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What are your favorite 19C books?

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Misfit
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Post by Misfit » Fri November 7th, 2008, 1:23 am

The only Hardy I've read so far is Far from the Madding Crowd and Tess. I have Jude on my pile, along with a couple of Dickens and Eliot when I'm back in the 19C mood. I read Bronte's Shirley a few months ago and it was a struggle to get through. So different from Jane Eyre and Villette.

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Vanessa
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Currently reading: The Farm at the Edge of the World by Sarah Vaughan
Interest in HF: The first historical novel I read was Katherine by Anya Seton and this sparked off my interest in this genre.
Favourite HF book: Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell!
Preferred HF: Any
Location: North Yorkshire, UK

Post by Vanessa » Fri November 7th, 2008, 11:52 am

I've read The Mayor of Casterbridge by Thomas Hardy and enjoyed it. His writing gets a little getting used to, though.
currently reading: My Books on Goodreads

Books are mirrors, you only see in them what you already have inside you ~ The Shadow of the Wind

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princess garnet
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Post by princess garnet » Fri November 7th, 2008, 3:26 pm

I had to read that book for my 11th grade honors English class in high school. Didn't like it.

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Leo62
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Post by Leo62 » Wed December 3rd, 2008, 4:19 pm

Predictable I'm afraid:

Middlemarch (the absolute tops)
North & South
Far from the Madding Crowd
Return of the Native
Bleak House
A Christmas Carol
Mansfield Park
The Time Machine - HG Wells
Dracula
Silas Marner

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boswellbaxter
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Post by boswellbaxter » Wed December 3rd, 2008, 4:57 pm

Nice to see someone else with Bleak House and Mansfield Park on the list!
Susan Higginbotham
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Leo62
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Post by Leo62 » Fri December 5th, 2008, 5:45 pm

[quote=""boswellbaxter""]Nice to see someone else with Bleak House and Mansfield Park on the list![/quote]

Gotta love Mansfield Park - it's my favourite Austen :D (despite the awful Billie Piper adaptation that was on recently...)

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AuntiePam
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Post by AuntiePam » Sun December 7th, 2008, 7:36 pm

[quote=""Catherine Delors""]
Au Bonheur des Dames, Germinal, and about anything else by Zola
[/quote]

I haven't read that one yet but it's on the shelf. I love Zola. Favorites are The Dram Shop, The Earth, Germinal, Pot Luck, and Therese Raquin.

I'm not very well-read in 19th century fiction, but I liked these very much:

New Grub Street by George Gissing
Fathers and Sons - Turgenev
Pere Goriot - Balzac

Oops, forgot Dracula -- I'm re-reading it now, actually. I'd forgotten how good it was. I'll put Frankenstein on the favorites list too.

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Christina
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Post by Christina » Thu February 5th, 2009, 10:31 pm

An interesting few minutes on a TV programme last night (which, unfortunately, I missed most of) threw a new insight into the death of Charlotte Bronte. I wish I had caught the entire story as it involved an author (I am ashamed to say I don't know who it was - it might even be someone who posts here!!) going around the parsonage and then speaking with people who suffered the same symptoms as Charlotte did in her last illness. From the little I saw, the author seemed to be saying that Charlotte didn't die of TB, as is generally believed, but of a rare condition affecting pregnant women (which is now treatable :-) ). Perhaps someone else saw the whole thing and knows more...

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Libby
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Post by Libby » Fri February 6th, 2009, 7:51 pm

Do you know what the programme was Christina? Or what channel? It may be available to watch again online and it sounds interesting.
By Loyalty Bound - the story of the mistress of Richard III.

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Christina
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Post by Christina » Thu February 12th, 2009, 10:56 pm

Libby, I'm so sorry for being so late getting back to your post so it's probably too late to answer, anyway. I can't remember if it was "Close Up North" or "Inside Out" - one of those early evening 'magazine' programmes from the north. I am sure that sooner or later, the author (the one whose name I've forgotten!), will produce a book or further details about it....

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