Victober 2024 Wrap Up
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 9 ก.พ. 2025
- The Doctor's Wife - Mary Elizabeth Braddon
Little Dorrit - Charles Dickens
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
After Dark - Wilkie Collins
London Assurance - Dion Boucicault
#victober
You deserve a special Victober award for completing all the prompts AND producing multiple videos with a newborn! Well done! 🏆👏 I have one comment on Little Dorrit and religion. For me the most important religious aspect of Little Dorrit is Mrs Clennam's strict religious/moral code which permeates the entire story. It is how Arthur was raised (those dreaded Sundays) and why his real story is unknown to him; it keeps Mrs Clennam distant from her son; it keeps Mrs Clennam a "prisoner" of her own guilt; it is why Mrs Clennam hires Little Dorrit, which then brings Little Dorrit to Arthur's notice and sets that storyline going. And finally I believe Dickens was making a strong comment on this type of fanatic religious righteousness by the fate of the (physical) House of Clennam at the end.
Thank you! Victober brought such joy to my month and I had a lot of support. That's such a good point about Mrs Clennam. I just didn't think of her when I was putting the video together - blame lack of sleep? But her role in manipulating the characters' fates is vital.
@@tillysshelf yes I was just coming to say similar things about Mrs Clennam. She is highly religious, but is certainly not portrayed favourably. She is self-righteous, self-justifying, quick to judge others and unsympathetic.
@@danieljackson3367 Great points. And she justifies her actions with her Old Testament beliefs.
Congratulations on your guest for this video! 😊
I love the way you still can find joy even on those books you didn't loved.
I'm currently reading Little Dorrit, it wasn't planned for this Victober but I watched the miniseries and got all excited for it. Until that point I was reading a lot of different things for all the challenges but then Dickens took the center of the scene, as he usually does 😅. Overall, I enjoyed my readings a lot. Oh, except for Sibyl by Benjamin Disraeli, I DNFed that one.
I hope you'll enjoy the rest of your reading year!
Thank you! Yes Dickens has a way of taking over. I watched the miniseries years ago when it first came out, hoping to rewatch soon now I've read the book. Enjoy the rest of it if you haven't finished already!
This was a nice surprise and took me back to Victober pleasures. Good point about livelier women in the Sherlock Holmes stories. Love the imposed sudden ending 😂
The video was long enough already to be fair!
You had such a wonderful Victober!!
I did! Hope yours was great too.
@@tillysshelf it was, thank you!
Tilly, you have had a baby!! How lovely!!! Congratulations!!!
At first, while listening to this excellent video, I was wondering why you were speaking so super fast, and then it all became clear!!!😂 😊 What a super mum you are, making videos while you've got a tiny baby! Is this actually a Victober baby?❤🧸
Thank you! I do tend to speak a bit fast anyway as I'm always trying to fit too much in but not knowing how long I've got is an added pressure. He's a Shaketember baby so I'd just about recovered enough energy for Victober.
First congratulations on your new baby Tilly! Secondly, you had a great Victober! I really enjoyed Little Dorrit too although the middle section where the scene change wasn’t quite as successful as the rest for me. I’m a fan of Braddon’s writing but The Doctor’s Wife was quite a departure from the two others of hers I’ve read which are very much sensational novels. I know this was supposed to be more of a literary novel but, like you, I found it repetitive and quite slow. I appreciated the link with Madame Bovary but I was craving something more. I read some short stories and plays and generally had a successful Victober where I think the highlight was rereading Jane Eyre after thirty years and loving it!
How delightful to get to return to Jane Eyre! Was it different reading it with more mature eyes? I think it reads one way as an ardent, romantic teen but becomes a little darker as an adult. Had the same feeling about Little Dorrit - I do think he's at his best in and around London. I haven't read any of Braddon's sensation novels and I'm generally less keen on sensation novels as a genre, but I'm a little curious over how they differ.
When I read it the first time I was studying it so I thinks that makes you think about it differently rather than just reading for enjoyment. This time I knew all the criticisms of Rochester and his behavior, but was still rooting for him and was perhaps more interested in the peripheral characters than I would have been as a younger reader 🤔I had entirely forgotten St John and had strong feelings where he was concerned 😬. Sensation novels fill that kind of Victorian beach read role, plot heavy, easy to read, lots of twists and turns, often laughable but in a good way.
@josmith5992 Studying a book does have a huge impact - also on later rereads I think as the associations are still there. Brontë so clearly presents Rochester as someone to root for that it's easy to forgive or overlook his immoral conduct. Whereas St John I think she wanted to show as morally correct but emotionally void.
Possibly I should try some more sensation reads - next Victober perhaps!
I agree Sherlock Holmes is better in short stories, I re-read Study in Scarlet and really noticed how weak it is compared to the later stuff. I agree with your thoughts on The Doctor's Wife, I haven't read Madame Bovary so any references to that went over my head, but I would like to read more Braddon.
Madame Bovary is much more predictable in terms of the ending and I found it frustrating. It wouldn't be one I'd leap to recommend. I'm tempted to reread the long Holmes stories every now and then, but I get so much more out of the shorter works - and there are more of them!
I think we felt the same about the group book. I didn’t enjoy it as much as I loved lady audleys secret. I’m not great at short stories
I don't think I'll be reading Lady Audley's Secret for a few years based on my experience with this one, although everyone seems to say it's better.
@ it was loads better than this one