I'm seriously thinking of quitting my tedious 9-to-5 job, so as to be able to read some more Victorian literature...

@katiejlumsden

3 жыл бұрын

Ha I do wish I had more time for all the Victorian books!

@christophergould8715

2 жыл бұрын

No don't-à jobs à job. You might end up like somebody in a Victoria novel though not in the workhouse or the debtors prison I hope.

@apollonia6656

6 ай бұрын

The books were long,very long ! But we have to remember that the vast majority of people could not read because they were either illiterate or semi-literate; they also had jobs that were really laborious eg:coal miners, servants, etc....where would they find the time to read. It was those in the upper classes who lounged around and found time to pick up a Dckens novel and finish it in a few days ! Even nowadays, there are very few people who actually pick up a novel of 850 pages ! Personally, I detest our modern day authors and prefer to read the classics whether English,French or Russian. Oooops, I must admit I rather enjoyed reading The Bell Jar, Dolores Claiborne, Misery (only read 3 King books that were not supernatural), and a few other "today" books. However,I invariably revert back to my favourites. PS: Apologize for typos but UT is very annoying 🙄

@Goldberryvil12

4 ай бұрын

You could try audiobooks… After subscribing to Audible I found I can listen SOO much more than I can physically read. I listen in the car, sometimes when I’m working, while doing housework, while gardening, even while showering and brushing my teeth 😄

David Copperfield is such an intelligently written and realistic novel. I remember his description of being drunk for the first time, so hilarious and so real. The way the book skips through time as David tells us his memories only now reveal the most significant moments of his life, a clever concept. When after so much misery his Aunt decides to take him in you just want to jump up and down with joy. Not that she's the domestic angel troppe either though, she's a strong woman who's not afraid to tell David some hard truths about life while still caring for him. The other characters are all brilliant. They're so extreme compared to the calm and rational David. But again I guess that's how everyone sees themself. I'm pretty normal, it's everyone else who is mad. The description Dickens gives of a storm also gave me new respect for his writing ability.

Just seen your recent publication success and I'm so happy for you. I thought you was just doing this as a hobbyist and to see how far you've come is exceptional

@katiejlumsden

11 күн бұрын

Thanks so much :)

Many of these are my favorites as well! Our Mutual Friend, North and South, Wives and Daughters, Far from the Madding Crowd, all such wonderful books!

@katiejlumsden

3 жыл бұрын

Such wonderful books :)

I knew our mutual friend would be your favourite 😊 North and south is one of my favourite classics but you know that wuthering heights is my favourite for always. I’m reading our mutual friend with Gemma In February next year 😊

@katiejlumsden

3 жыл бұрын

Yay I really hope you like Our Mutual Friend!

Congratulations on these superb videos, Katie. Your enthusiasm and insight is very inspiring. I’ve come across several 19th Century novels that were new to me. Thank you.

I'm rewatching this since it is Victober and I'm currently making a Goodreads list of Victorian books I want to read next year and this video has inspired me to put several of these books on that list😄♥️📘🙌

Such a great video! I have a lot to read to catch up, but it's so great that exist so many Victorian novels 😍. Thank you Katie, even though I'm getting here only now

I’ve been getting into Victorian literature for the 1st time (in a concerted way) recently and a recommendation video like this is a godsend! I’m adding them all to my TBR and I’m excited to go hunting for them in secondhand bookshops!

@katiejlumsden

3 жыл бұрын

Thanks very much - glad it was helpful :)

Katie, this video is was DREAMS are made of 😍 I've read a good few victorian novels but am always wanting to read more!!

@katiejlumsden

3 жыл бұрын

Thanks so much, Jasmine :)

So many of these are also on my list! You really make me want to pick up more Trollope. Such a great list, Katie!

@katiejlumsden

3 жыл бұрын

Trollope is so great!

Thank you for sharing all your favorite Victorian novels. I am new to the world of Victorian literature. I haven't read any of the books you mentioned and now I will be putting them on my TBR Victorian novels list and will have many to choose from for next year's Victober. :)

@katiejlumsden

3 жыл бұрын

Thanks! Hope you enjoy some of these :)

I've had Dombey and Son on my shelves for a while but I'm so intimated by the sheer size of it...but it sounds so good! Plus, my favorite Dickens novel is Bleak House which is also a million pages long, so I know I just need to get started with it and I'll probably love it and barely notice the length.

@katiejlumsden

3 жыл бұрын

Dombey and Son is soooo good. If you enjoy Bleak House, I think you'll like it.

It is very interesting to see how some things have changed and how others have stayed the same. I never reread very often but as I get older I am finding that I can really enjoy it! I’m reading my first Hardy this Victober and am really liking it so far. Have a great week! Happy reading!

@katiejlumsden

3 жыл бұрын

It really is. I'm amazed by how much my love for Wives and Daughters has increased.

How do you expect me to keep up with my TBR when you keep recommending such AMAZING books to meeee 😭😭😭 No seriously 😁 thank you for all of these, I love Dickens and know Gaskell and the major writers but have never heard of the rest!

@katiejlumsden

3 жыл бұрын

Whoops sorry :P

Just saw this and subscribed! I can't wait to start Our Mutual Friend. Your enthusiasm is very infectious -- thank you!

@katiejlumsden

3 жыл бұрын

Thanks very much!

I have watched you long enough that i guessed many of the books :) I love these videos ! I have read all on your list but The Egoist and Half Sisters and I love them all. By the way, I am reading Workers in the Dawn by Gissing for Victober and it is wonderful! He is becoming a favorite author of mine and I now want to read all of his works .

@katiejlumsden

3 жыл бұрын

I am so keen to read more George Gissing - Workers in the Dawn is definitely on my list!

Thank you! I love Dickens and your suggestions for more Victorian Books to read. My favorite era! Greetings from Crazy Canada.

Loved learning about so many brand new (to me) titles! Thank you! Regarding Thomas Hardy, I actually *started* with Jude the Obscure (it was required reading!); didn't make me want to continue with the guy. Sheesh!

I love Victorian novels. Main reason: appreciation of our language vs modern novels that show pitiful literacy,syntax and punctuation. I would not be surprised that in a few years from now so-called novelists will be spelling before as B4 etc ! Sad,so sad.

You made me want to read ALL of them! Thank you!

Thanks for this list. Some time ago I started reading Fantasy fiction and it completely took over my life. But lately I've been feeling I want to get back to my first love, which is Classics! I will definitely add these to my TBR.

@katiejlumsden

3 жыл бұрын

Thanks - classics are great!

Aaaah, the video I was longing for ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

@katiejlumsden

3 жыл бұрын

Thanks :)

I've only read about 5 of these, Bronte, Gaskell and Dickens. Looking forward to slowly reading them all :) One of my favourite Victorian novels that I read so many times as a kid was Black Beauty by Anne Sewell.

@katiejlumsden

3 жыл бұрын

I hope you enjoy them! I haven't read Black Beauty but sometime I should.

This is such a wonderful list that I will be coming back to when I need ideas of which Victorian novels to read!

@katiejlumsden

3 жыл бұрын

Thanks, Meghan!

@apollonia6656

6 ай бұрын

@katielumsden, Please,please slow down ! I do not mean do sound rude but you do not sound American so.....😊

Such a good list. Enjoyed guessing what the top 5 would be. I always forget about dombey and son! I read Dorian gray and David copperfield this month. Enjoyed them both, especially Copperfield.

@katiejlumsden

3 жыл бұрын

Dombey and Son is just the best :)

You are certainly the go to booktuber for all literature Victorian. I am less than a hundred pages from the end of "Dombey and Son" (read on your recommendation), I love some of the minor characters like Susan Nipper and Ned Cuttle. Of the books you mention, I have read and enjoyed The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, David Copperfield, A Christmas Carol, The Odd Women (from the readalong), Wuthering Heights and Our Mutual Friend (on your recommendation again). I have Little Dorrit and Jane Eyre on my TBR pile and can see I need to find some Elizabeth Gaskell.

@katiejlumsden

3 жыл бұрын

Thanks very much! Glad you're enjoying Dombey and Son :)

I bought Hester recently after I saw your video on it and doing the Oxford short course on Victorian Women authors. I love The Brontës, Gaskell, Braddon, Collins, Dickens, Wilde and Hardy. I've only read one novella of Trollope so far.

@katiejlumsden

3 жыл бұрын

I hope you like it - Hester is a great book.

Oh, you picked my favorite Dickens as your no. 1! It is so amazingly good, isn’t it?! And contains 2 great love stories!

@katiejlumsden

3 жыл бұрын

It's such a wonderful book :)

Awesome video. Your enthusiasm for these books is inspirational. 😀❤🤎🧡

@katiejlumsden

3 жыл бұрын

Thanks very much!

Namaste Katie, watching this video now.Your selections are always the best🥰🥰🥰🤫👍👍👍👍👍

@katiejlumsden

3 жыл бұрын

Thanks very much!

Based on your discussion of _Olive_ I feel like when you reread it, it will move up your list despite the heavy competition at the top.

@katiejlumsden

3 жыл бұрын

I'm very excited to reread it sometime!

Thanks for introducing me to Olyphant, Jewsbury, and Craik. I shall definitely read their novels.

@katiejlumsden

3 жыл бұрын

They're all amazing!

5 extra points for the Anne Bronte. Jude the Obscure is a superb novel, but I have difficulty re-reading it, because it is so sad. (I don't want to be specific, because that would be a spoiler, but you probably know what I'm talking about.) I would add Nickolas Nickleby, as a great example of early(ish) Dickens.

You’re so inspirational, thank you! I’m going to give Our mutual friend a listen on audible. I have a book of his essays; Dicken’s London that I adore. Zola; I adore Zola!

@katiejlumsden

3 жыл бұрын

Thanks very much! Some time I must read some Zola.

After viewing superior KZread content one is naturally inspired to add to the conversation. It helps having read the novels. In this case I'll limit myself to a brief musing on the phrase "moving scene." Probably here it is used to describe writing that effects the place in the brain where emotions are formed. IMHO, with respect to Victorian novels, 'moving' refers to the literary technique of recreating action that takes place across short bursts of experienced time (rather than articulated portraits).

If by Victorian I restrict myself only to British writers and only during Queen Victoria's reign then I would choose. MiddleMarch (flawless). Tess of the D'Urbervilles, Under the Greenwood Tree, The Woodlanders. Can You Forgive Her? The Prime Minister (its basically the same story ; ) Kim The Old Curiosity Shop, The Pickwick Papers, Nicholas Nickleby, A Christmas Carol. The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes Maybe a little H. G Wells. I should point out though that favourite is not the same as best. A Daniel Deronda or a Heart of Darknees for instance is probably a better novel than The Hound of the Baskervilles, but I enjoy Sherlock Holmes more.

@katiejlumsden

3 жыл бұрын

Good choices :)

My favorites are A Christmas Carol, Wuthering Heights, and Wives and Daughters

@katiejlumsden

3 жыл бұрын

Very good books!

I wanted to read Our mutual friend for a long time, thanks to your recommendations. I picked it at some point, BUT I happened to read some very negative comments... So I decided to leave it aside for some time, you know, not to spoil the pleasure. And Ive started The Warden (not a wise decision I know). Ive read it and loved it. Then I decided it's time for Our mutual friend. And then, in the very first chapter, I was struck by high morals of how it's much worse to rob a live man compared to robbing a corpse. After The Warden. That whole day was dedicated to that chapter. Now I can say I fell in love with Our mutual friend because of you and Anthony Trollope. I'm a little torn between Trollope and Dickens but hopefully I can handle that ))) in some years ))) Thank you for your excellent videos!

@misselder1

3 жыл бұрын

You must read the amazingly good Our Mutual Friend!!!

@katiejlumsden

3 жыл бұрын

Our Mutual Friend is so good I promise! Hope you enjoy the rest of it :)

I have read 11 of these book and I loved all them, excpet wives and daughters ! I just didn't feel like it was as good as the other Gaskell novels... I can't wait to read Our Mutual Friend ,I have bought it sometime ago and I want to know why a Dickens lover like yourself loves that book more than some other great ones i have read by him . Thank you for this video ❤

@katiejlumsden

3 жыл бұрын

I do recommend a reread of Wives and Daughters sometime - might just not be for you but I did love it more on a reread. And I hope you like Our Mutual Friend - it's so amazing :)

I've read 14 of your 25. In general I agree with you, although I'd place Villette in a higher position, as well as A Dark Night's Work (and other short Gaskell's works).

@katiejlumsden

3 жыл бұрын

I do love both Villette and A Dark Night's Work so much - this was very hard to rank!

25 and there's still some really good books missing from your list! Tess of the D'Urbervilles and New Grub Street for example.

@katiejlumsden

3 жыл бұрын

Ah, New Grub Street would probably be in the top 30/40. Tess of the D'Urbervilles might not be :P

The best English victorian novel is "The Gadfly" by E. L. Voinich.

Wonderful. Thank you.

Well, because of your videos, I began reading g more Victorian literature,& I'm very much enjoy iij ng it. Question: could you pl please review some of George MacDonald's books? Please!

@katiejlumsden

3 жыл бұрын

Yes I'd definitely like to read more by him - I've read Alec Forbes of Howglen which I really enjoyed.

I've read nine of your top 25 :) The Picture of Dorian Gray, Far From the Madding Crowd, David Copperfield (well, half of it. I was 12 and it gets really slow in the middle), Bleak House, Jane Eyre, Villette, Wuthering Heights, Wives and Daughters, and North and South. I very much also love Elizabeth Gaskell! Villette was not for me though, although I adore Jane Eyre, I found Villette terribly bleak. Not that all bleak things are bad, I certainly adore Bleak House! I really want to read more from Elizabeth Gaskell (your author week on her added considerably to my TBR) and Olive, maybe Jude the Obscure as well.

@katiejlumsden

3 жыл бұрын

I hope you like more Gaskell - she's so great :)

Wow, I've only read 5! Which means that there are 20 more books to add to my TBR! :) I love your videos and recommendations - thank you so much! Have you read Portrait of a Lady? I know James is American but the novel is from the correct time period and set largely in England. I love, love, love that book.

@katiejlumsden

3 жыл бұрын

I haven't read Portrait of a Lady - I've read a few of James's shorter works and never much got on with him, but perhaps I need to try him again.

@katietatey

3 жыл бұрын

@@katiejlumsden I've only read Turn of the Screw besides that one, and I didn't like it at all! I want to give some of his other stuff a try eventually. But I've read Portrait 3x.

What is your opinion about The Lair of The White Worm by Bram Stoker and the terryfing apparitions in Sheridan Le Fanu's short stories ( Ex. "Squire Toby's Will" ," Madame Crowl's Ghost," "Mr. Justice Harbottle ")?

My favourite Victorian novels/novellas are: 1. Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë (my favourite novel of all time, and, in my opinion, the greatest novel ever written) 2. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë 3. He Knew He Was Right by Anthony Trollope 4. Far from the Madding Crowd by Thomas Hardy 5. The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Brontë 6. Tess of the D'urbervilles by Thomas Hardy 7. The Turn of the Screw by Henry James

@katiejlumsden

3 жыл бұрын

Good choices! :)

I'm planning to read Jane Eyre this month! :)

@katiejlumsden

3 жыл бұрын

Enjoy!

Oh my those books 😍penguin black classics ♥️

@katiejlumsden

3 жыл бұрын

:)

Just ordered Olive. Thx.

@katiejlumsden

3 жыл бұрын

Enjoy!!

Thanks so much for making this video! So many great recommendations - I want to read half of them RIGHT NOW. XD

@katiejlumsden

3 жыл бұрын

Thanks very much :)

Thank you

Sweetheart: I love you (and your vibrant enthusiasm). But you MUST slow down! My 71 year old heart was about to blow a gasket. I had to leave, which was disappointing.

Oh, I've only read one book and a half from this list... now I want to read them all... it sounds like a project for 2021 🤔😅

@katiejlumsden

3 жыл бұрын

Ha yes, a good 2021 project - I promise they're all great :)

What's problematic about the Old Curiosity Shop. Is it the disabled character is the villain which is a bit of a bad troope? Or is it that Little Nell is starting to have adult suitors?

@katiejlumsden

3 жыл бұрын

I think I probably meant Quilp's presentation, but yes, both are pretty problematic!

What was the particularly moving scene in The Nether World that you were thinking of?

@katiejlumsden

3 жыл бұрын

The very ending - the fact that Sydney and Jane meet each year knowing the life they could have had but never will . . . oh, it gets me very time!

@danieljackson3367

3 жыл бұрын

@@katiejlumsden Ah yes that is a powerful scene.

Starting with my absolute favourite book of all time... A Tale of Two Cities Jane Eyre Tess of the D'Urbervilles Wives and Daughters Our Mutual Friend Bleak House Dracula (I'm sorry!) A Christmas Carol After that, I'm not sure how to rank them. I'll have to reread them all to find out!

@katiejlumsden

3 жыл бұрын

Good choices! (except for Dracula :P ) It is hard to rank - I feel like I need to reread all of mine too.

السلام عليكم اريد بحث عن روايات فكتوريا بالانكليزي الي يكدر يساعدني لان عندي بحث باجر يعني فكره عامه عنها خصائصها

Sorry that I'm not a fan of Austen and Dickens... My top three is The Woman in White, Wuthering Heights and A Picture of Dorian Gray.

@katiejlumsden

3 жыл бұрын

Still good choices :)

Can you give the names in the order that they should be read of Anthony Trolleps bks. Thank you

@katiejlumsden

3 жыл бұрын

So, read The Barchester Chronicles in order: The Warden, Barchester Towers, Doctor Thorne, Framley Parsonage, The Small House at Allington, The Last Chronicle of Barset; then read the Palliser books in order: Can You Forgive Her?, Phineas Finn, The Eustace Diamonds, Phineas Redeux, The Prime Minister, The Duke's Children. At some point/any point before you read The Duke's Children you should also read The Way We Live Now. I hope that helps :)

Is it really requisite to read the Trollope novels in order? Will I be lost?

@katiejlumsden

3 жыл бұрын

So, his two series, I firmly recommend reading in order, the Barsetshire Chronicles and then the Palliser novels, if you ever plan on reading them all. They do make enough sense on their own but they all spoil the previous books, so if you read one of the later ones you might spoil the enjoyment/plot of one of the previous books.

@altodomino7859

3 жыл бұрын

@@katiejlumsden Thanks for the feedback! I'm not trying to avoid reading any Trollope (perish the thought! ). I've read the first 3 of the Barset novels, but I have no recollection of them.

Eternally long videos really wouldn’t be a problem :D

@katiejlumsden

3 жыл бұрын

Ha thanks XD

Can You please recommend some Books published about Womanhood in Victorian age and related to any social issues?

@mts4309

Жыл бұрын

I mean some critical books not like novels or short stories.

Fabulous brilliant list. I added some to my list to read and am reading Dombey and Son right now based on your recommendation 😃

@katiejlumsden

3 жыл бұрын

Thanks very much!

Where do you buy your books from,

@katiejlumsden

2 жыл бұрын

A mixture of places! Chiefly Waterstones, Foyles and bookshop.org

@apollonia6656

6 ай бұрын

The books you show are untouched 😉

R u gonna do 'My Unfavorite Victorian Novels' also? I'll guess that Mill on the Floss will be on it. Further, r u gonna do 'Vic novels I'll probably never read'? I'll guess that Felix Holt the Radical & Romola will be on that list, as well as a whole string of 'silly novels by lady novelists' that Eliot railed against. You could also do a vid on 'Things I don't like about OMF': a really short vid, & real easy for you to make. :-)

@katiejlumsden

3 жыл бұрын

I mean, that video is more or less here: kzread.info/dash/bejne/Zpl9w5eYia_HYJc.html I reckon I'd probably enjoy the 'silly novels' more than Eliot's own work.

@SunriseFireberry

3 жыл бұрын

@@katiejlumsden That Eliot. If u did that, it's possible that Eliot would dismiss u 'for being silly'. :-) Also, both Romola and Felix Holt have left the chat. :-)

i wondered if you had ever read Charlotte Brame - a prolific Victorian novelist who comes from Hinckley - we are working with the local council to promote her as a literary figure and have just done a short play about her (kzread.info/dash/bejne/g2WDp5OQYNvKlrQ.html) . Here most famous book is Dora Thorne. Very readable and very melodramatic. Any thoughts?

Eh! Where's George Elliot? An enjoyable list apart from this one omission. Thanks for posting.

No Vanity Fair?

I might have posted this comment before but I uniformly dislike Victorian authors unless Jane Austen counts as Victorian. I reserve a special animosity towards Dickens and Hardy who demonstrate everything wrong with English 19th century novel writing, fatuous, long winded, adjectival, self important featuring caricatures rather than full-blooded characters. And what's with Dickens' fetish for delicate young waifs? Cringey English effeteness.

The content of your video was wonderful. However it was very painful for me because of how LOUD YOU ARE SHOUTING. (

Might have enjoyed this but for the presentation: a strident voice that grated on the ear, moving at a pace that one associates with horse racing commentaries. Very disappointing.

Why are you shouting

@apollonia6656

6 ай бұрын

I have the same problem but it is the speed ! Very Americanized way even though English. Please slow down🤗