Good morning, it’s a perfect, autumnal-gloomy-type morning and I have a hefty to-do list to keep me company. I prayed for wisdom and clarity for the day and was so encouraged and inspired by Revelation 1! 😍😻♥️

~♥️listening♥️~

I so enjoyed relistening to The Canterville Ghost. I love this hilarious story by Oscar Wilde about an American family who inherits an English mansion with a ghost included. The ghost is VERY offended that the family isn’t scared of him! Highly recommend! This encouraged me to try The Importance of Being Earnest! I finally got around to listening to this play and it was so funny, too! I’m continuing my listening of The Pickwick Papers and I loved the Christmas chapter when Mr. Pickwick and his friends are celebrating at Mr. Wardle’s home. There are so many unique covers for this book. I had fun looking through them! Even though I’m listening, I occasionally look through my copy, because the illustrations are amazing! My non-Victober listen currently is The October Country by Bradbury! It took a long while to get the audio from the library! I’ve listened to half? of these before and his writing is PERFECT. These are creepy, but the kind of creepy that is delicious and delightful. 🎃

~♥️watching♥️~ I didn’t watch anything on film specifically for Victober, except Darryl’s music pieces and Kate’s lovely Blind Victorian Book Rating Series! I did watch a few Victober related Booktube videos!

~♥️reading♥️~ I finished Dr.Wortle’s School by Anthony Trollope with my local friends. I felt a wee bit distant from the characters, but loved the fascinating themes of how people in a small village are judged when a secret is revealed! How are we as Christians to treat others going through a hard time that has a scandalous tint to it? It really challenged me and made me think! 🤔 I also really enjoyed My Lady Ludlow by Elizabeth Gaskell, the only longer work of hers I hadn’t read. The widow Lady Ludlow is extremely interesting character as she is stuck in the aristocratic/hereditary views of her station and finds her principles coming up against the reality of life running a huge estate and her influence in the surrounding area. There were so many GREAT characters to love, root for, and be intrigued by in this shorter novel/novella? I came to appreciate Lady Ludlow’s dilemmas (and other characters tensions, too) even if I felt frustrated by her stubborn adherence to form and tradition. This had a couple long meanders, but otherwise, was so fantastic! I also thoroughly enjoyed slowly beginning tackling two nonfiction biographies about Elizabeth Gaskell and Charlotte Mason. I’m continuing these for Nonfiction November! I finally finished the gothic ‘horror’ Uncle Silas by J. Sheridan Le Fanu. Victorian ‘horror’ isn’t like today’s modern stuff, but leans more to the campy or psychological. I didn’t enjoy this book. Too very slow and then I absolutely hate gaslighting/manipulative characters especially over women who didn’t really have a lot of freedom or rights in Victorian inheritance issues. It gives me this trapped/claustrophobic feeling and I despise that! 😱😬 There was a little in the middle about a group of female friends (ironically, they all had M names!) that was more domestic and friendly, but this wasn’t for me. Ick. 😫

~♥️noticing♥️~ I noticed the beauty of Thomas Hardy’s nature writing before in his novels and thought I would love his poetry! I sure do! I noticed how observant he is about little things and details! I noticed that I’m enjoying finding out the fate of two impoverished sisters who get split up and shuffled between relatives! I’m still slowly reading Ayala’s Angel by Trollope and he’s again challenging conventions. Ayala has an idealistic idea of love and marriage, but the reality for poor middle class Victorian women was very different. I also BARELY dipped my toes into A Chaplet of Pearls by Charlotte Mary Yonge. I’m excited because I know nothing about that time period of history touching on French Huguenots ! The introduction by Yonge was fascinating and she also referenced a painting! I think it’s this one! I had SUCH a lovely Victober and made journal page to attempt one Victorian read a month in 2027! I hope to share it soon!

~♥️what are you listening to, watching, reading, or noticing?♥️~ Happiest Wednesday!