#Victober 2019 TBR:

I’ve fallen out of love with Victorian literature recently. I haven’t touched a classic in months. They just don’t interest me anymore. And I can only blame my Masters.

I was reading Victorian lit constantly, either the original versions or modern takes on them. I studied them *so* intensely for a year. I couldn’t escape it. Reading classics started to feel like a chore, rather than something I turned to for pleasure.

I desperately want that to change. I miss reading Victorian literature. It means so much to me. #Victober has come at the perfect time. I’m hoping it’ll give my head a wobble and make me realise why I took a Masters degree in such a specific period in literature.

#Victober is a month-long celebration of literature written between 1837 to 1901. It can be fiction or non-fiction, poetry or prose, newspapers or magazine. The hosts have set their own challenges, and there’ll be a huge read along of Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest and A Woman of No Importance. Each host has set their own challenges but I won’t be prioritising these. I want to rediscover my love for Victorian literature, and whittling down my TBR to very specific challenges probably won’t help with that. If you want to find out more about the challenges though, here are the announcement videos: Katie | Lucy | Ange | Kate.

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JANE EYRE BY CHARLOTTE BRONTË:

This will be my fourth time reading Jane Eyre – my favourite book. I’ve been meaning to re-read all of the Brontë novels and annotate them; so far, I’ve only managed Wuthering Heights, but I’ve got Jane Eyre and Shirley up next. Jane Eyre is the reason I fell in love with Victorian literature, so I’m hoping it’ll knock some sense into me. This completes Ange’s and Kate’s challenges!

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Victorian Literature | Semester II:

As September draws nearer, I am one step closer to finishing uni *for good*. I’m to step into The Real World and I’m not ready. So, let’s prolong uni by writing my last ever module post, shall we? As with my undergrad (Year I, II, III:I & III:II) and the start of my masters (I:I), I thought I’d document the modules I chose and the books I was asked to study for the semester just gone!

I have to admit, semester II was the worst five months of my academic life. I had a lot of personal struggles, I fell out of love my degree & Victorian literature, and I lost all motivation to do well in my essays. I honestly stopped caring, which isn’t like me at all, because I usually love studying. (I’ll have a post dedicated to my masters experience going live soon if you want more info!)

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Dissertation Project:

Let’s start easy.

I had to choose and present my dissertation idea to a group of fellow Victorianists, which I then later wrote up in essay form. There was no required reading, I only had to attend a couple of lectures, and I only had two assignments (only one of them was marked). This module was more about refining my dissertation topic than anything else.

Bookish Highlights:

 

I had an idea.

I thought, every now and then, I would write a lil bookish highlights post. To document bookish things I’ve enjoyed, collected, attended, and so on and so forth. There has been quite a few exciting things recently, and I really wanted to chat about them, so here we are.

 

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NORTHERN YA LITERARY FESTIVAL

A book event? in the North? twenty minutes from my house? Can you believe it?

I’m making a trip home this weekend to lovely ol’ Blackpool to attend the Northern YA Literary Festival in Preston (and to smother my dog, who I haven’t seen in months). I haven’t signed up for much on the day, just a Feminism and Fantasy panel, as I’m not *that* glued up on YA anymore, but I’m mostly eager to buy loads of bookish things and talk to some fellow book bloggers!