Thursday, December 20, 2012

Victorian Challenge Nov/Dec and Wrap-Up


I have been very neglectful of the Victorian Challenge. What I didn’t anticipate when I started the challenge was that I would be going back to work full time in May and developing a brand new environmental engineering technology degree at our local technical college. Between my new job and my family, I haven’t been able to devote myself to this challenge as I originally intended too. That is why you will note that I lost steam and the ability to keep up after May for the challenge. I had some great guest blogs the first half of the year that died off the second half. I sincerely apologize for all of those that signed up for this challenge.


I will not be hosting this challenge for 2013. What I will most likely do is either host a summer challenge in 2014 (my first summer off) or will focus on Victorian authors in summer months. What would sound best to you? Would you be interested in the future?

November was Lewis Carroll month and December is Louisa May Alcott month. I am thoroughly enjoying listening to Little Women, a digital audiobook with Christina Ricci as the narrator. I will post my review hopefully in the next week or two. What are your favorite novels by Carroll and Alcott? I myself was obsessed with Louisa May Alcott as a youth. I loved reading her biographies and especially her novels Little Women and An Old Fashioned Girl. I’ve read Rose in Bloom, Eight Cousins, etc., but strangely, I have never read Little Men or Jo’s Boys, even though I bought myself a copy of each as a youth with hard earned dollars. I have them both on my night stand and hope to get to them soon.

What was your favorite Victorian read this year? Who is your favorite Victorian author? Does Alcott’s Little Women or Dickens’s A Christmas Carol make it on your yearly Christmas reading list? Please share your thoughts.

Thank-you for being a part of this challenge. Please post any last entries or wrap-up posts below. If you don’t finish up this month, you can continue to add to this post in the future.

Post your  reviews below in the following format Laura’s Reviews (Little Women).


2 comments:

  1. No worries about not being so active here, I had my list of "who" to read each month and managed them all. It gave me great incentive to re-read many novels. I too am reading Little Women at the moment, and you mentioned A Christmas carol, well I read that too (prob for the 1st time, I have seen many TV versions, but if I had read it before it must have been long ago).

    OK, my all-time favourite (which was my choice before this challenge) is Anthony Trollope. His writing just makes me feel like reading out loud to share with others his witticisms and the sheer poetry of his writing.

    I've enjoyed both the previous challenge (Brontes)and this one. So thank you Laura, many a time we've enjoyed the same books, its great to share with like-minded people.

    I'm up for a 2014 challenge whenever, even if not for a full year.

    Good luck with your work sounds really interesting (I'm a biochemist).

    Could you add my email to a list to contact if you start another challenge? Would save me remembering to search for a new challenge

    All the best, I'll post my Dec review once I finish Little Women (LOL, I also dug out our copy of Little Men just like you!!)

    cheers
    Julie in Australia

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  2. Julie - Thanks for the great comment! I will definitely contact you when a new challenge is on board the summer of 2014.

    I love Anthony Trollope as well, I think he is often neglected as a great British author. Luckily I had a professor for "The British Novel" in college that adored Trollope. He introduced me to Barchester Towers and I always enjoyed how much he laughed at witty quotes from it.

    I should add on to this post (and will do in the future) that if anyone reads anything Victorian in the future, to come back to this challenge and post it. It would be great to still see what people are reading in the future - especially by author!

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