The Posthumous Memoirs of Brás Cubas
One minute you’re reading an extended metaphor about moths, and the next you’re musing about the function of legs along with the narrator before being pleasantly plopped back into the story.
19th Century
19th Century works were written between 1800 and 1899.
These were the years where the novel flourished. The beginning of genre fiction was developed during this century, as were modern novel structures. Styles of the 19th century include Realism and many early forms of verisimilitude.
This era covers from the Romantic Era through the Victorian Era. Here is where you can find most ‘classic’ works of fiction, as defined by your high school English class.
You are viewing 19th Century reviews.
You can view all other eras/movements, or you can search by language/region, genre, editor/translator, book authors, or year of edition.
Zastrozzi & St Irvyne
There’s a moment in Sunset Boulevard where William Holden’s character Joe Gillis takes Norma Desmond’s (played by Gloria Swanson) script in his hand. That’s what I was reminded of reading these two novellas.
French Decadent Tales
I saw the Oxford World’s Classics French Decadent Tales sitting on my local independent bookstore’s shelf and I got so excited. French Decadence was a movement that did so much to further the form of the short story in general, but it also has all of those dark stories to tell at twilight that I can’t get enough of.
A Christmas Carol
The story is one that has been told so many times, but it’s one that has long withstood the test of time. In fact, it’s hard to believe that A Christmas Carol is nearly 200 years old.
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn
They are clothbound and beautiful with the perfect size of margins and type. Both books nestle into a sturdy slipcase with gold type and a full colour illustration of Sawyer tricking one of his peers into doing his chore for him, painted by Norman Rockwell.
The Open Door and Other Stories of the Seen and Unseen
It’s surprising that her name seems mostly lost to time — like the grand majority female writers of the Victorian era. What makes it more of a tragedy in Oliphant’s case is that her work is quite good — even better than a lot of writers whose names I’ve seen on the more mainstream ghost story anthologies.
Scenes and Characters
I was gifted Charlotte M Yonge’s writing because she had such a presence for other writers. She was thought of so highly among her contemporaries.
Chill Tidings
my local independent bookstore called to inform me that my copy of the British Library’s (Tales of the Weird Collection) Chill Tidings had arrived. That made a Christmas in July post impossible to resist.
The Pickwick Papers
When I think about our little car and the time spent in it, I have a hard time imagining what it must have been like travelling by coach across the England.
Three Men in a Boat (To Say Nothing of the Dog)
The views of the river and the details of the water winding its way through the sleepy countryside makes the reader want to rent a boat immediately and get to any water close by.