Friday, April 20, 2012

April Posts for the Victorian Challenge – Emily Dickinson Month!


I hope everyone is enjoying spring so far! It has been a very hectic one for me and I have gotten behind on posting on Laura’s Reviews. I’m working on catching up, but I now find that half of April has passed me by and I have yet to put the link up for April’s posts. I apologize! We are finally closing the reviews on the month of March– Robert Louis Stevenson month. We had a total of 21 reviews. I listened to the audiobooks The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and Treasure Island by Stevenson. I also watched Muppet Treasure Island with my family. I was hoping to read and watch Kidnapped, but alas, I ran out of time.


Fittingly for National Poetry Month, April is Emily Dickinson month for the Victorian Challenge 2012. You can post any Victorian related item you like this month, but I am going to focus on Emily Dickinson and you are allowed to focus with me! We will hopefully have two guest blog posts on the Emily Dickinson before the end of the month also to celebrate. Please post your April reviews below in Mr. Linky (and not on the January, February, or March link-up). If you haven’t signed up for the challenge yet, go to this sign-up link.

Emily Elizabeth Dickinson was an American Poet born in Amherst, Massachusetts in 1830. After going to school at Amherst Academy and Mount Holyoke Female Seminary, Dickinson returned home to live the rest of her days as a recluse in white. Most of her relationships were carried about by letter, and she also wrote almost two thousand poems through the course of her life. Less than a dozen of these poems were published during her lifetime and they were considered radical poems for the Victorian era. Dickinson died in 1886. Her poems have been continuously in print since 1891.

It has been quite some time since I’ve read any of Emily Dickinson’s poetry. I have a collection of her poetry buried in one of my bookcases. I’m going to hunt it down this weekend and read it. Do you plan on reading any Dickinson this month? If so, what works of or about Emily Dickinson interest you?

I look forward to reading your reviews this month!

Please post the name of your blog followed by the item you reviewed. For example, Laura’s Reviews (The Complete Poems of Emily Dickinson).




13 comments:

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  2. I think Emily Dickinson's poems are deceptively simple. I remember a friend in college gave me a volume, and I thought "what's the fuss," but I kept on reading them and found them addictive.

    I just picked up this volume, and by chance it opened to this poem...

    New feet within my garden go,
    New fingers stir the sod;
    A troubadour upon the elm
    Betrays the solitude.

    New children play upon the green,
    New weary sleep below;
    And still the pensive spring returns,
    And still the punctual snow!

    I enjoyed your post--it's inspired me to add a bio of Dickinson to my reading list, and maybe check out the Victorian Challenge myself.

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  3. I adore Emily Dickinson and this has inspired me to either read (again) her collection of poems or do some searching for a bio. Thanks so much!

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  4. I've just posted a short review of a book which I didn't get very far with, now am reading "Afternoons with Emily" by Rose MacMurray

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  5. Did a review on teh book cover of Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Brontë. Hope it's all right, it's something I did for Classics Challenge.

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  6. Just a quick update (but not yet on my blog as I haven't finished Afternoons with Emily.

    So far I've read all about the girl's life (Ara, later calling herself Miranda) who ends up in Amherst USA and starts calling on Emily every Monday afternoon, turns out that Emily doesn't have any other visitors and scurries upstairs every time someone comes into the house. She does however have a number of male friends who she corresponds with.

    I won't finish by end of April, but I am well into it so far.

    regards
    Julie in Australia

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  7. I am really behind with reading and posts but have finally posted on Bleak House, a book I love. Didn't see a link for May so just posted it here hope that is okay. Thanks.

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  8. I've added links for April and May.

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  9. Keep posting your great reviews on this link for April. I just posted a summary of why I've been missing recently . . . and I will hopefully get the May link up by this weekend!

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  10. I am having trouble with post link showing up . . . on my own blog. Make sure to leave Laura's Reviews and return to check that your link shows up. Make sure to comment after posting!

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  11. I've just posted my link for my two Emily Dickinson books, one of some poetry and the other a book called Afternoons with Emily.

    Note: I've changed my blog to use a tab at the top (called Laura's Victorian Challenges: Book Reviews) for my reviews. I'll gradually add some of the earlier reviews here later.

    I've also done a review for an Arthur Conan Doyle book (his first novel!!), and will link that when the May link is up

    cheers
    Julie in Australia

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  12. At least being behind myself has helped others to catch up! I'm going to skip May (Sir Arthur Conan Doyle) and post June (George Eliot) hopefully this weekend. Any thoughts on whether I should make it the Doyle/Eliot month or just straight Eliot month?

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    1. I think the Doyle/Eliot month would be cool. It would give me a chance to catch up on Doyle related reading.

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