Every October I join a readathon called Victober. This is an event held on YouTube each year to celebrate Victorian literature. Four BookTubers (Kate, Katie, Marissa and Ross) organise this event. All you have to do to join is: read a book that was written in the Victorian period.

Victorian Literature: books written between 1837 and 1901 in the UK and Ireland.

This year, I thought we could read my victober TBR together! It's the fourth year I'm joining, and this year I decided to make a reading journal on The Storygraph for Milena's Bookshop. You can read my thoughts on the books while reading and leave comments if you are reading the book as well.

The books I want to read

1. The Doctor's Wife

by Mary Elizabeth Braddon

The Doctor's Wife is Mary Elizabeth Braddon's rewriting of Flaubert's Madame Bovary in which she explores her frustrated heroine's sense of entrapment and alienation in middle-class provincial life. This is the only edition of a fascinating work, and reproduces uncut the first edition of 1864. (read more..)

2. The Return of the Native

by Thomas Hardy

Eustacia Vye criss-crosses the wild Egdon Heath, eager to experience life to the full in her quest for 'music, poetry, passion, war'. She marries Clym Yeobright, native of the heath, but his idealism frustrates her romantic ambitions and her discontent draws others into a tangled web of deceit and unhappiness (read more...)

There will also be a live show on YouTube for this book.

3. The Grey Woman

by Elizabeth Gaskell

Elizabeth Gaskell is better known today for her pioneering social novels such as Mary Barton (1848) but she also wrote some fascinating tales of the supernatural and the macabre, which are collected here in this volume.

4. The Haunted Hotel

by Wilkie Collins

An eminent doctor is visited by a desperate woman with a question: am I evil, or insane? When the letters from Italian servant to his wife in London suddenly cease, she is convinced he has been murdered. In the darkened bedroom of a mouldering palazzo by the Grand Canal, an English lord sickens and suddenly dies. (read more...)

4. An Ideal Husband

by Oscar Wilde

Who would have thought a comedy of manners written more than a hundred years ago would still be so apt and so funny? Oscar Wilde was a genius of play-writing, and his deftness, wit and sharp eye for social satire keep audiences in thrall to this day. Alongside Earnest, discover a biblical tragedy retold (read more...)

5. Black Beauty

by Anna Sewell

Black Beauty is a perennial children’s favourite, one which has never been out of print since its publication in 1877. It is a moralistic tale of the life of the horse related in the form of an autobiography, describing the world through the eyes of the creature (read more...)

Want to listen to the audiobook versions?

Here's a handy playlist on libro.fm, with all the above titles.

If you get a membership now, you get 2 of these audiobooks for free!

Bookish Goodies for Victober

The video in which I discuss the books I want to read a bit further

🌼 about Milena's Bookshop 🌼

Milena’s Bookshop is a modern new and second-hand book store for classic works. Inclusivity, feminism, and curiosity are at our core. A combination of famous authors and forgotten names makes up the collection. Whether you’re looking for books second hand or new releases, we offer a range of literature. Both inside and outside the canon, classic literature gives a unique insight into the past. If you're wondering what books you should read, explore our curated collection, including a must-read book list called 'Milena's Favourites'. For those in the Netherlands, we are your New English bookstore and your go-to for 2e hands boek finds. Our love for authors is celebrated with cheerful bookmarks, cards, and more. All books and gifts are shipped from The Netherlands by a woman-owned independent bookshop. Plus, all packaging is plastic-free.

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