Victorian Literature Journey Tag

#Victober
In which I do the Victorian Literature Journey Tag . . .
This tag was created by Ros ‪@scallydandlingaboutthebooks‬: • The Victorian Literatu...
This is a Victober reworking of the Shakespeare Journey Tag created by the Shaketember hosts: ‪@OldBluesChapterandVerse‬, ‪@booksimnotreading‬ and ‪@adayofsmallthings‬
My Victober co-hosts are: ‪@katehowereads‬ , ‪@BlatantlyBookish‬ , ‪@bookswithpetra‬ and ‪@scallydandlingaboutthebooks‬.
Also mentioned, ‪@tillysshelf‬'s video: • The Victorian Literatu...
More tips from me for getting into Victorian literature: • 10 Tips for Getting in...
The questions
1. What was your first experience reading Victorian literature and how was it?
2. Has the reading of a Victorian book ever brought you to tears? If so tell us more.
3. Are there any people who have played a significant role in your Victorian literature journey?
4. Do you have a favourite film or TV adaptation of a Victorian book? What about one you'd like to see made?
5. Which character in Victorian literature most resembles you, or you identify with most?
6. Do you have a favourite moment, scene or line from Victorian literature? Tell us about it or read it to us.
7. Does any Victorian literature intimidate you? If so, what and why.
8. What tips would you give to someone early on in their Victorian literature journey?
9. What is your top recommended read for other readers of Victorian literature?
10. Tag people.
Books Mentioned
The Water Babies, Charles Kingsley: / 42573.the_water_babies
Great Expectations, Charles Dickens: / 2623.great_expectations
Jane Eyre, Charlotte Brontë: / 10210.jane_eyre
North and South, Elizabeth Gaskell: / 156538.north_and_south
Our Mutual Friend, Charles Dickens: / 31244.our_mutual_friend
Dombey and Son, Charles Dickens: / 50827.dombey_and_son
Villette, Charlotte Brontë: / 31173.villette
The Odd Women, George Gissing: / 675037.the_odd_women
Bleak House, Charles Dickens: / 31242.bleak_house
Wuthering Heights, Emily Brontë: / 6185.wuthering_heights
A Christmas Carol, Charles Dickens: / 5326.a_christmas_carol
The Ring and the Book, Robert Browning: / 867406.the_ring_and_th...
London Labour and the London Poor, Henry Mayhew: / 448459.london_labour_a...
David Copperfield, Charles Dickens: / 58696.david_copperfield
The Half Sisters, Geraldine Jewsbury: / 1458574.the_half_sisters
Uncle Silas, J. Sheridan Le Fanu: / 49190.uncle_silas
Adaptations Mentioned
North and South, 2004: www.imdb.com/t...
Jane Eyre, 2006: www.imdb.com/t...
Our Mutual Friend, 1998: www.imdb.com/t...
Bleak House, 2005: www.imdb.com/t...
The Way We Live Now, 2001: www.imdb.com/t...
The Woman in White, 2018: www.imdb.com/t...
I tag
‪@bookishshenanigans4769‬
‪@ArtBookshelfOdyssey‬
‪@elizabethaliteraryprincess‬
‪@freshparchment‬
‪@lisainbookland‬
‪@adayofsmallthings‬
‪@hasteyebooks‬
‪@CharlieBrookReads‬
‪@novellenovels‬
‪@CharlesHeathcote‬
My Debut Novel
My debut novel, The Secrets of Hartwood Hall, is OUT NOW.
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Buy (US): bit.ly/Hartwoo...
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Goodreads: / the-secrets-of-hartwoo...
General Links
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Email: [e-mail]

[@Faye_L]

The power of Toby Stephens and Ruth Wilson. 😍

[@scallydandlingaboutthebooks]

This was lovely. It is so sad the BBC don't get to make regular adaptations of Victorian books now as I am sure they acted as a gateway to Victorian literature for so many people. Next Victober I need to set a challenge that makes sure I have to read Dombey and Son as I keep not getting around to it.

[@katiejlumsden]

Oh, Ros, you must! Dombey and Son is SO good.

[@elizabethbrink3761]

I love this! My first Victorian novel was Barchester Towers. I think I read it when I was 21 or 22, and I had no idea what was going on but it was compelling enough that I read the whole Barsetshire series about four years later and now I'm still working my way through Trollope and so many other Vic Lit writers!

[@gaildoughty6799]

Bleak House has, I think, the very best opening of almost any novel I’ve ever read; certainly the best Victorian opening. Thank you for a great video.

[@katiejlumsden]

It really is so wonderful.

[@Notanotherbooktuber]

Oh I’ve read London Labor/ London Poor. It is long, but I don’t think it’s dense. Well, if you’re interested in Victorian culture, you won’t find it dense. It’s so interesting to see how people got by. And how they thought of themselves.

[@katiejlumsden]

Good to know!

[@mandyandrews6083]

Katie you talked about how you got into Victorian literature- well quite sincerely ‘you’ were the reason I got into it. I just happened upon your channel and have not looked back. I started with Our Mutual Friend, then Great Expectations, then hopped onto the Dickens read along. I love going into the library asking for obscure books which have to be sought from the basement. They have told me to keep taking out Victorian literature because this will encourage their new ‘classics section’ to grow. It is strange that I never got into Victorian literature until now because I always loved Jane Eyre! I recently read Olive (of course recommended by you) and truly loved it. I’m presently reading The Claverings - another of your recommendations. My only problem is that many of the library editions are tiny books with tiny print so I end up reading editions on my Kindle - so many Victorian classics are free on Kindle which is a bonus!

[@katiejlumsden]

Thank you so much, and I'm so glad Our Mutual Friend helped you get into Victorian literature :) i read a lot of classics on Kindle, too - so much easier to get hold of things.

[@janeduffield4801]

Another great video thanks. No one ever seems to mention Wilkie Collins. Some years ago I read and enjoyed most of his novels. Weirder and crazier plots and characters than Dickens!

[@katiejlumsden]

I do like Wilkie Collins, but he's definitely been a slower burn for me. Read two of his books as a teenager and then didn't get to anything else for a while. I've now read 12 of his books - love some, didn't get on with others.

[@spreadbookjoy]

A Christmas Carol has one of my favourite opening lines ever!

[@jamesduggan7200]

tbh - it wasn't until becoming an adult I had any idea what properly is meant by 'Victorian," which before then seemed more a cultural descriptor than an historical one. After that came a quibble as to why it necessarily limited its elements to British literature, since I enjoy reading Balzac and Tolstoy. However, it seems the public school system in my hometown believed in the educational value of Victorian works as somehow I was familiar with Dickens, Austen, and the Bronte sisters without consciously recalling having read them. So, for me this tag means the books and things chosen deliberately on my own, like the novels of Thom. Hardy (which I often promise myself to read more of soon).

[@ArtBookshelfOdyssey]

You're the second one to tag me for this! I haven't filmed yet, but I am hopefully going to have it out sometime next week. This is going to be a fun one, and I'll try really hard to not only pick Dickens' books... LOL I have found short stories to be a great way of getting through a lot of Victober content. I just started reading Sheridan LeFanu's "Madam Crowl's Ghost and Other Stories" - fantastic!

[@meghanthestorygirl4581]

I love that you and Tilly both have that origin story! Also, I definitely picked up North and South again and read the last page when you mentioned it. That's my favourite Victorian book, although one of these days I should read Our Mutual Friend 😊

[@hasteyebooks]

Thanks for the tag, Katie! I think I was put off/intimidated by Victorian Literature when I first approached it at university and it's been a pleasure to rediscover it through Booktube and channel likes yours!

[@auntyjo1792]

The first Victorian novel for adults I had was given by a regular in my mum's hairdressing shop. The women came in weekly for their hair "setting" in those days so many knew me well from small childhood as loving reading. When I was about 14, a kind lady brought me in as a gift her nice softbound copy of Great Expectations, still my favourite Dickens. Though I now want to try Dombey and Son!

[@katiejlumsden]

Dombey and Son is wonderful, too :)

[@josmith5992]

I read a few Victorian books as a child like Peter the Rabbit, Water Babies and Edward Lear but I think the first Victorian book I read was The Picture of Dorian Grey which I’m pretty sure I didn’t equate with the Victorians! After that I had a university class where we got to read and compare Vanity Fair and Bleak House, both of which I love, then it was pretty sporadic until booktube and Victober five years ago and that was that - so really it’s because of you, Kate and other hosts that I’ve read what I have!

[@elizabethbass2641]

I love that you gave a shout out to Sandy Welch and Andrew Davies. Davies' adaptation of Wives and Daughters is my favorite. And yes to an adaptation of The Odd Women!

[@katiejlumsden]

Oh, I love that one, too! So good.

[@antigony8178]

Thanks Katie - you inspired me to read Victorian literature and I love it! I agree about an adaptation of The Odd Women as it would make a brilliant drama.

[@jimsbooksreadingandstuff]

You have been a big influence on many of us when it comes to Victorian Literature, I followed your Readalong of The Odd Women by George Gissing back in 2020 before I even had a Booktube channel, now I'm plowing my way through Martin Chuzzlewit.

[@katiejlumsden]

Thanks, Jim!

[@MLLatUtube]

I think I may have read The Lame Prince first, but I know I read Great Expectations in an advanced reader class in fifth grade. I also read Jane Eyre at a young age the first time, and it is still my favorite book. I love A Christmas Carol which I reread each year for Christmas.

[@graceeleanor8226]

Enjoyed this! The ending of North and South is one of my favourite endings too - so well done and memorable, in this wonderfully quiet way! My first Victorian novel was Jane Eyre too and I didn't like it at first as it was such a different reading experience! I'll also just add, in regards to 'London Labour and the London Poor', I found it was quite easy to get through, and while it was long, it was something I could just read sections of/dip in and out of and still get a lot from?

[@katiejlumsden]

Good to know!

[@kathleencraine7335]

Lovely~thank you for sharing your journey. And YES!--that last page of North & South--so wonderful! It's the only thing I miss in Sandy Welch's excellent adaptation. Although her ending is more cinematic, I suppose, I wish there had been a way to get in all of Gaskell's dialogue from that last scene in the book.

[@katiejlumsden]

Yeah, I sort of get why they tweak the ending for the miniseries, but I do miss the beautiful ending of the book. 'That man!' XD

[@AmalijaKomar]

First read Oliver Twist and little bit later Wuthering Hights. That's in my childhood. I was fascinated by both of them. It was my mothers recommendation and hers library. It seemed so real then and in a different sense also now.

[@YourTrueShelf]

Really fun to watch, loved your answers. And now I definitely want to read the odd women!

[@jgatsby22]

This wasn’t the first Victorian novel that I read myself but it was read to me and that was A Christmas Carol. But the first one I read myself - that I can remember anyway- was in ninth or 10th grade and it was Great Expectations.

[@ReadingNymph]

My English Literature teacher is the reason I got into Victorian Literature, she was amazing ❤

[@clarepotter7584]

Ah yes, Zelah Clarke as Jane Eyre. That adaptation started when I was pre-teen and given the book to read, after starting the series, then I went on to read Mum's Jane Austen novels. Similar experience, a few decades beforehand.

[@jillwhitneybirk]

Thanks for your recommendation of The Odd Women! I just finished it and absolutely loved it!! It certainly would be a great film!

[@katiejlumsden]

So glad to hear that!

[@cassiopeiathew7406]

I just finished Jane Eyre for the first time for Victober, when it’s good it’s good and when it’s less so it’s less so. I really liked it but I think I might like Villette more, because I found Mr. Rochester almost ruined the book for me even though I am aware of that being the point. I though the it was just so broad and insightful on what it was able to cover and I love it, but it’s only almost a favorite. I love Charlotte Brontë now though and I’m excited to read more Victorian literature now, especially Wuthering Heights. Before this I had read The Picture of Dorian Gray and The Importance of Being Earnest as well as Silas Marner but this is was my favorite so far. Regardless, I am excited to watch the adaptation.

[@insearchofwonder]

For me it was the older Jane Eyre adaptation, the one with Timothy Dalton from 1983. It came out when I was very young, but I watched it as a girl with my sisters in the late eighties/ early nineties. We watched it several times and loved it and I read the book for the first time when I was maybe about 15 years old?

[@katiejlumsden]

I need to watch that one sometime!

[@joyceredman2136]

Great Expectations by Dickens was my first introduction to Victorian literature in school.

[@HannahsBooks]

Adaptations of Villette and The Odd Women would be wonderful!

[@madebylora]

I was introduced to Jane Eyre at college in the early 90s, but it had never occurred to me before that it was also (probably) the first Victorian book that I ever read! Still my favourite!

[@wickedmusicalmad]

It’s really interesting to hear from someone who has enjoyed reading Victorian literature for so long! - I struggled to read when I was younger so when I eventually started reading I it was mostly shitty teen romances. When I was around 13 I tried to read Jane Eyre (after a librarian spent some time trying to convince me that it wasn’t that different to the romance I already read just more advanced) and I didn’t get on with it and started to believe I just didn’t like Victorian literature at all - especially Jane Eyre. Then for my GCSEs I had to read Frankenstein and that was a huge turning point in terms of opening up older fiction for me. Then it was Sherlock Holmes and the Picture of Dorian Gray when I was 18 - but after that I took a break for a few years. In the past year I have been reading a lot more Victorian literature. I’ve most enjoyed wuthering heights, Anna Karenina and Portrait of a Lady. I did read great expectations and David Copperfield this year but I’m not 100% dickens is for me.

[@sandyokey1019]

Alice in wonderland was probably my first, followed by Dickens A Christmas Carol and A Tale of two cities. Then Sherlock Holmes. I would love to see an adaptation of Villette also. It’s my favorite Bronte novel.

[@katiejlumsden]

Wouldn't an adaptation of Villette be wonderful?

[@MartinDSmith]

In terms of capturing the atmosphere of the Bronte world the recent movie Emily does a decent job

[@katiejlumsden]

I need to see that one sometime!

[@booksimnotreading]

You can do the Shakespeare Journey Tag whenever you want! 😃 I love how much you love Victorian literature! 👑

[@novellenovels]

I may have to do this next year as my videos are booked up all month. Thank you for tagging me though. Could I do it in November?

[@ArtBookshelfOdyssey]

Well I vote yes! LOL... I am pretty sure my victober reads are going to spill into November, so I'll still be looking for some good Victorian content.

[@katiejlumsden]

Of course you can absolutely do it in November :)

[@jimsbooksreadingandstuff]

Jane Eyre is the entry "drug" for Victorian Literature....

[@ArtBookshelfOdyssey]

It really is! I read it in a book club just as my love for Victorian literature (beyond Dickens) took off.

[@RobertGillham-l5f]

London Labour and the London Poor is FANTASTIC! Characters STRAIGHT from Dickens at his best! You can skip the statistics on first read!

[@katiejlumsden]

Good to know! :)

[@BooksandRadioPlays]

I started Great Expectations and I'm very much enjoying it. I have a weird question though, does Harry Potter remind you of Pip? The orphan, abused by everyone around him (except his Uncle Joe, who is kind and tries to be protective. ) As I read the Christmas dinner scene, it struck me about Harry, and I had to ask.

[@jackiesliterarycorner]

Jane Eyre is my origin book too.

[@janeturner9064]

Pretty sure my first Victorian novel was Alice in Wonderland. There have been quite a lot since! 😊

[@Dinadoesyoga]

How fun that you and Lily had precisely the same introduction to Victorian literature! An adaptation I'm dying to see is Armadale. It feels so current and relevant and a great excuse to have two hot leading men and a hot leading lady love triangle. 😅

[@katiejlumsden]

Armadale would be a great one to adapt!

[@kaywebbharrison3373]

A Tale of Two Cities

[@maisie5068]

I think my first encounter with Victorian literature was also Jane Eyre. Around 14 or 15 I had gotten into my head that I should read some of the famous classics, and Jane Eyre is BIG in Korea. So I read it in Korean - and was like, what's all the fuss about? I found Mr Rochester unbearable and a little gross (the translation of him calling Jane fae or fairy did NOT come across well; I thought this must be a farce). The experience kind of scared me off of Victorian lit for some years, actually. Since then I've read Jane Eyre in English twice, and can join in your songs of praise.

[@katiejlumsden]

So interesting that it didn't really work in translation. I always think it must be hard to translate classics - do you make them sound old-fashioned or not, etc.

[@maisie5068]

@katiejlumsden Yes, I think the choice of that particular word was not very apt - "요정" reminds me of Tinkerbell and the Disney kind of fairies, which is anachronistic to say the least! I think that's because in Korean folktales we don't have fairies as such.