Victorians! discussion

Because we are giving two months for Little Dorrit, we are starting March nominations early. This will give people an extra month to acquire the chosen book and get a head start on the reading if they wish.

Please nominate the Victorian book which you would like to read, it can be any book, from anywhere, or anyone that has been published between 1837-1901.


Only one Nomination per person, and please try to avoid nominating books we have already read.

Below is a convenient list of past reads if you are unsure about a book:

The Moonstone
Dracula
Far from the Madding Crowd
Vanity Fair
The Picture of Dorian Gray
The Tenant of Wildfell Hall
A Christmas Carol and Other Christmas Writings
Middlemarh
Lady Audley's Secret
Tess of the D'Ubervilles
North and South
The Woman in White
Villette

Nomintations open from Jan 15th-Jan20th

I nominate Fanny Trollope's Widow Barnaby

Patriziabr wrote: "The woman in white. Thank you! I'll try to read it in original language (poor me!)"
It was read already.

I nominate The Return of the Native by Thomas Hardy

[book:The Professor
This is my chose for the march read.

Silver wrote: "I nominate The Return of the Native by Thomas Hardy"

I'd go for that one too - so i will not nominate

Silver wrote: "I nominate The Return of the Native by Thomas Hardy"

Sounds great!

I would like to nominate 'The Awakening" by Kate Chopin.

I'm going to be reading Pendennis by Thackeray in March (or maybe February), so I'd like to throw that out there.

Newbie here! I'd love to nominateArmadale

Georgie wrote: "I would like to nominate 'The Awakening" by Kate Chopin."

I almost nominated "The Awakening" myself, so I think that would be a good one for sure.

I'd like to nominate The Portrait of a Lady

Georgie wrote: "I would like to nominate 'The Awakening" by Kate Chopin."

Has anyone ever told you that you have a strong resemblance to George Eliot? Amazing :D

Ivanhoe by Scott.

Rochelle wrote: "Ivanhoe by Scott."

Ivanhoe is not really Victorian, it was published in 1819

I would like to nominate The Heir of Redclyffe by Charlotte M. Yonge

I'd love a Trollope novel, what about the first of the Palliser serie Can You Forgive Her??

I nominate North and South, that is probably when my shipment arrives sometime in March.

Robin wrote: "I nominate North and South, that is probably when my shipment arrives sometime in March."

We already read North and South. The list of books on the first post is a list of books we have already read. Do you have any other Vic Lit books coming?

Rochelle wrote: "Georgie wrote: "I would like to nominate 'The Awakening" by Kate Chopin."

Has anyone ever told you that you have a strong resemblance to George Eliot? Amazing :D"
Strangely enough they haven't! I may not be conventionally beautiful but I take comfort in the words Henry James wrote about George Eliot to his father...She is magnificently ugly — deliciously hideous... in this vast ugliness resides a most powerful beauty which, in a very few minutes steals forth and charms the mind, so that you end as I ended, in falling in love with her.

I second the nomination for "Can You Forgive Her?"

I'll second Armadale

The Return of the Native - Thomas Hardy

Perhaps we should limit nominations to one per author. On occasion we have had several nominations for a single author, so that the votes for those who want to read that author have been spread out and none of the books gets selected, whereas if only one work of that author were nominated, it would have a better chance of prevailing.

Everyman wrote: "Perhaps we should limit nominations to one per author. On occasion we have had several nominations for a single author, so that the votes for those who want to read that author have been spread ou..."

On the one hand there is some truth to that and I have considered it before, but on the other hand just because a person might want to read a particular book by an author does not necessarily mean they will simply vote for anything written by that author.

For example, I believe that Wives and Daughters and North and South were nominated at the same time, and while I did read and enjoy North and South, my voting preference was for Wives and Daughters, and if North and South were the only Gaskell book nominated I would not vote for it just because it was Gaskell.

Same thing with Thomas Hardy for me, there are some books of his of which I am interested in reading, but I would not just vote for any book because it happened to be Thomas Hardy.

But I will seek out feedback of other members to see what they think of this issue and see if the majority consensus prefers the idea of limiting it to only one book per author.

Silver, thanks for placing a poll to gather opinions on the point made by Everyman. Also, thanks Everyman for bringing up a very good point and in some cases it is very true.

We welcome members to share their opinions on this or other voting issues either here in the thread or in the poll set up by Silver -- or both! :)

I un-nominate Ivanhoe.

You are welcome to choose another book.

Georgie wrote: "Rochelle wrote: Has anyone ever told you that you have a strong resemblance to George Eliot? Amazing :D"
Strangely enough..."

And you flatter yourself that this applies to you too?

For each author, I prefer certain books over others, so 2 or more noms should be allowed.

Rochelle, about message 31, if you and Georgie are comfortable with this conversation, that's fine -- if not you need to adjust it. It sounds a little personal to be in the book nomination thread.

Rochelle wrote: "For each author, I prefer certain books over others, so 2 or more noms should be allowed."

I made a similar comment in the poll comments, so you may have seen this already. More nominations for an author may mean that several people are interested in that author or it may mean just interest in one particular book, you are right of course. It also may mean that a group of people might be willing to do a side read if none of the author's books win in the polls, so everyone just keep in mind that you can do a side read if you would like.

I am new to this group my vote goes to What Maisie Knew by Henry James

Welcome to the group, and thanks for participating in the nominations.

SarahC wrote: "Rochelle, about message 31, if you Georgie are comfortable with this conversation, that's fine -- if not you need to adjust it. It sounds a little personal to be in the book nomination thread."

It was not personal; it was a joke. Lighten up. Did you really think I didn't know that was a pic of Eliot? :D :D

I'd like to nominate "The Awakening" - Kate Chopin.

Rochelle, I was responding to your message 31, as I said -- not your joke about the George Eliot pic. That is exactly what I am doing Rochelle -- keeping the group light -- surely you have seen groups where the comments become personal? Just trying to avoid that -- that's what mods do. No problem on my part, enjoy your afternoon :>

Julia wrote: "I'd like to nominate "The Awakening" - Kate Chopin."

Julia, it was already nominated above. Would you like to place another nomination?

Maggie wrote: "The Return of the Native - Thomas Hardy"

Maggie, it was already nominated above. Would you like to place another nomination?

Folks, let's keep the nomination thread to just that -- listing nominations. It is hard to scroll through and see what has been nominated and several people may have had trouble scanning through and therefore repeated nominations. Thanks for your consideration.

I will list the nominations in the next comment, so they can be clearly seen. Thanks for all your interest and there is just time to add your nominations if you haven't already -- tomorrow will be the last day to accept them.

(This is just a summary list of all nomination so far)
Books Nominated thus far for the March 2011 group discussion:

Fanny Trollope's Widow Barnaby
The Return of the Native by Thomas Hardy
The Professor - Charlotte Bronte
The Awakening - Kate Chopin
Pendennis by William Thackeray
Armadale - Wilkie Collins
The Portrait of a Lady - Henry James
The Heir of Redclyffe by Charlotte M. Yonge
Can You Forgive Her - Anthony Trollope
What Maisie Knew by Henry James

Please let me know if I have left any out! This is a fabulous list everyone. Let's read them all!

SarahC wrote: "Folks, let's keep the nomination thread to just that -- listing nominations. It is hard to scroll through and see what has been nominated and several people may have had trouble scanning through a..."

That one was also about Eliot. Ask Georgie to explain the joke to you.

Here's our General Chat thread, Rochelle.

http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/2...

Thank you very much for starting the nominations early. As I posted in the L.D. thread, my rural library system often takes several weeks to get a book to me, and I had to vow a few years ago to stop buying books (no more space!). My choice was already nominated: Pendennis.

I just saw your other post Peyton -- we are all still in there discussing Little Dorrit so you will catch up just fine. Thanks for your input in the nominations too. Pretty often it seems to take me a while to receive books even when I order them myself, so I understand.

You know, The Awakening is pretty short, so if it wins, we could feasibly read two books in March :)

I nominate The Odd Women by George Gissing!

Okay, so again, this is why I LOVE this group. I did not realize Gissing wrote another book - have read New Grub Street and Born in Exile. Several of the nominations are unknown to me, and look intriguing. Wow, the voting choice will be tough! But lots to read in the future. I love it!

Sarah,
Thanks for letting me know. You know...I think I confused the actual voting, with the nominations. Hahhaha. I haven't done this before. New to the group, so I appreciate you letting me know.

At this point, since my nomination was already nominated, I'll go ahead and leave it at that. I think we have a pretty good list.

Now, how does the actual voting work?

Peyton wrote: "Okay, so again, this is why I LOVE this group. I did not realize Gissing wrote another book - have read New Grub Street and Born in Exile. Several of the nominations are unknown to me, and look int..."

I totally agree!