victober 25

I've talked about 'Victober 'on here before, though to my surprise I find it was back in 2022. It's a BookTube event that takes place during the month of October, when readers are encouraged to read a book published by a UK author in the Victorian era - during the reign of Queen Victoria 1837-1901.

The last time I took part in this challenge, or at least the last time I wrote about it on my blog was in October 2022. That year I read Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte, and The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson.

This year I will be choosing one of the books from the stack pictured below. Sorry the photo is a little murky and the book titles a little hard to read, but the books pictured (from bottom to top) are: Doctor Thorne by Anthony Trollope, David Copperfield by Charles Dickens, Ivanhoe by Walter Scott, and The Sign of Four by Arthur Conan Doyle.

Last time I took part in this challenge I didn't follow the letter of the rules and I may not this time either if I choose Ivanhoe. In my defence, I included it because it was published in 1819, seven months after Queen Victoria was born, so it was at least published in her lifetime. Also, Sir Walter Scott was one of her favourite authors. She chose one of his novels, Peveril of the Peak, to read aloud to Prince Albert when he was ill at the end of his life. She reached page 81, when Albert died, and kept that book with the bookmark still in place, marking that page, adding only a note on the inside cover to that effect.

Looking at this stack I might be inclined to head, first, for the Conan Doyle book. It's a Sherlock Holmes adventure and it's temptingly slim when compared to the other volumes. However, my heart is telling me to choose either the Trollope or the Dickens novel first. I'll toss a coin. I have an old Victorian farthing that'll do the trick.