2012 Challenges: A Victorian Celebration (June and July)

A Literary Odyssey is hosting 'A Victorian Celebration' this summer--the months of June and July. This is just the kind of event that THRILLS me. Not that I ever need a real reason to read Victorian classics. But still. It is something I am really looking forward to!!! I hope to read six books:

1. Becoming Queen Victoria: The Tragic Death of Princess Charlotte and the Unexpected Rise of Britain's Greatest Monarch. Kate Williams.
2. The Princess and the Goblin. George MacDonald. 1872. 259 pages.
3. The Light Princess. George MacDonald. 1864. 110 pages.
4. Cousin Henry. Anthony Trollope. 1879. 336 pages.
5. Magnificent Obsession: Victoria, Albert, and the Death that Changed the British Monarchy. Helen Rappaport. 2012. St. Martin's Press. 352 pages.
6. Dombey and Son. Charles Dickens. 1846-1848. 880 pages.
7. Pickwick Papers & Our Mutual Friend Movie Reviews.
8. Diary of a Pilgrimage by Jerome K. Jerome
9. A Book of Cheerful Cats and Other Animated Animals
10. Murder in the First Class Carriage by Kate Colquhoun
11. Lin McLean by Owen Wister
12. The Yard by Alex Grecian
13. The Gathering Storm by Robin Bridges
14. Wild Romance by Chloe Schama
15. Suspicions of Mr. Whicher by Kate Summerscale
16. Idle Thoughts for an Idle Fellow by Jerome K. Jerome
17. The Princess and the Curdie by George MacDonald
18. Mrs. Robinson's Disgrace: The Private Diary of A Victorian Lady. Kate Summerscale.
19. Lorna Doone. R.D. Blackmore.
20. Lady Audley's Secret. Mary Elizabeth Braddon.
21. Clocks. Jerome K. Jerome.
22. Black Beauty. Anna Sewell.
23. After Dark. Wilkie Collins.
24. The Dead Witness: A Connoisseur's Collection of Victorian Detective Stories. Edited by Michael Sims

Anthony Trollope Possibilities:

• Can You Forgive Her? (1865)
• Phineas Finn (1869)
• The Eustace Diamonds (1873)

I could go on listing the Palliser novels, but the chances of me getting to finish even these first three is almost beyond belief. It's just too ambitious to think I can read them all this summer. (Phineas Redux, 1874; The Prime Minister, 1876; The Duke's Children, 1880).

Other Trollope possibilities in case I decide to read stand-alone novels:

• American Senator (1877), 
• Kellys and the O'Kelleys (1848), 
• Mr. Scarborough's Family (1883), 
• Miss MacKenzie (1865), 
• Cousin Henry (1879), 
• Orley Farm (1862), 
• The Claverings (1867), 
• Ayala's Angel (1881), 
• Vicar of Bullhampton (1870), 
• Rachel Ray (1863), 
• Belton Estate (1866), 
• Marian Fay (1882), 
• Is He Popenjoy? (1878), 
• Kept In the Dark (1882) 
• Sir Harry Hotspur of Humblethwaite (1871)
• Harry Heathcote of Gangoil (1874)
• Doctor Wortle's School (1881)

Elizabeth Gaskell Possibilities:

• Ruth (1853)
• The Life of Charlotte Bronte (1857)
• Wives and Daughters (1865)
• Sylvia's Lovers (1863)
• Cranford (1851-3)
• Mary Barton (1848)

Why no North and South?!?! Well, I'm halfway through this novel now, and I'm NOT going to wait until June to finish it!!!

Wilkie Collins Possibilities:

• The Law and the Lady (1875)
• No Name (1862)
• Man and Wife (1870)
• Armadale (1866)
• Haunted Hotel (1878)
• Miss or Mrs. (1873)
• Basil (1852)
• The Dead Secret (1857)  
• Hide and Seek (1854)
• A Rogue's Life (1879)
• Blind Love (1890)

 Margaret Oliphant Possibilities:

• Miss Marjoribanks (1866)
• Hester (1883)

Charlotte Mary Yonge:

• The Daisy Chain (1856)

Mary Elizabeth Braddon:

• Lady Audley's Secret (1862)
• The Trail of the Serpent (1860)

Charlotte Bronte Possibilities:

• Shirley (1849)
• Vilette (1853)
• The Professor (1857)

George MacDonald:

• The Princess and the Goblin (1872)
• At The Back of the North Wind (1871)
• The Light Princess (1864)

Charles Dickens Possibilities:

• Nicholas Nickleby (1839)
• Martin Chuzzlewit (1844)
• Our Mutual Friend (1865)
• Bleak House (1853)
• Pickwick Papers (1837)

George Eliot Possibilities:

• Adam Bede (1859)
• The Mill on the Floss (1860)
• Romola (1863)
• Felix Holt (1866)
• Daniel Deronda (1876) 

© 2012 Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews