Dorothea is an unforgettable character - it must have been quite a moment (the unlocking) when you read that scene. Eliot’s narrator’s voice is matchless.
Black Beauty was a very important read for me when I was 8 years old. I think I got it for my 8th birthday in August of 1956. I don't actually remember reading it the first time. But I remember rereading it almost immediately, especially during some time I had in the morning before walking to school in the 3rd grade. It made be understand that animals were conscious beings too and deserved to be treated with kindness. Of course at that age it lead to a whole raft of dog and pony books: Lassie Come Home, The Black Stallion, a bunch more books and TV series (Lassie, Fury, Flicker). A very important and influential book at that point in my life. Coming back to it over 60 years later, I find a lot more flaws in it. The anthropomorphic portrayal of animals, while it moved my eight-year-old brain to understand animals were conscious, does a disservice to actually empathizing with them to appreciate how differently they may see the world. But, I'm not really the target audience any more. Goblin Market I just came across within the past decade. It is really stunning. Recalling my father reading poems to me at bedtime when I was young from poetry anthologies we had around the house back then, I sometimes buy used, old poetry anthologies from the first half of the 20th century. Recently I bought a copy of An Anthology of Famous English and American Poetry published by The Modern Library in the early 1940s. The inscription in the front read: For Lois -- " ... sweet as May And light danced in her eyes." Mother and Father Christmas, 1966 After a little searching, I figured out that it was from Goblin Market. I'm guessing Lois's parents read to her and that Goblin Market was one of her favorites.
I read Black Beauty about 55 years ago. Last year I started Middlemarch, but got distracted and didn't get back to it. Now I need to start back at the beginning.
The Tenant of Widfell Hall by Anne Bronte is my unquestionable favorite If you want a book like Black Beauty but much much darker try White Fang by Jack London, it sticks with you like few books can
I’m currently half way through Middlemarch. It’s looong but I do enjoy the humour. I also like how she writes characters of different classes. Overall I’m still a Dickens girl though.
I can’t argue with your choices being wonderful! 🥰 Especially Jane & Middlemarch♥️♥️ I read Goblin Market a few years ago and have read more of her since. I agree it is her finest work. 😊 Black beauty and N&S are commentaries on the times that were so important and beautifully written.
I picked up North & South years ago and fell in love with Gaskell's story. It encouraged me to continue to study political economy. And Middlemarch is a part of my soul; I reference the last line regularly. As for "Withering" Heights... 🙃
Great choices. You always make me want to read Middlemarch - amazing when a book touches you so deeply. Black Beauty was such a childhood favourite of mine. Loved reading North and South together!
Loved hearing about your favourites. Jane Eyre was a gateway for me too and I adored it when I first read it as well. Have read The Tenant of Wildfell Hall? I am currently reading and loving it. I feel it could be a Shelly book. In terms of Oscar Wilde I recently read The Canterville Ghost and felt the same and I normally love his work. So don’t be put off by his other books based on that. 😉❤️
I’m reading Rossetti now for my dead female writers I’ve never read before challenge for the month. Goblin Market isn’t last, but I’m saving it for a strong finish and to read it multiple times, and I’ll make sure to do it aloud as well.
I have Middlemarch on my shelf but have been intimidated by its size. I need to make time for it. I also like Jane Eyre. This year for Victober I’m reading The Tenant of Wildfell Hall. I’m done with 60% so far and really enjoying it.
I really appreciate you sharing your experience with Middlemarch. I have DNF’d it like four times, but I want to climb that mountain and I’m not giving up!
I read Black Beauty when I was about 9 or 10 and loved it!! Robert Louis Stevenson, ACD and Stoker were more favs for me. Thanks for sharing your top 5!!
All I can say is thank you for adding to my reread list and I am looking forward to reading 📖 some of your amazing books 📚 prayers and blessings for you and your husband and family love your Aussie family friend John ❤❤❤George Elliot is amazing and brilliant author ✍️
Wow, we really do agree on classics, even down to disliking Cranford, but liking North and South, BTW Mary Barton is similar to North and South. That experience you had with Dorothea, I had something similar with Rosamond. Also, I just generally felt seen by some of Fred's actions. Haha, that last paragraph makes me sound like a selfish narcissistic idiot.
The 5 best Victorian novels according to you - all were written by women. My gender-neutral list of best Victorian novels: 1. _Jane Eyre_ by Charlotte Bronte 2. _Great Expectations_ by Charles Dickens 3. _Vanity Fair_ by William Makepeace Thackeray 4. _Wuthering Heights_ by Emily Bronte 5. _Aurora Leigh_ by Elizabeth Barrett Browning
I had "Goblin Market" in my master's syllabus. I read _Jane Eyre_ in an abridged and simplified form when I was in school. _Black Beauty_ was one of the first 3 novels I ever read (the others being _Robinson Crusoe_ and _Heidi_). But I haven't read _North and South_ and _Middlemarch_ so my knowledge about these two is very scarce. These are good but you should have made six and included _Great Expectations._ It is one of the best books I ever came across. Anyway, pardon me if I sounded rude. Thank you for this discussion.
@@mynameissiddharth I would love to include some Dickens, but I'm actually not super well-versed in this subject and have large gaps, Dickens is one of them.
Dorothea is an unforgettable character - it must have been quite a moment (the unlocking) when you read that scene. Eliot’s narrator’s voice is matchless.
Yes! THE Dorothea scene was really incredible.
Black Beauty was a very important read for me when I was 8 years old. I think I got it for my 8th birthday in August of 1956. I don't actually remember reading it the first time. But I remember rereading it almost immediately, especially during some time I had in the morning before walking to school in the 3rd grade. It made be understand that animals were conscious beings too and deserved to be treated with kindness. Of course at that age it lead to a whole raft of dog and pony books: Lassie Come Home, The Black Stallion, a bunch more books and TV series (Lassie, Fury, Flicker). A very important and influential book at that point in my life. Coming back to it over 60 years later, I find a lot more flaws in it. The anthropomorphic portrayal of animals, while it moved my eight-year-old brain to understand animals were conscious, does a disservice to actually empathizing with them to appreciate how differently they may see the world. But, I'm not really the target audience any more.
Goblin Market I just came across within the past decade. It is really stunning. Recalling my father reading poems to me at bedtime when I was young from poetry anthologies we had around the house back then, I sometimes buy used, old poetry anthologies from the first half of the 20th century. Recently I bought a copy of An Anthology of Famous English and American Poetry published by The Modern Library in the early 1940s. The inscription in the front read:
For Lois --
" ... sweet as May
And light danced in her eyes."
Mother and Father
Christmas, 1966
After a little searching, I figured out that it was from Goblin Market. I'm guessing Lois's parents read to her and that Goblin Market was one of her favorites.
Thank you for sharing!
I read Black Beauty about 55 years ago. Last year I started Middlemarch, but got distracted and didn't get back to it. Now I need to start back at the beginning.
Loved Middlemarch! I cannot stop praising it. :)
The Tenant of Widfell Hall by Anne Bronte is my unquestionable favorite
If you want a book like Black Beauty but much much darker try White Fang by Jack London, it sticks with you like few books can
Okay, The Tenant is going on my official TBR.
I’m currently half way through Middlemarch. It’s looong but I do enjoy the humour. I also like how she writes characters of different classes. Overall I’m still a Dickens girl though.
I want to be a Dickens girl! I really need to read more of him soon! :)
I can’t argue with your choices being wonderful! 🥰
Especially Jane & Middlemarch♥️♥️
I read Goblin Market a few years ago and have read more of her since. I agree it is her finest work. 😊
Black beauty and N&S are commentaries on the times that were so important and beautifully written.
The real question - what are your top five Victorian novels?
@@Shellyish 🤣😂😅
Definitely Jane Eyre, Nicholas Nickleby, Wives and Daughters - the other 2 would be murky.
I picked up North & South years ago and fell in love with Gaskell's story. It encouraged me to continue to study political economy. And Middlemarch is a part of my soul; I reference the last line regularly.
As for "Withering" Heights... 🙃
HA! "Withering" yes! I'll have to go back and read that last line of Middlemarch! :)
Withering Heights.😂 Totally agree DNF.
Great choices. You always make me want to read Middlemarch - amazing when a book touches you so deeply. Black Beauty was such a childhood favourite of mine. Loved reading North and South together!
Oh yes! North and South together was such a highlight of last year! :)
Loved hearing about your favourites. Jane Eyre was a gateway for me too and I adored it when I first read it as well. Have read The Tenant of Wildfell Hall? I am currently reading and loving it. I feel it could be a Shelly book.
In terms of Oscar Wilde I recently read The Canterville Ghost and felt the same and I normally love his work. So don’t be put off by his other books based on that. 😉❤️
I haven't read The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, but I think it's a book that I'll love! :)
It always make me happy hearing love for Middlemarch. And I agree Goblin Market is Rossetti's finest work.
Middlemarch is excellent and I just love Goblin Market. :)
I’m reading Rossetti now for my dead female writers I’ve never read before challenge for the month. Goblin Market isn’t last, but I’m saving it for a strong finish and to read it multiple times, and I’ll make sure to do it aloud as well.
Enjoy! It's a real treat!
I also have Jane Eyre and North and South in my top 5 Victorian books. I also really liked Black Beauty 🤗
All great choices!!
Wuthering Heights is astounding! Unlike any other novel of the time. Hope you reread it someday.
Maybe I will!
I have Middlemarch on my shelf but have been intimidated by its size. I need to make time for it. I also like Jane Eyre. This year for Victober I’m reading The Tenant of Wildfell Hall. I’m done with 60% so far and really enjoying it.
I really want to read The Tenant next year! :)
I really appreciate you sharing your experience with Middlemarch. I have DNF’d it like four times, but I want to climb that mountain and I’m not giving up!
You can do it!
I read Black Beauty when I was about 9 or 10 and loved it!! Robert Louis Stevenson, ACD and Stoker were more favs for me. Thanks for sharing your top 5!!
ACD? And thanks for sharing some of your favs! :)
@@ShellyishAuthur Conan Doyle
Jane Eyre, Middlemarch, and North and South would all be in my list too but I haven't read the others so maybe I should!
What else is on your list?
All I can say is thank you for adding to my reread list and I am looking forward to reading 📖 some of your amazing books 📚 prayers and blessings for you and your husband and family love your Aussie family friend John ❤❤❤George Elliot is amazing and brilliant author ✍️
You're so welcome! Blessings to you as well!
@@Shellyish thank you very much 🧡🧡🧡
Wow, we really do agree on classics, even down to disliking Cranford, but liking North and South, BTW Mary Barton is similar to North and South.
That experience you had with Dorothea, I had something similar with Rosamond. Also, I just generally felt seen by some of Fred's actions.
Haha, that last paragraph makes me sound like a selfish narcissistic idiot.
Wait a second! Wait a second! We agree? I feel like one of us has changed... could it be?
Awe... I love Black Beauty! And I love how that story touched your heart. So sweet! 🥰
Thank you!! :)
I have been wanting to read north and south, but I was afraid I would be disappointed by it
Enjoy!
Circuitous is my word of the day now
Ha! Love that!
Hi in North and South, are we talking about The Civil War era.?
No, we’re chatting about the Victorian era. ☺️
The little girl calling out for mommy, made me laugh.
My children have a way of making cameos.
The 5 best Victorian novels according to you - all were written by women.
My gender-neutral list of best Victorian novels:
1. _Jane Eyre_ by Charlotte Bronte
2. _Great Expectations_ by Charles Dickens
3. _Vanity Fair_ by William Makepeace Thackeray
4. _Wuthering Heights_ by Emily Bronte
5. _Aurora Leigh_ by Elizabeth Barrett Browning
I honestly didn't consider the gender. These 5 novels are truly my favorite or the best (according to me) which is really subjective.
I had "Goblin Market" in my master's syllabus. I read _Jane Eyre_ in an abridged and simplified form when I was in school. _Black Beauty_ was one of the first 3 novels I ever read (the others being _Robinson Crusoe_ and _Heidi_). But I haven't read _North and South_ and _Middlemarch_ so my knowledge about these two is very scarce. These are good but you should have made six and included _Great Expectations._ It is one of the best books I ever came across.
Anyway, pardon me if I sounded rude. Thank you for this discussion.
@@mynameissiddharth I would love to include some Dickens, but I'm actually not super well-versed in this subject and have large gaps, Dickens is one of them.
I hope to never forget Joe.
❤️📚❤️
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