Master Post: A Victorian Celebration 2015.

Welcome to the master post for 2015's A Victorian Celebration! If you missed the sign-ups for this 2 month event, you can visit this post to link up your blog. :)

I'm really excited to bring this event back to life. The event I hosted a few summers ago was a roaring success and gave me the opportunity to not only read a lot of great Victorian literature, it also allowed me the opportunity to find a lot of new bookish blogs to take up all of my attention over the summer.

Here's how this works...over the next two months, read as much or as little Victorian literature as you would like. When you write a post, return here and link it on the Mister Linky so other participants can visit and comment. At the end of the Celebration, I'm giving away a few prizes randomly selected from the linked posts.

Sound amazing? I hope so!

If you're tweeting about the event, please use the following: #VictorianCelebration I'm also planning a random giveaway for tweets about the event as well!

As for my own reading, I'm planning on diving into some Charles Dickens over the next two months, as well as revisiting some George Eliot and the Brontes. Let me know what you're planning on reading below!

Happy reading!

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Introducing: A Victorian Celebration 2015!

Welcome to the launching post for an event that I'm super excited to be hosting once again. Way back in 2012, I hosted a 2-month long celebration of Victorian literature. I loved the event as it celebrated many of the things I love about the book blogging life-books, a great community, and lots of amazing posts.

This summer, I'm hosting the second edition of A Victorian Celebration, and I hope you'll join in on the fun. I'm planning on having a few giveaways during the event, as well as guest posts, information about Victorian writers, and lots of posts related to the Victorians.

The Victorian era in literature refers to the time that Queen Victoria was ruling in Britain (1837-1901). It was a time period of great peace and prosperity for Britain and allowed for a lot of artistic and literary expression. Generally speaking, Victorians are only the British authors who published during this time period. However, some like to group American writers and others into the mix since their work can be closely tied together. I'm okay with you reading and linking any books published during this time period, but ideally you'd be reading what are considered to be the Victorians (British writers). 

Starting on June 1, I'll have a Master post up to link your reviews and posts about the Victorians. The event will last until the end of July. You can stop by any time to read other posts and reviews of Victorian literature!

If you're interested in joining along, please sign up below, and feel free to take a look at some of my favorite posts from the last event 3 years ago.

• A List of Victorian Writers
• George Eliot Author Focus
• Wilkie Collins Author Focus
• Charles Dickens Author Focus
• Thomas Hardy Author Focus
• The Brontes Author Focus

I look forward to celebrating the Victorians with you this summer!

A Victorian Celebration Wrap-up and Giveaway Winners.

Wow. I have been so impressed by the response to my little Victorian event. There are almost 230 posts on the Master Post! That's simply amazing! And if you still have a lingering post, feel free to add them in the future. I know that I have quite a few posts that I never found the time to add. :)

I have to admit that I am a bit sad the event ended and that many of us will be moving on to other books. For me, the hyper-focus on Victorian literature was a good and a bad thing. Good because I managed to read a lot of great Victorians, but bad because I burned myself out just a little bit. I know I will bounce back as soon as I get sucked into the next great book. But now, I can just look back and be happy with the titles I managed to read in June and July. Here is what I finished:

• The Lifted Veil by George Eliot
• The Warden by Anthony Trollope
• Middlemarch by George Eliot
• Far From the Madding Crowd by Thomas Hardy
• Nicholas Nickleby by Charles Dickens
• Agnes Grey by Anne Bronte
• The Dickens Bicentenary
• And half of Barchester Towers by Anthony Trollope

So, all in all, I had a great two months!

I'm hoping you enjoyed the event. I love hosting things like this, and have rough plans in mind for a few more monthly themed projects in the future (probably not in 2012, however). I am looking for some feedback and suggestions for the future. If you could take a few minutes to fill out this feedback form, I would greatly appreciate it!

Feedback Form

I also have some unfinished business to take care of-mainly, some giveaway winners! I got a little lax about announcing winners in the last couple of weeks (sorry about that), but here are winners from the last few giveaways...

The winner for the copy of Wilkie Collins' The Moonstone...

Annette of Impressions in Ink!

The winner for the copy of Charles Dickens' David Copperfield...

Andi of Estella's Revenge!

For the Bronte giveaway, no one entered for poor Emily, so I am going to give away one for a Charlotte entry and two for Anne (mainly because I read my first Anne this month!)

The winner for a Charlotte title is...

Athena of Aquatique! 

The two winners for Anne are...

Terri-maree of Bibliophilia and Adam of Adam's Bibliomania!

Lastly, the winner of Anthony Trollope's The Warden...

Faith Hope and Cherry Tea!

I am also sending a Victorian book of choice (up to $15 in value) to Becky of Becky's Book Reviews (because she read a TON of books) as well as a book to Claudia of Lit Hitchhiker (for being a random number I pulled off the master list) and O of Delaisse (again, random number pulled from the master list). 

Winners, I will be contacting you via e-mail at some point today. If you see this before I get to you, feel free to shoot me an e-mail first!

Thank you all for participating! I had a wonderful time and I hope you did too!

Agnes Grey by Anne Bronte.

 “Reading is my favourite occupation, when I have leisure for it and books to read.” 

Anne Bronte was the only Bronte I hadn't met yet. Neither of her books made it onto my 250 project list, but I made sure to include them both on my Classics Club List. And since Agnes Grey was both short and by the last Bronte sister, I wanted to make sure that I got to it during the Victorian event.

I am so glad I did.

My experiences with both Emily and Charlotte have been wonderful. I met Emily first when I read Wuthering Heights. And while I didn't really love the characters, I admired the story and Emily. I've also read both Jane Eyre and Villette by Charlotte. Both of those blew me away and definitely overshadowed my reading experience with Emily. So, it was time for Anne to speak to me. And speak to me she did.

I should first say that while I wasn't completely blown away by Agnes Grey, I did love it. It was her first novel, and it seemed a bit rough around the edges...almost as if she wasn't sure what she was going to write about and say when she began. The book opens with telling the reader a bit about Agnes' life. Her family isn't super well off, and while she doesn't have to, she decides to find work as a governess. The first family she works for has a bunch of little hellions, and the parents aren't much better. She eventually finds a second situation that seems to be a little better, but not perfect. I really loved the descriptions of her struggles with her students. Some bits made me chuckle because guess what, I go through the same thing when I'm teaching!

“I had been seasoned by adversity, and tutored by experience, and I longed to redeem my lost honour in the eyes of those whose opinion was more than that of all the world to me.”

But, the book shifts gears about midway through when Agnes is in her second placement. A love interest emerges, and while he isn't necessarily all the book focuses on from that point forward, the change made the novel feel a bit disjointed.

The novel begins to focus a bit on one of Agnes' students-Rosalie-and her quest to find a proper husband. In some ways, I felt that the novel took a bit of a shallow turn here. Where I was interested in Agnes' almost invisible role as the governess to spoiled and rotten children (I really did love her observations of the children and her own reactions to their actions), I felt that her observations of Rosalie's situation were...well...judgemental.

Let me explain. As a governess, Agnes would have been almost invisible to the wealthy members of the family. As long as she did her job properly, she would lead a lonely life among the children of the family-her charges. Those observations, like those that took place in the beginning of the book, were fascinating on their own. But once Agnes' observations became intertwined with Rosalie, I began to lose a bit of interest.

However, there were some interesting and underlying things that caught my attention once I shut the book. First, the Bronte sisters worked as governesses, so obviously some of the material was probably inspired by Anne's own experiences. She wanted to show the life of a governess in this time period to those who were unfamiliar with the lonely and unrecognized side of taking on that kind of employment. I am sure that the experiences poor Agnes had as a governess would have meant something different to men and women reading this novel back in the 19th century.

But I was also struck by the difference in lifestyle between Agnes and Rosalie-arguably the two main female characters. Agnes made it a point to tell her readers that she lived in a reasonably well off family (I would say a middle-class family. She never really wanted for anything and her family always supported her) and that Rosalie came from money. So, here are two women with slightly different circumstances...but such a difference in choice.

Agnes was allowed to choose to go and find work on her own. She wanted to help support her family, so she found work as a governess and pursued it. She was allowed to do almost as she pleased in her spare time-spend time with the poor, read, write letters, etc. On the other hand, Rosalie was raised more by a governess than her own mother. She was instructed from the beginning to be a flirt and to find a place with a well to do man. Her life was consumed by finding a husband whereas Agnes was allowed to be herself.

It was an interesting comparison and one that really struck me only when I finished the novel. In many ways, I think that Agnes' story was a way for Anne to acknowledge that her own life was something more than many others could hope for. If you really think about it, the Brontes were an incredibly interesting family. The three sisters were allowed a lot of freedom and choice in what they wished to do-something that probably wasn't all that common.

In the end, I really did love Agnes Grey. Do I think it would have been better to have a novel focused on the plight of a governess and a separate one to point out the comparison between classes? Absolutely. But this was still fabulous and gave me a lot of food for thought once I finished it. It also made me eager to read The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, which I am hoping to get to later this fall.

“I still preserve those relics of past sufferings and experience, like pillars of witness set up in travelling through the valve of life, to mark particular occurrences. The footsteps are obliterated now; the face of the country may be changed; but the pillar is still there, to remind me how all things were when it was reared.”

After finishing this one and writing a post about the Brontes last week, I was stuck thinking for awhile about which Bronte sister I am most like, now that I have "met" them all. I think I would like to be Charlotte. She was adventurous, romantic, and took chances. After all, she traveled to Belgium, and was resolute in getting the novels she and her sisters wrote published. She was also strong after losing her siblings and carried on. But I'm not really like that. Anne was the youngest and from her writing, she seemed incredibly passionate about social issues and exploring the nature of human relationships. She also ventured out on her own a bit and worked as a governess as well.

But Emily...she was a quietly passionate and stormy one. She was more of a homebody (she refused to go to London to prove her identity to her publisher) and seemed to be a bit more...dreamy. I think that if there was a Bronte I am the most like...it would have to be Emily.

Who do you think you would be most like? Or do you disagree with my observations on the sisters?

The Warden Giveaway (A Victorian Celebration).

Were you all aware that we have less than a week left in July? I feel as though time as flown by!

I have not been the best blogger the last week or two (more on that some other time), but I am still blown away by the number of you still taking on Victorian titles. I finally finished Nicholas Nickleby this week, which made me do a dance all over my apartment. And yes, my husband made fun of me.

I also started Barchester Towers, but have only made it to page 30 or so. I am enjoying it a lot more than the last time I attempted to read it. I think its because I read The Warden back in June, so all of it is clicking into place.

Speaking of The Warden, that's the title I am giving away today. Here is a little synopsis taken from Goodreads.com:

"The book centers on the character of Mr. Harding, a clergyman of great personal integrity, whose charitable income far exceeds the purpose for which it was intended. Young John Bold turns his reforming zeal to exposing what he considers to be an abuse of privilege, despite being in love with Mr. Harding's daughter Eleanor. The novel was highly topical as a case regarding the misapplication of church funds was the scandalous subject of contemporary debate. But Trollope uses this specific case to explore and illuminate the universal complexities of human motivation and social morality."

If you want my thoughts on Trollope's book, you can also read my post right here. I quite enjoyed the book, and Trollope's trolloping nature. :)

So, up for grabs this week is a new Penguin English Library Edition of Anthony Trollope's The Warden. I have the same edition (why yes, I ordered two when I ordered mine), and I am happy to tell you that the lovely folks at Penguin are publishing the entire Chronicles of Barsetshire in the collection. That way, if you are a crazy book collecting maniac like myself, you can have a matching set (Because who doesn't love a matching set of books??). 

Anyway, to enter, read the following and comment below: 

• This giveaway will be open to any residents of the U.S. or Canada
• You MUST be a participant of A Victorian Celebration to enter.
• You MUST be 13 years or older
• You do not have to follow me or subscribe to qualify
• You MUST leave me your e-mail so that I contact you if you win
• The winner will have 48 hours to respond or I will pick a new winner.
• To enter, comment on this post and answer the following question: What has been your favorite part of A Victorian Celebration?
• The giveaway will be open until 11:59 PM on Wednesday, August 1, 2012 EST.

Good luck!!

(Just to let you know, when I wrap up the event next week, there will be a few more winners announced. Be on the lookout for that).

Author Focus: The Bronte Sisters and Giveaway (A Victorian Celebration).

This week's author focus is a 3 for 1 deal on the Bronte sisters. If you are interested  in any of the other posts I've written on other Victorian authors, they are linked here:

• George Eliot
• Wilkie Collins
• Charles Dickens
• Thomas Hardy

I'm excited to talk a little bit about the Brontes! I had never picked up a Bronte novel until my project, but with each new title, I am more and more in awe of the three sisters.

I should say up front that I am no expert on the sisters or their lives, but there are a number of biographies on them if you're interested in learning more. Think of this post as a very broad overview into their lives!

The Bronte family consisted of their parents, Patrick and Maria, as well as their two older sisters, Maria and Elizabeth, and their brother Branwell. Their mother and two older sisters all died when the girls were young, leaving the three sisters with their brother and father.

The Bronte Sisters.

Charlotte, the oldest of the trio, was born in 1816. As a child, she was sent away to school at the Cowan Bridge School, which later inspired Lowood School in Jane Eyre. It was there that her two older sisters contracted tuberculosis and passed away in 1825. After her removal from the school, she served as a teacher to Branwell, Emily, and Anne. Emily was born in 1818 and was also enrolled at the Cowan Bridge School. Like Charlotte, she was pulled from the school and sent home when disease spread in the school. The second youngest, she was under the care and instruction of Charlotte and her Aunt Elizabeth for the remainder of her schooling. Anne was the youngest of the Brontes. Born in 1820, she was too young to be sent away to school like her older sisters, so she was already at home when the girls returned and her eldest sisters passed away.

At home, the four remaining Bronte siblings had to entertain themselves as best they could. They created literary worlds where they could escape from the everyday and explore their own interpretations of literature. They even created their own mythical land and began to write stories centered on Branwell's toy soldiers and their own imaginings of events in their heads.

In 1831, Charlotte was sent away to school at Miss Wooler's school. She seemed to thrive in the environment, and when the opportunity arose, she took on work teaching. Emily also accompanied her for a time, but came back home after three months. Anne took her place.

Charlotte Bronte

During their education and travels, all three of the girls continued to write. There are excerpts of letters from Charlotte to Branwell with more descriptions and narratives to go along with their childhood stories. Before beginning to really focus on writing, both Charlotte and Anne worked as governesses to help out their family (perhaps their inspirations for Jane Eyre and Agnes Grey). Emily seemed to have issues with leaving home, so she stayed with her father while her sisters worked.

It was in 1842 that their Aunt Elizabeth determined to send both Charlotte and Emily to Brussels to study in a boarding school. She felt that this exposure outside of England would do both girls some good, and since both of them showed a high level of intelligence, she was happy to spend the money. Anne stayed back home and continued in her post as a governess. In Brussels, the girls studied under the Hegers. After 6 months, both were offered the opportunity to stay on for free if they also taught some lessons at the school. Both accepted, but returned to England a few months later when their aunt passed away. While their inheritance paid off their debts and would allow them to live comfortably, Charlotte chose to return to Brussels to teach a little longer while Emily chose to stay home.

Charlotte was away for another year before returning home. It's rumored and believed there was some level of affection on her part towards Mr. Heger, which may have encouraged her to come home. However, things were also going downhill at home. Mr. Bronte had been sick and Branwell was also in declining health.

Emily Bronte

It is after Charlotte returned home that the sisters began writing seriously. Charlotte began writing Jane Eyre while sitting beside her ailing father and brother. She also began to take interest in the writings of both of her sisters. Emily had been writing poetry and after being convinced by Charlotte, the three sisters decided to try and get a volume of their poetry published. It eventually was and they published the work under their pen names-Currer, Ellis, and Acton Bell. The volume only sold 3 copies, but it sparked more literary discussions around the dinner table.

In 1847, the Bronte sisters each published a work. Jane Eyre by Charlotte, Wuthering Heights by Emily, and Agnes Grey by Anne were all published under their pen names to varying levels of success. It was after the publication of all three novels that rumors sprouted about Currer, Ellis, and Acton being only one person. To prove their publishers otherwise, Charlotte and Anne traveled to London with letters from their publisher (Emily refused to go and stayed home).

Branwell passed away in September 1848 from tuberculosis, but it was rumored he had a drinking problem. Emily fell ill in September of the same year and passed away in December-from tuberculosis. It is rumored she left behind a manuscript when she passed, with orders for Charlotte to burn it. After the publication of Wuthering Heights, she didn't want any more of her work out to the public (Wuthering Heights was a bit scandalous). Anne had published The Tenant of Wildfell Hall in the same year, but passed away in May 1849. Again, the cause of death was attributed to tuberculosis.

After suffering through the deaths of her three remaining siblings in only 8 months, Charlotte turned back to writing and published Shirley in October 1849. She also moved to London and befriended some of the other literary minds of the era-namely Elizabeth Gaskell and William Makepeace Thackeray. She became close friends with Gaskell, who later wrote a biography of Charlotte after her death.

Anne Bronte

Her third novel, Villette, was published in 1853. In June 1854, she married Arthur Bell Nicholls. She became pregnant shortly after her marriage, but her health declined. She passed away on March 31, 1855 at only 31 years old. Her last novel, The Professor, was published after her death (the novel was actually written around the time of Jane Eyre).

After Charlotte's death, the only surviving member of the Bronte family was their father Patrick. He outlived all of his children and passed away in 1861 at 84 years old. 

I think the Brontes are tragic in many ways. It is shame that such intelligent minds were taken far too soon. I wonder what other things they would have written given the time and opportunity to create more. To date, I have read Jane Eyre, Villette, Wuthering Heights, and Agnes Grey. I have loved all four of the novels I've read so far, but I can't wait to read more. Their complete novels are as follows:

Anne Bronte:

• Agnes Grey (1847)
• The Tenant of Wildfell Hall (1848)

 Emily Bronte:

• Wuthering Heights (1847) 

Charlotte Bronte:

• Jane Eyre (1847)
• Shirley (1849)
• Villette (1853)
• The Professor (1857)

There is also the collection of their poems that they published together and a fragment of Charlotte's unfinished work, Emma.

For this week's giveaway, I am giving away THREE Bronte titles-one from each sister. I will pull names based on which sister you choose (so if there is only one entry for one sister, that person will automatically win). To enter, read the following and comment below:

• This giveaway will be open internationally (I will be shipping from The Book Depository, so as long as they ship to you, you can enter)
• You MUST be a participant of A Victorian Celebration to enter.
• You MUST be 13 years or older
• You do not have to follow me or subscribe to qualify
• You MUST leave me your e-mail so that I contact you if you win
• The winner will have 48 hours to respond or I will pick a new winner.
• To enter, comment on this post and answer the following question: Which Bronte sister is your favorite and why? Also, what book would you choose if you won?
• The giveaway will be open until 11:59 PM on Friday, July 27, 2012 EST.

Good luck and thanks for entering!

*All information came from wikipedia.org and Elizabeth Gaskell's The Life of Charlotte Bronte*

Book 147: Far From the Madding Crowd by Thomas Hardy (A Victorian Celebration).

“Well, what I mean is that I shouldn't mind being a bride at a wedding, if I could be one without having a husband.”

I've come to love and respect Thomas Hardy. There is something so wonderful about his writing that it just draws me in from the first page. Far From the Madding Crowd is no exception. Hardy managed to build yet another story that drew me in and forced me to keep reading into the late hours of the night.

Bathsheba Everdene is a young woman with strong ideas and a sense of purpose about her life (and really, her name is all kinds of awesome). When the story begins, Bathsheba meets the farmer Gabriel Oak. Oak falls in love with her almost immediately and while he lives a humble life, he makes Bathsheba an offer of marriage. After turning him down, she leaves town and Oak suffers from a series of misfortunes (and while I know I shouldn't have, I had to chuckle at the scene with the sheep).

Oak determines to leave in search of work, since he has failed as a farmer on his own land. He journeys to Casterbridge and then to neighboring Weatherbury. It is while on his trip to Weatherbury that he sees a huge fire and pitches in to help. And of course, the land the fire is on belongs to Bathsheba and she is forced to take him in as hired help.

In the time that dear Bathsheba has been away from Oak, she found a home on her uncle's large farm...and then her uncle died so she's in charge! Being a bit of an independent woman, she is determined to run things her way so that she may be successful. But as a woman in charge of a bustling farm with the potential to make a good deal of money, she becomes a bit of a pawn for a couple of men in town. The way that Hardy describes her is simply perfect:

“She was of the stuff of which great men's mothers are made. She was indispensable to high generation, hated at tea parties, feared in shops, and loved at crises.”

First, there is Gabriel, who fervently loves her even though she has no desire to really be with him. As a worker on her farm, he is treated as such. It's obvious that Gabriel still loves her. Throughout the novel, there are scenes where Gabriel is observing Bathsheba and her various forms of scandal. He shows a clear sense of devotion to her. I loved that about his character. It seemed that no matter how badly she screwed up, he was still there to offer advice and save her farm.

The second suitor on the scene was another farmer by the name of Boldwood. Unlike Oak, he is a successful farmer and is well-respected within their community. He is also swept away by Bathsheba's charms and her wildness. She plays around with him a bit, and even makes a hasty agreement to get married at some point in the future. Boldwood was so enamored with her that he didn't even see that she made the agreement in haste to get rid of him.

Enter the third suitor, Sergeant Troy. Unlike the other two, Troy is powerful and in command of himself. He's a take charge kind of man who flirts with Bathsheba and tells her lies. She is swept away by his charms, disappears, and returns as a married woman.

 “Bathsheba loved Troy in the way that only self-reliant women love when they abandon their self-reliance. When a strong woman recklessly throws away her strength she is worse than a weak woman who has never any strength to throw away. One source of her inadequacy is the novelty of the occasion. She has never had practice in making the best of such a condition. Weakness is doubly weak by being new.”

It is after her marriage to Troy that things fall apart in what I think it typical Hardy fashion. Bathsheba learns that Troy was not who she thought he was, Troy is called out for being full of it, and the other two men go crazy trying to protect Bathsheba and her assets as she is now the "property" of Troy.

This was simply fascinating to watch unfold. At first, I wasn't a fan of Bathsheba (except for her name because COME ON). I found her to be a haughty kind of a woman who was just trying to branch out on her own for the sake of causing some level of scandal. However, as the novel wore on, I got what Hardy was trying to show me. Rather than being allowed to be the free spirited individual she truly was, the men in her life found ways to squash that. Troy, in particular, seemed to be an option that she found appealing. By marrying him, she was choosing something risky over something sturdy, like Boldwood. It was only after she was married that she realized the position she was in. As a married woman, all her property, etc also belonged to Troy...who wasn't who he said he was.

That just crushed her spirit. And it left the other men, who probably did truly care for her, on the sidelines watching and waiting.

On many levels, I felt for her by the novel's close. To be a woman of passion and spirit in a society that tells you no? It has to be crushing. And to find a way to rebel, only to have it backfire? Even more so. I think this novel captures a lot of that Victorian mentality...and of some people's current mentality...that women can be pawns in marriages-used to gain land, money, etc. I would not have been able to stand it...and I think I would have had a little of her spunk had I been in her situation (or so I tell myself).

So yes, Far From the Madding Crowd was a great read and a good look at some of the social issues of the era. And, it wasn't quite as tragic as Jude the Obscure if that sort of thing throws you off (don't get me wrong, there were some moments that caught my breath, but nothing like that scene). I can't wait to get to my next Hardy!

“And at home by the fire, whenever you look up there I shall be— and whenever I look up, there will be you."

David Copperfield Giveaway (A Victorian Celebration).

*This was supposed to post on Friday, but because of internet issues, did not. The ending date has been adjusted*

Well, we are in the home stretch for the Victorian Celebration folks! With about 2 weeks left in July, I am wondering whether I will ever manage to finish Nicholas Nickleby and Barchester Towers-the two books I REALLY want to get done before the end of the month. Granted, this week has been rather hectic, but I really need to get in some more reading time this week!

Today I am giving away a book that is very close to my heart. I have struggled with Dickens since I was in ninth grade, but I am determined to like him. In February, I read HIS favorite work, David Copperfield, and fell in love with it. Hands down, it is the best book I have read in 2012.

Here is a little synopsis taken from Goodreads.com:

"David Copperfield is the story of a young man’s adventures on his journey from an unhappy and impoverished childhood to the discovery of his vocation as a successful novelist. Among the gloriously vivid cast of characters he encounters are his tyrannical stepfather, Mr. Murdstone; his formidable aunt, Betsey Trotwood; the eternally humble yet treacherous Uriah Heep; frivolous, enchanting Dora; and the magnificently impecunious Micawber, one of literature’s great comic creations.

In David Copperfield—the novel he described as his “favorite child”—Dickens drew revealingly on his own experiences to create one of his most exuberant and enduringly popular works, filled with tragedy and comedy in equal measure."

It is a FABULOUS book and one that I cannot recommend enough! 

When I ordered some of the new Penguin English Library editions, I immediately added this in my cart for me...and one for you! One lucky winner will win a brand new copy of Dickens' David Copperfield. To enter, read the following and comment below:

• This giveaway will be open to any residents of the U.S. or Canada
• You MUST be a participant of A Victorian Celebration to enter.
• You MUST be 13 years or older
• You do not have to follow me or subscribe to qualify
• You MUST leave me your e-mail so that I contact you if you win
• The winner will have 48 hours to respond or I will pick a new winner.
• To enter, comment on this post and answer the following question: What are your reading plans for the remainder of A Victorian Celebrations?
• The giveaway will be open until 11:59 PM on Sunday, July 22, 2012 EST.

Good luck!

Top Ten Tuesday: Top Ten Favorite Victorian Novels.

Every week the folks over at The Broke and the Bookish host Top Ten Tuesday, a meme where bloggers count out their top ten in that week's given topic. This week is an open topic, so I decided to do a countdown of my favorite Victorian titles, since we are in the middle of A Victorian Celebration.

Making this list was hard, especially because I decided to rank the books I listed!

Here we go:

10. Agnes Grey by Anne Bronte: I just finished this one on Sunday, but I was blown away by this seemingly simple story about a governess. I think the Anne is completely underrated, and I cannot wait to read The Tenant of Wildfell Hall.

9. The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde: I loved this novel about a man so consumed with his own beauty and image-such a great and moving story! I am hoping that I'll have the opportunity to teach this one in the future, as I think it would be a great novel for high school students!

8. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte: I can't believe it took me so long to read this one! It was so passionate and so full of fire! And that line that begins with "Reader." Ugh, it gets me!

7. North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell: This story of Margaret Hale and Mr. Thornton has been a favorite since I first read it. I also love the BBC adaptation and watch it fair too often.

6. The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins: Collins is a writer I had never heard of until I started blogging, and I am so happy you all forced him on me. This mysterious tale had me flipping pages until late at night. It also has one of my favorite heroines of all time!

5. Villette by Charlotte Bronte: While I loved Jane Eyre, I adored Villette. This is a more mature Charlotte and the story about Lucy Snowe is one that had a huge impact on me. I related so much to Lucy and her struggles. This one will always remain a favorite.

4. Jude the Obscure by Thomas Hardy: Of the three Hardys I've read, this is by far my favorite. It is such a desperate and tragic novel, and the reception from Hardy's audience in the Victorian era is why Hardy stopped writing fiction completely. This is a MUST read.

3. Germinal by Emile Zola: Technically Zola was not a part of the Victorian gang over in England, but this novel from the French writer is as powerful. Set in a mining town in rural France, it depicts the harsh realities of life for the miners. It will break your heart.

2. David Copperfield by Charles Dickens: Considering that I call Dickens my arch-nemesis, you might be surprised to see this here. But Dickens and I share a favorite novel of his, and it's this one. This is a very autobiographical novel and it really spoke to me.

1. The Mill on the Floss by George Eliot: This is by far my favorite novel by Eliot. I push this one on everyone to read, all the time. I can't even begin to describe how wonderful and moving and passionate this novel us. You MUST read this one!


What are some of your favorite Victorian novels?

Book 146: Middlemarch by George Eliot (Finished-A Victorian Celebration).

“And, of course men know best about everything, except what women know better.”

George Eliot is always such a treat for me to read. She was one of the first classics writers that I discovered on my own, and I have been happily reading and enjoying her books ever since my first read of Silas Marner. It has been a few years since I last picked up Middlemarch, so a lot of the details were very fuzzy (to be fair, it is a very LARGE book).

As I began reading and starting plowing through Eliot's writing, bits and pieces fell back into place and I remembered who I liked and who annoyed me (Celia annoys me like no other. And I'm not sure why). In any case, it still took me a good chunk of time to get through all 900 pages of Victorian-era commentary (it took 2 1/2 weeks!). But when I set the book down, I realized that I enjoyed it more than I did during my first read quite a few years ago.

One of the things I love about Eliot is that you notice pieces on rereads that you didn't notice the first time around. I had completely forgotten the plot with Fred Vincy, so when I stumbled across poor Fred and his adoration for Mary, it broke my heart a bit. I felt for Fred, who fumbled and who could never quite get his head on straight....unless it came to his feelings for Mary. I believe I paid far more attention to their chapters on this read than I had on the one before.

I think Fred's story, and his struggle with finding a purpose within the confines of Victorian society probably rang true for many in the time period. I am sure that many a young man was unruly and unsure of a path to take. Fred, for example, was clearly not a man that should have headed into the church. As he told Mary, he could do the job, but he wouldn't have passion for it. He needed some kind of work to inspire him and make him a better person. I can relate to that so well! Part of the reason I love teaching is that it challenges and inspires me to try new things, to push myself. I saw a lot of myself in Fred and his struggle. And, of course, I was happy with the way his story ended. 

I also had to chuckle quite a bit at Mr. Brooke, who never intends to be funny, but always seems to bring out a smile. His insistence on stepping in when things get a little bit tough is endearing, especially when he reverses what he sets out to do and muddles things up even more than they already were!

I was also quite drawn to Lydgate and his situation as a new man in Middlemarch. I found the passages pertaining to his medical practice interesting in that he really seemed to have new ideas for the folks living in town. The storyline with his courting of young Rosamond and their eventual marriage was one of my favorites in the dozen or so character storylines. It seemed obvious to me from the beginning that they had different ideals and expectations about their marriage and what it would entail. I should admit that I wanted to yell at Lydgate for going into debt for selfish Rosamond and her "appearances." That's something no one should ever do! You don't need the shiny new dishes or the fancy house for appearances Lydgate! :)

But obviously, the main storyline concerning Dorothea Brooke and her marriage to stuffy Mr. Casaubon deserves a bit of attention. Dorothea is one of those female characters that I love in Victorian literature. She has a strong set of ideas and dreams for her own life, and while others may be persuading her to go one way, she is resolute in the direction she wishes to go, even when she realizes it wasn't such a good idea to begin with! In her marriage to Mr. Casaubon, it was obvious that she had lofty ideas about him as a learned man. As a young girl, she was attracted to the visage of intelligence and hoped that he would be welcoming in his knowledge-teach her and inspire her to learn as well. It became pretty obvious he had no such ideas, but saw her as more of a secretary than a wife. I particularly loved this bit of commentary from her...

"But it is very difficult to be learned; it seems as if people were worn out on the way to great thoughts, and can never enjoy them because they are too tired."

When I read that, I had to agree with her, because yes, focusing and exploring areas to become learned is a tiring process. That piece definitely resonated with me as I continue on in my own exploration of literature and the classics. Sometimes I feel like I am rushing through to get to the next title. That I must push onward and forward in an attempt to get to it all. And I am slowly losing the bits of enjoyment from savoring passages that I love, raving about writing, and loving the characters. So thanks, Dorothea, for reminding me.

What I love, however, is that Eliot gives Dorothea a chance to live her life with the early passing of Casaubon. And while Casaubon is a bit of a jerk in his will (you'll have to read it to find out!), Dorothea finally has the means to pursue her own passions as a free woman. The last two parts or so, where she is finally free, were inspiring. I love a Victorian woman with a sense of purpose. I love that she went against the wishes of her male relatives. She was firey and passionate and everything that I love!

As usual, the writing was superb. Eliot has a such a way of stringing words together to incite passion, force a laugh, and make me bite my nails in anticipation...

“We mortals, men and women, devour many a disappointment between breakfast and dinner-time; keep back the tears and look a little pale about the lips, and in answer to inquiries say, "Oh, nothing!" Pride helps; and pride is not a bad thing when it only urges us to hide our hurts -- not to hurt others.”

For a book that is, at it's core, a true study of the way relationships and marriage worked in this society, it was inspirational and heart-warming. In each of the couples, I found something that I understood and related to as a married woman in the 21st century. In a way, it kind of amazes me that the same issues they faced we still face today. I think this bit from the "finale" says it better than I can..

"Marriage, which has been the bourne of so many narratives, is still a great beginning, as it was to Adam and Eve, who kept their honeymoon in Eden, but had their first little one among the thorns and thistles of the wilderness. It is still the beginning of the home epic-the gradual conquest or irremediable loss of that complete union which makes the advancing years a climax, and age the harvest of sweet memories in common."

Yes, Eliot is a master, and Middlemarch is definitely a great work. But can I be honest? As much as I loved Middlemarch, it's characters, and the messages it portrays, my heart yearned a little bit for The Mill on the Floss. And while I can see why so many love Middlemarch and see it as Eliot's crowning achievement, I'm happy with saying that I think that title goes to Mill. While they both hold a lot of passion and strength, there is something much more powerful in The Mill on the Floss.

But you should still read this one-to savor the language and the various ways that Eliot explores the many facets of Victorian life. There is so much more to this 900 page chunker than I could hope to write about here!

“If youth is the season of hope, it is often so only in the sense that our elders are hopeful about us; for no age is so apt as youth to think its emotions, partings, and resolves are the last of their kind. Each crisis seems final, simply because it is new. We are told that the oldest inhabitants in Peru do not cease to be agitated by the earthquakes, but they probably see beyond each shock, and reflect that there are plenty more to come.”

Giveaway Winners!

I have a few giveaway winners to announce from the last couple of weeks for things pertaining to A Victorian Celebration.

The first winner is for the copy of The Mayor of Casterbridge by Thomas Hardy. The winner is:

Melissa from Avid Reader's Musings!

The second winner is for the edition of the Dickens Bicentenary Edition. The winner is:

Kate from Second Edition!

The third winner is for the copy of Lady Audley's Secret by Mary Elizabeth Braddon. The winner is:

Jillian from A Room of One's Own!

And, I also have a random winner from the master list. Since I chose between 1 and 50 last time, this winner comes from between 51 and 100. The winner will get to choose a Victorian of their choice that I'll send them from the Book Depository. :) The winner is:

# 57: Kristi Loves Books and her review of The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

Phew! Thank you everyone for entering! You should see an e-mail in your inbox sometime today (or you can e-mail me first) so that I can get your mailing information to send your book on your way!

Remember-there is at least one giveaway per week. Right now, there is a guest giveaway going on at Kristi's blog and a giveaway for The Moonstone!

The Moonstone Giveaway (A Victorian Celebration).

I'm feeling quite a bit better about my progress for the celebration. I FINALLY finished Middlemarch the other night, so now I am flying through some smaller pieces!

I have to tell you that as we enter the second month of the Celebration, I am still blown away by the response. You kids just keep on reading, don't you?

And as long as you continue to read, I'm going to keep giving books away. :) I hope you don't mind!

This week's book is another that I haven't had a chance to read myself, but it is on the reading pile for the event. It is one that if I don't get to during the Celebration, I will definitely make time for it this fall.

Let's hear a little bit about it from Goodreads.com, shall we?

"The Moonstone, a yellow diamond looted from an Indian temple and believed to bring bad luck to its owner, is bequeathed to Rachel Verinder on her eighteenth birthday. That very night the priceless stone is stolen again and when Sergeant Cuff is brought in to investigate the crime, he soon realizes that no one in Rachel’s household is above suspicion. Hailed by T. S. Eliot as ‘the first, the longest, and the best of modern English detective novels’, The Moonstone is a marvellously taut and intricate tale of mystery, in which facts and memory can prove treacherous and not everyone is as they first appear."

Today's giveaway is for a new Barnes and Noble edition of Wilkie Collins' The Moonstone. To enter, read and comment below:

• This giveaway will be open to any residents of the U.S. or Canada
• You MUST be a participant of A Victorian Celebration to enter.
• You MUST be 13 years or older
• You do not have to follow me or subscribe to qualify
• You MUST leave me your e-mail so that I contact you if you win
• The winner will have 48 hours to respond or I will pick a new winner.
• To enter, comment on this post and answer the following question: If scholars were to find ONE unpublished novel from the Victorian era, who would you want to be the author of it and why?
• The giveaway will be open until 11:59 PM on Friday, July 13, 2012 EST.

Good luck-and I can't wait to read your answers!

Author Focus: Thomas Hardy (A Victorian Celebration).

Welcome to this week's Author Focus post on Thomas Hardy! Considering I am currently in the middle of a Hardy novel (Far From the Madding Crowd), I thought it was fitting to feature him this week. Here are the other authors I have featured so far:

• George Eliot
• Wilkie Collins
• Charles Dickens

Hardy is quickly becoming an author that I love, so I am excited to share a little more about his life and his work. Like the other authors I am featuring, Hardy was a powerhouse during the Victorian Era, and his name was well-known.

Thomas Hardy was born on June 2, 1840, which makes him a later edition to the Victorian Era. He was lucky enough as a boy to be sent to school, but his family didn't have the money to send him off to university. Instead, he found work as an apprentice to learn a trade. Under a fellow by the name of James Hicks, Hardy became an architect. After a couple of years, Hardy moved to London and enrolled in King's College to learn more about architecture and pursue writing on the side.

It was also during these early years that Hardy began to write. His first novel, The Poor Man and the Lady, was finished in 1867, but failed to find a publisher. He was so frustrated by this, that he actually burned large portions of the novel and only a few pieces remain. After encouragement from a friend (George Meredith-another Victorian), Hardy continued to write and published Desperate Remedies and Under the Greenwood Tree anonymously.

Hardy wasn't a big fan of living in the city. After growing up in the country, Hardy wasn't used to seeing such differences in class and social standing. He eventually decided to leave London and focus more on his writing. He spent a number of years traveling the country to complete architectural work in parishes and rural communities (perhaps this inspired the work of Jude in Jude the Obscure?). It was on one of these missions that Hardy met and fell in love with Emma Lavinia Gifford. The two married in 1874, and Hardy's novel, A Pair of Blue Eyes, was inspired by their own love story. This was also Hardy's first novel that was published under his name.

He continued to write novels throughout the rest of the 19th century. It was after the publication of Jude the Obscure in 1895 that Hardy stopped writing fiction to focus on his poetry-something he felt he was better at writing. When it was published, Jude the Obscure shocked and riled up Hardy's audience. People were outraged at the depictions of sex and the relationships between the main characters. It was nicknamed "Jude the Obscene." This view of Hardy's work really bothered him, which led to that turn to poetry.

In 1912, Emma passed away and it wrecked Thomas. He pulled away and began writing more and more poetry, which is what he truly believed he was best at. He did remarry, in 1914, but his first wife really held his heart. Throughout the rest of his life, Hardy continued to write, but never had the same success as he did as a novelist. He passed away on January 11, 1928. There was a little kerfuffle over where he was to be buried, but a compromise was made. His heart was buried by Emma and his ashes are laid to rest in Poets' Corner in Westminster Abbey.

One of the things that sets Hardy apart from some of the other Victorians is that he bridges a couple of movements in literature. While all of his novels were published within the boundaries of the Victorian era, many of his later novels also speak to the Realism movement. He liked to challenge the ideals of the Victorian era-like the issue of marriage in Jude the Obscure. He was also very protective of his writing, and after the reception of his last two novels-Tess of D'Urbervilles and Jude the Obscure-he swore off of writing fiction. I really wonder what kinds of novels he would have published in his later life-during the era of World War I, etc. We'll never know.

I am still beginning to explore Hardy's novels. I have read two-The Mayor of Casterbridge and Jude the Obscure- and I am in the middle of my third-Far From the Madding Crowd. I also have Tess of D'Urbervilles and The Return of the Native left on my 250 list. I have come to expect a lot from my Hardy novels-depth, description, and tragedy. But I love the way Hardy explores the dark aspects of Victorian life, and I cannot wait to read more from him (and about him).

If you are interested in picking up a Hardy novel, here is a list in order of publication (Hardy also has a lot of poetry-I own a complete collection, but sometimes his poems are published separately):

• The Poor Man and the Lady 1867 (most of the novel is lost)
• Desperate Remedies 1871
• Under the Greenwood Tree 1872
• A Pair of Blue Eyes 1873
• Far From the Madding Crowd 1874
• The Hand of Ethelberta 1876
• The Return of the Native 1878
• The Trumpet-Major 1880
• A Laodicean 1881
• Two on a Tower 1882
• The Mayor of Casterbridge 1886
• The Woodlanders 1887
• Wessex Tales (short stories) 1888
• A Group of Noble Dames (short stories) 1891
• Tess of D'Urbervilles 1891
• Life's Little Ironies (short stories) 1894
• Jude the Obscure 1895

What Hardy novels have you read and loved? Give me some more recommendations! :)

Guest Giveaway!

Hey you participants in A Victorian Celebration!

There is a lovely giveaway taking place over at Kristi Loves Books! The giveaway is open internationally and you can win a wonderful Vintage edition of a Victorian novel. You can visit this post to enter!

Lady Audley's Secret Giveaway (A Victorian Celebration).

I feel like I am way behind most of you! I am still trucking through Middlemarch and Nicholas Nickleby. I thought I would have been done with both of them by now, but no. :) Both books are wonderful-I've just had a bit less reading time than I would have liked. 

Anyway, this week's giveaway is for book I haven't read yet! It has been on my TBR for ages and is one of the titles on my Classics Club list. When I was picking out some titles from the new Penguin English Library series, I immediately put this one in my shopping cart. And then I added a second one for one of you. :) 

Here is a summary taken from Goodreads.com...

"Lady Audley's Secret (1862) was one of the most widely read novels in the Victorian period. It exemplifies "sensation fiction" in featuring a beautiful criminal heroine, an amateur detective, blackmail, arson, violence, and plenty of suspenseful action. To its contemporary readers, it also offered the thrill of uncovering blackmail and criminal violence within the homes of the upper class. The novel makes trenchant critiques of Victorian gender roles and social stereotypes, and it creates significant sympathy for the heroine, despite her criminal acts, as she suffers from the injustices of the "marriage market" and rebels against them."

Today's giveaway is for a new Penguin English Library edition of Mary Elizabeth Braddon's Lady Audley's Secret. To enter, read the following and comment below:

• This giveaway will be open to any residents of the U.S. or Canada (my international participants, I have special giveaways planned for you later on).
• You MUST be a participant of A Victorian Celebration to enter.
• You MUST be 13 years or older
• You do not have to follow me or subscribe to qualify
• You MUST leave me your e-mail so that I contact you if you win
• The winner will have 48 hours to respond or I will pick a new winner.
• To enter, comment on this post and answer the following question: What post from the Master Post have you most enjoyed reading so far in the celebration? Why?
• The giveaway will be open until 11:59 PM on Friday, July 6, 2012 EST.

Good luck!

Author Focus: Charles Dickens and Giveaway (A Victorian Celebration).

Welcome to this week's Author Focus on Charles Dickens! I have already featured George Eliot and Wilkie Collins.

Anyone who has read me for awhile knows that I haven't always been the biggest fan of Dickens. In fact, I used to hate him. Granted, I wasn't really being fair to him or his work, and as I have let myself explore his life and work, I've come around.

I still like to fondly refer to Mr. Dickens as my literary arch-nemesis. I don't think he would mind...but I think he would chuckle at my prejudices against some of his work. :) But I'm here to share what I've learned about Mr. Dickens in my explorations of his life-and what a life it was!

Charles Dickens was born in 1812 to John and Elizabeth Dickens as the second of eight children. When he was relatively young, Charles was sent to school and his family was doing okay. That changed in 1824 when his father, John, was sent to debtor's prison. His wife and the younger children lived with John in the prison while the older kids found homes with relatives and family friends. At only 12 years old, Charles found employment at Warren's Blacking House to help support his family. He would often work ten or twelve hour days for minimal pay. His experiences working as a child had a lasting impact on his life and writing (Oliver Twist comes to mind).

Eventually, John inherited some money from a relative and found his way out of prison. Rather than remove their son from his place of employment right away, Elizabeth Dickens waited. Like his work experiences, this lack of care for his well-being had a significant impact on Charles. You can see evidence of his feelings towards women and mothers in many of his novels.

Charles eventually found work in a law office as a clerk. Again, his experiences working in this kind of environment impacted his writing later on in life (Bleak House and Nicholas Nickleby spring to my mind!). Charles eventually turned to a journalism career, working for various magazines for a number of years.

It was during his time working for magazines and journals that Charles began to seriously start writing. His first set of periodicals was eventually collected into a book, Sketches by Boz (Boz was a pseudonym). These sketches caught the attention of publishers Chapman and Hall, who hired Dickens to write in accompaniment to a series of illustrations done by Robert Seymour. The result was The Pickwick Papers, Dickens' first novel.

In 1836, Charles married Catherine Thomson Hogarth and continued to publish new novels in episodic form. By only releasing one portion of his new novels at a time, Dickens began to master the form of writing. Readers would wait anxiously for the next installment to be published. His fame began to rise with each new publication. As he aged, his novels also began to tackle more difficult themes-namely socioeconomic issues.

Dickens was prolific even while he was alive. He was a major voice in the era and befriended many of his contemporaries, including Wilkie Collins. Together, they wrote numerous plays and short stories. It was during one of these co-written plays that Dickens met Ellen Ternan. He fell so in love that he made the decision to leave Catherine for Ellen in 1858. Since divorce was still relatively taboo, Charles and Catherine agreed on a separation, but Charles spent the rest of his life with Ellen. Yet another Victorian writer scandal (that makes us 3 for 3!).

It was after this that Dickens began a series of reading and speaking tours. He traveled throughout Europe and the United States on his tours. It was during this time that many of his "major works" were published, including Great Expectations and A Tale of Two Cities. Many critics believe that he entered a serious mode of thinking about his writing and changes he could make in society. It what around this time that he also began some serious philanthropic work in England.

On June 9, 1865, Dickens' life took a turn. He was involved in the Staplehurst Rail Crash. It was a horrific event at the time, and Dickens was in one of the only cars that wasn't overturned. He was on board with Ellen and a few other friends when the train crashed. He spent hours attending to those who were injured or dying until further help came. He even risked going back into the train to rescue the unfinished manuscript of Our Mutual Friend.

The crash and the result changed his life. After the crash, he began to be very introspective and never seemed to fully recover to where he was before. His works took a darker turn and his health deteriorated. Charles eventually passed away on June 9, 1870-five years to the day AFTER the rail crash. He was laid to rest, against his wishes, in Poet's Corner at Westminster Abbey.

Dickens is known not only for his life and legacy, but for his popularity, characters, and enduring themes. He is one of the world's most popular authors and continues to have a lasting impression on our society and popular culture (I think we all know what a "Scrooge" is). Not only did he have humor and laughter in his works, but also depth and social commentary. I know that I have begun to look past the surface of his novels to find the deeper meaning. And while I may be coming around to his novels and style of writing, I'll always think of him as my literary arch-nemesis. :)

Dickens' complete novels include, in order of publication:

• The Pickwick Papers
• Oliver Twist
• Nicholas Nickleby
• The Old Curiosity Shop
• Barnaby Rudge
• Martin Chuzzlewit
• Dombey and Son
• David Copperfield
• Bleak House
• Hard Times
• Little Dorrit
• A Tale of Two Cities
• Great Expectations
• Our Mutual Friend
• The Mystery of Edwin Drood (unfinished)

To celebrate Charles Dickens, his life, and his works, I am giving away a copy of the Dickens Bicentenary. I discussed my own copy in this post. It is a phenomenal collection, complete with inserts, photographs, and way more information about Charles than I could include in this post. To enter, read the following and comment below:

• This giveaway is open to anyone! As long as the Book Depository delivers to your country, you can enter (I reserve the right to ship from another company if you live within the U.S.). 
• You MUST be a participant of A Victorian Celebration to enter.
• You MUST be 13 years or older
• You do not have to follow me or subscribe to qualify
• You MUST leave me your e-mail so that I contact you if you win
• The winner will have 48 hours to respond or I will pick a new winner.
• To enter, comment on this post with your answer to this question: What Dickens character do you think is the most memorable and why?
• The giveaway will be open until 11:59 PM on Friday July 6, 2012 EST.

Good luck!

*Information in this post was taken from wikipedia.org and the Dickens Bicentenary*

A Victorian Celebration Giveaway Contest.

To all Victorian Celebration participants!

There is an AMAZING contest and giveaway going on over at Roof Beam Reader starting today! The prize is your choice of any Victorian novel shipped from the Book Depository-yep, an international giveaway! :)

You can enter by clicking this link.

Good luck, and keep on reading those lovely Victorian novels!

Weekly Giveaway Winners.

Last week I had two giveaways up for participants of A Victorian Celebration. One was for a copy of George Eliot's Daniel Deronda and the other was for Charlotte Bronte's Shirley. I pulled both winners after the contests closed at midnight, and here are the winners:

The winner of Daniel Deronda is Michelle from The True Book Addict!

The winner of Shirley is Adam from Roof Beam Reader!

Congratulations winners! I will be e-mailing you to get mailing information.

Remember that there is a giveaway each week. This week's giveaway is for a copy of The Mayor of Casterbridge by Thomas Hardy. You can enter to win at this post.

A Victorian Celebration: The Mayor of Casterbridge Giveaway!

I asked Twitter on Sunday whether I should read Middlemarch or Far From the Madding Crowd next, and those who weighed in steered me toward the Eliot title. And while I am perfectly happy with that choice (because I love Eliot so much), I'm still craving some Hardy.

To get a little bit of that craving out of my system, I decided to put the second Hardy title I have sitting in my "giveaway" pile up as this week's giveaway for the event. :)

When I made my project list...I had never heard of Hardy. I don't know if that speaks to the level of my college education or my own ignorance, but he was never on a reading list and he was never brought up in one of my classes! But, I was curious so I added a slew of his titles to the 250 list, and the very first Hardy title I read was The Mayor of Casterbridge. It blew me away and made me a Hardy fan for life.

Now I would like to give one of you a new copy of the novel. To see if it strikes your fancy, here is a little summary taken from Goodreads.com...

"In a fit of drunken anger, Michael Henchard sells his wife and baby daughter for five guineas at a country fair. Over the course of the following years, he manages to establish himself as a respected and prosperous pillar of the community of Casterbridge, but behind his success there always lurk the shameful secret of his past and a personality prone to self-destructive pride and temper. Subtitled ‘A Story of a Man of Character’, Hardy’s powerful and sympathetic study of the heroic but deeply flawed Henchard is also an intensely dramatic work, tragically played out against the vivid backdrop of a close-knit Dorsetshire town."

To enter to win a new Barnes and Noble edition of Thomas Hardy's The Mayor of Casterbridge, read and complete the following:

• This giveaway will be open to any residents of the U.S. or Canada (my international participants, I have special giveaways planned for you later on).
• You MUST be a participant of A Victorian Celebration to enter.
• You MUST be 13 years or older
• You do not have to follow me or subscribe to qualify
• You MUST leave me your e-mail so that I contact you if you win
• The winner will have 48 hours to respond or I will pick a new winner.
• To enter, comment on this post and answer the following question: What Victorian title should I read next for the event? Far From the Madding Crowd by Thomas Hardy or Agnes Grey by Anne Bronte? (or something else-you suggest!)
• The giveaway will be open until 11:59 PM on Friday, June 29, 2012 EST.

Good luck and keep up the great job reading!

Author Focus: William Wilkie Collins (A Victorian Celebration).

 This week's Author Focus in on a Victorian writer I don't have a lot of experience with. In fact, he is one of 2 writers I added to my project list after I had been working on it for a few months. I had never even heard of Wilkie Collins until I started blogging.

In any case, I added two of his works to my project list and have read one to date (The Woman in White). The second, The Moonstone, is on my pile to read for the celebration. I'm hoping I get to it! From my reading of The Woman in White, I've found that I really enjoy Collins' writing style, so that is why I'm going to push you to give him a try.

William Wilkie Collins was born in 1824 in London, England. As a boy, he traveled with his family to France and Italy, which has a huge impact on him. In 1844, he wrote his first novel, Iolani, which was never published in his lifetime. He eventually went to school to study law in honor of his father's wishes, but when his father died in 1847, he began writing on a more regular basis.

In 1851, Collins met Charles Dickens, who became a lifelong friend and mentor. I can't imagine what kind of impact Dickens had on him-Collins was a young, fledgling writer and Dickens was a force to be reckoned with. I am sure that their friendship was something to see! They collaborated on a number of things and Dickens supported Collins' writing by helping it get published in Household Words and All the Year Round-Dickens' journals and magazines. The two also traveled Europe together in the 1850s.

Collins' first story, "A Terribly Strange Bed," was published in Household Words in April 1852 and it was the first of many. He also had stories published in The Leader which was run by George Lewes. Lewes might seem like a familiar name if you read last week's Author Focus, since he was George Eliot's "husband" for a number of years. Isn't that an interesting connection? Something I have found by researching these writers is how interconnected they all were. Makes me wonder what writers weren't in their "clique" and didn't get published because of it!

Keeping up with the scandalous lifestyle as done by Eliot, Collins moved in with Caroline Graves and lived with her as man and wife. The two didn't marry, but carried amidst a lot of scandal (I think the Victorians were quite fond of scandal, don't you?). During this time period (late 1850s into the 1860s), Collins published a whole slew of titles and was gaining more attention from the public.

And, keeping up with scandal, Collins met another woman, Martha Rudd, in 1867 and decided to settle down with her as well! He led a double life-living with Graves while in London, and Rudd in the countryside near London. He even used a different name when he was with Rudd to avoid being found out...but eventually Caroline discovered his affair, left him, and returned two years later. Collins lived the rest of his life taking turns between his two ladies o_O.

Later on in his life, he suffered from gout and used a lot of opium to deal with the pain. He also struggled to maintain his success after the death of Charles Dickens in 1870. Many feel that once he lost his best friend and mentor, his novels lost their passion, which is why many of his later novels aren't as acclaimed as his earlier titles. Many of his novels were deemed "sensation" novels that were meant only for entertainment and shock. They were also the precursors to later detective novels, like Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Another notable aspect of his novels is the focus on his female characters and their plights in Victorian society-something I definitely noticed in my read of The Woman in White.

Some of his more famous works include:

• Antonina (1850)
• The Ostler (1855)
• The Frozen Deep (1857) Co-written with Dickens
• The Woman in White (1860)
• No Name (1862)
• Armadale (1866)
• The Moonstone (1868)
• Poor Miss Finch (1872)
• The Law and the Lady (1875)

Collins died in 1889 at the age of 82. He has left behind a great legacy and certainly was a large part of the surge in literature during the Victorian event. He is definitely a writer I need more exposure to and I can't wait for the opportunity to explore more of his work.






There is no giveaway with today's Author Focus, but I will be giving away one of Collins' novels later on in the celebration-so keep an eye out!

*Information taken from wikipedia.org and wilkiecollins.com*