[@ArtBookshelfOdyssey]

@@josmith5992 I’m hoping it’s really creepy. I’ve enjoyed reading Dracula, Carmilla and a few other creepy stories around this time. Even Varney the Vampyre was spooky, in a silly sort of way.

[@mitzireadsandwrites]

Dombey and Son ❤ such a favorite. Yep, I have Sylvia's Lovers and Wives and Daughters left to read, too, so when you get to Wives and Daughters, I'd love to read along. I look forward to listening to your read aloud of a Sherlock Holmes story!

[@ArtBookshelfOdyssey]

My Sherlock Holmes story will come out probably in mid-October. I'm thinking I might read Wives and Daughters in April next year - I'd love to do that as a buddy read with you! I might take more than a month to get through if that's ok?

[@insearchofwonder]

LOL "you wouldn't like my solutions". 😆😆 I agree with your thoughts on Dickens re: his religion and morality (or lack thereof). Also, I did not know that he wrote plays! Had no idea. I am looking forward to reading Sylvia's Lovers with the group. My last Gaskell! I also have the Bronte Letters, but can't decide if I want to dig into it yet or not. I definitely don't have specific plans to finish it by any particular point, but I'm interested in dipping into it. And yes, her biography of the Brontes is amazing, it's probably my favorite biography I've ever read.

[@ArtBookshelfOdyssey]

@@insearchofwonder I plan to dip in and out of the Brontes Letters. Victorian letters are like a Victober Snack, and the novels are the meat/main dish 😂 Your last Gaskell! That’s sad but also exciting. I did already start Sylvia’s Lovers and I am enjoying it.

[@katehowereads]

Come to the Charley's Aunt event!

[@ArtBookshelfOdyssey]

Planning on it!

[@faithbooks7906]

I love the fish names! We are aquarists too (really my husband is). Sounds like a good Victober!

[@ArtBookshelfOdyssey]

I love having the aquariums - fish are a very relaxing hobby. We also like to give our pets literary names when we can - We also have a parakeet named Pickwick!

[@ellethinks]

I'm totally planning on reading Wuthering Heights for Victober. 😅 I also enjoy reading aloud! Ive read quite a number of book series to my partner. I haven't read any Dickens but own Dombey and Son. It's such a chunky book that I put it off every year. 😅 I think you said you'd want to start it in late October and continue reading through the end of the year? I could be interested in doing a longer term buddy read/read along for it. It'd be interesting to compare our experiences of someone who's read all of Dickens to someone who's read none of him.

[@ArtBookshelfOdyssey]

Elle I would love to have you on for a longer term buddy read - I am planning to read it over the course of about 6 weeks or so. I have somebody interested in doing it too, and I'd love to get a little reading group together!

[@ArtBookshelfOdyssey]

Hi Elle, I am planning to start Dombey and Son in the next few days, and I wanted to let you know if you wanted to join in, you'd be welcome to! Are you on voxer or discord?

[@ellethinks]

@@ArtBookshelfOdyssey Voxer I'm ellejean103 (I'm fairly certain)

[@charlieuliginosa2494]

I don't get the premise for Victorian literature is held off to reading within one month in the year. Why wait to October to read books from this era?

[@ArtBookshelfOdyssey]

Don't get me wrong, many of us read Victorian Literature all year long. I certainly do! We take the month of October to celebrate Victorian literature and read even more of it than we do during the rest of the year. It's a fun time to focus on it.

[@darrylfriesen]

I will buddy read Wives and Daughters with you if you do it next Victober, Art!! 🎉🎉🎉 I won’t be ready by GaskApril, but for next Victober I would be totally game!!

[@ArtBookshelfOdyssey]

@@darrylfriesen I think I might do it in April, but it’s not set in stone yet.

[@darrylfriesen]

@@ArtBookshelfOdyssey All good!

[@michaelldennis]

Another Iowa reader here. My overly ambitious (and will never actually happen) list. Basically a list to select from. My third Victober. Religion is a component * Heartsease by Charlotte Mary Yonge (1854) * The Stokesley Secret by Charlotte Mary Yonge (1861) Play with form * Bleak House by Charles Dickens (1853) -- I might have this finished before Oct 1. Serialized Work * Hard Times by Charles Dickens (1854) -- I might have this finished before Oct 1. * Little Dorrit by Charles Dickens (1857) * A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens (1859) * Great Expectations by Charles Dickens (1860) Drama * Charley's Aunt by Brandon Thomas (1892) * Maybe watch Topsy-Turvey, which is a movie about staging the original Gilbert and Sullivan musical Group Challenge * Gothic Tales by Arthur Conan Doyle (I am behind in the mega Dickens read-a-long because... reasons.... so that's why I'm so Dickens heavy). Speaking of pets with Victorian-inspired names, my cockatiel is named after Pip in Great Expectations.

[@ArtBookshelfOdyssey]

Thank you for commenting! I love the name Pip for your bird. I had to stop the Mega Dickens read a long because even though he is my favorite author, I didn't want to read him so much all at once. I like to have a bit more space between his books. But I love that Katie is doing the challenge, she always has such insightful things to say about his books.