Villette Read-a-Long: Starting Post
I love the fact that so many people are interested in reading Villette with me! I started asking around thinking no one would bite, but lo and behold we have quite a crowd! I’m sure Charlotte Bronte would be pleased that we are all ready to tackle her lesser known, but highly acclaimed work.
And now, without further ado, I present…
Schedule:
Beginning Tuesday, February 1st and ending Thursday, March 31st
READING SCHEDULE:
Week #/ dates :: Chapters to Read
Week One/ February 1st-7th :: ch. 1-5 (i.e. read chapters 1, 2, 3, 4, & 5)
Week Two/ February 8th-14th :: ch. 6-10
Week Three/ February 15th-21st :: ch. 11-15
Week Four/ February 22nd-28th :: ch. 16-20
Week Five/ March 1st-March 7th :: ch. 21-25
Week Six/ March 8th-March 14th :: ch. 26-30
Week Seven/ March 15th-March 21st :: ch. 31-35
Week Eight/ March 22-March 28th :: ch. 36-42 (7 chapters to read on this last week, but extra days… see below)
Catch up days, and extra days to process book before final review :: March 29th-31st.
POSTING SCHEDULE:
Post #/ date post should be up on blog:
Start up Post/ February 3 (if you haven’t already posted letting your readers know you are doing the read along)
Week One Review/ February 10
Week Two Review/ February 17
Week Three Review/ February 24
Week Four Review/ March 3
Week Five Review/ March 10
Week Six Review/ March 17
Week Seven Review/ March 24
Final Review/ March 31
***don’t forget to come to this blog and post the link to your weekly review in the comments section of my weekly Villette review (see below for more information)
How it Works:
- Each week, on Thursday, post your thoughts about the previous week’s reading. If you are stuck on what to post about, you can use these discussion questions to get you started. (***Alex brought up a good point in the comments below. If you have already written your starting post, you do not need to post on Thursday Feb. 3. If you haven’t, you can use that first Thursday to post about the read-a-long and let your readers know about the book.)
- Come here, to Unputdownables, and put the link to your post in the comments section (and take a minute to visit others’ blogs to see what they’ve thought of the reading). If you do not have a blog, feel free to post your thoughts on the reading directly in the comments section. *please refrain from posting ahead, even if you have read ahead, as to not spoil the book for others*
- Feel free to use the read-a-long button from above in your posts or sidebars (please make sure it links back to this blog, though).
Background Information:
About the book:
With her final novel, Villette, Charlotte Bronte reached the height of her artistic power. First published in 1853, Villette is Bronte’s most accomplished and deeply felt work, eclipsing even Jane Eyre in critical acclaim.
Bronte’s narrator, the autobiographical Lucy Snowe, flees England and a tragic past to become an instructor in a French boarding school in the town of Villette. There, she unexpectedly confronts her feelings of love and longing as she witnesses the fitful romance between Dr. John, a handsome young Englishman, and Ginerva Fanshawe, a beautiful coquetter.
This first pain brings others, and with them comes the heartache Lucy has tried so long to escape. Yet in spite of adversity and disappointment, Lucy Snowe survives to recount the unstinting vision of a turbulent life’s journey—a journey that is one of the most insightful fictional studies of a woman’s consciousness in English literature. (from Knopf)
About Charlotte Bronte:
• Birth—April 21, 1816
• Where—Thornton, Yorkshire, England, UK
• Death—March 31, 1855
• Where—Haworth, West Yorkshire
• Education—Clergy Daughters’ School at Cowan Bridge in
Lancashire; Miss Wooler’s School at Roe Head
Charlotte Brontë was born on April 21, 1816, in Thornton, Yorkshire, in the north of England, the third child of the Reverend Patrick Brontë and Maria Branwell Brontë. In 1820 the family moved to neighboring Haworth, where Reverend Brontë was offered a lifetime curacy. The following year Mrs. Brontë died of cancer, and her sister, Elizabeth Branwell, moved in to help raise the six children. The four eldest sisters — Charlotte, Emily, Maria, and Elizabeth — attended Cowan Bridge School, until Maria and Elizabeth contracted what was probably tuberculosis and died within months of each other, at which point Charlotte and Emily returned home. The four remaining siblings — Charlotte, Branwell, Emily, and Anne — played on the Yorkshire moors and dreamed up fanciful, fabled worlds, creating a constant stream of tales, such as theYoung Men plays (1826) and Our Fellows (1827).
Reverend Brontë kept his children abreast of current events; among these were the 1829 parliamentary debates centering on the Catholic Question, in which the Duke of Wellington was a leading voice. Charlotte’s awareness of politics filtered into her fictional creations, as in the siblings’ saga The Islanders(1827), about an imaginary world peopled with the Brontë children’s real-life heroes, in which Wellington plays a central role as Charlotte’s chosen character.
Throughout her childhood, Charlotte had access to the circulating library at the nearby town of Keighley. She knew the Bible and read the works of Shakespeare, George Gordon, Lord Byron, and Sir Walter Scott, and she particularly admired William Wordsworth and Robert Southey. In 1831 and 1832, Charlotte attended Miss Wooler’s school at Roe Head, and she returned there as a teacher from 1835 to 1838. After working for a couple of years as a governess, Charlotte, with her sister Emily, traveled to Brussels to study, with the goal of opening their own school, but this dream did not materialize once she returned to Haworth in 1844.
In 1846 the sisters published their collected poems under the pen names Currer (Charlotte), Ellis (Emily), and Acton (Anne) Bell. That same year Charlotte finished her first novel, The Professor, but it was not accepted for publication.
However, she began work on Jane Eyre, which was published in 1847 and met with instant success. Though some critics saw impropriety in the core of the story — the relationship between a middle-aged man and the young, naive governess who works for him — most reviewers praised the novel, helping to ensure its popularity. One of Charlotte’s literary heroes, William Makepeace Thackeray, wrote her a letter to express his enjoyment of the novel and to praise her writing style, as did the influential literary critic G. H. Lewes.
Following the deaths of Branwell and Emily Brontë in 1848 and Anne in 1849, Charlotte made trips to London, where she began to move in literary circles that included such luminaries as Thackeray, whom she met for the first time in 1849; his daughter described Brontë as “a tiny, delicate, serious, little lady.” In 1850 she met the noted British writer Elizabeth Gaskell, with whom she formed a lasting friendship and who, at the request of Reverend Brontë, later became her biographer. Charlotte’s novel Villette was published in 1853.
In 1854 Charlotte married Arthur Bell Nicholls, a curate at Haworth who worked with her father. Less than a year later, however, she fell seriously ill, perhaps with tuberculosis, and she died on March 31, 1855. At the time of her death, Charlotte Brontë was a celebrated author. The 1857 publication of her first novel, The Professor, and of Gaskell’s biography of her life only heightened her renown.
Extra
Sadly, Brontë died during her first pregnancy. While her death certificate lists the cause of death as “phthisis” (tuberculosis), there is a school of thought that believes she may have died from excessive vomiting caused by morning sickness. (Biography from the Barnes & Noble Classics edition.)
(About the book and author information from Lit Lovers)
Who’s Reading Along:
A Bookish Way of Life
Lit-Snit
Fingers and Prose
Mady
The Perpetual Page Turner
@So_Meow
The Sleepless Reader
Boomerang Books
Katie
@jackiemania
Books and Chocolate
Dolce Bellezza
FleurFisher
Tahleen’s Mixed-Up Files
Polishing Mud Balls
@elesscom
She is Too Fond of Books
Booksploring
Literary Endeavors
Coffee and a Book Chick
Susan E.
Libellule
Savvy Verse & Wit
Must Read Faster
Readings and Things
Under the Boardwalk
Books and Movies
The House of the Seven Tails
Cousins Read
Charlie Dryden
The Road Goes Ever Ever On
Page After Page
1More Chapter
(If you are participating and I don’t have you on this list, please let me know. I did not include people who said ‘maybe’ so if you have changed your mind and are definitely reading along with us, let me know so I can add you. Also, if you are not going to be able to join us anymore please let me know and I will take you off the list. If you go for two weeks without sharing the link for your weekly update in my weekly update comments section, I will assume you are no longer participating and will take you off of the list. Thanks!)
Trackbacks
- Villette Read-along & the Brontës in Brussels « The Sleepless Reader
- February Group Reading | Libellule
- February Reading « Cousins Read
- Ready, Set, Go! 48 Hour TBR Read-a-Thon Kick Off… « Unputdownables
- In Closing: Smashing Good Time at the Winter TBR Read-a-Thon « Unputdownables
- Villette: Week One | Libellule
- Villette Read-along: Week 1 | BOOKS AND MOVIES
- Villette Read-a-Long :: Week Four « Unputdownables
Looking forward to this. Does this mean the first post should go up on Thursday, 3 February?
You don’t have to post that first Thursday, but I figured it could be a bit of a starting post day for everyone in case they had already scheduled posts for the beginning of next week. I decided posts on Thursdays are better because (according to our schedule) that will mean we have two days to digest the book before our very last post is supposed to be posted on the last day of March. I’ll make a note in the post letting people know this… good question, Alex!
I am glad to see this question asked. I too had the same question, and now it is all cleared up. Thanks. Look forward to starting the book.
Excessive vomiting due to morning sickness? That’s one of the most horrible things I’ve ever heard. The 19th century really sucked in so many ways :S
Good luck, read-a-long-ers!
Haha, yes because that NEVER happens in the 21st century (not the dying part — can you imagine?!?, but excessive morning sickness — yuck and boo). How are you holding up there, Mrs. Preggers?
Thank you for getting us all together for this read along. I don’t have a blog, but I’ll post in comments for my participation. Yay!
Perfect, glad to have you participating!
I look forward to starting this, it’s been on my to-read shelf far too long. Thanks for motivating me to read it!
You’re welcome, thanks for participating. It’ll make reading it that much more fun for ME!
Please add me to the list of readers: @elesscom
Also, it would help if you put the dates on the chapter schedule, so that we know what week # corresponds to what week on the calendar …
Looking forward to participating …
I have added you, and I can put up the dates in a bit. Glad you’re joining.
I’m so glad there are some definite date/chapter requirements…I don’t think I’d get it done otherwise! I need to pull out my book and start getting in the mood.
Me too… need to start amping up for two months of Villette! Might try to read the intro this weekend to get the juices flowing.
I have had Villette on my tbr for several years, what a great motivation to read it! Please sign me up and thanks for hosting.
You are signed up! Glad to have you.
Hoorah – i have the book and am itching to get started!
Good! Like I said to Melody, I might read the intro this weekend so I can have some background and get going on Chapter one at the beginning of next week… so glad others are excited too!
Oh! This is perfect! I started reading Villette about two weeks ago. Is it too late to join in?
Wonderful timing! It’s absolutely not too late to get started, and yay for you — you have an advantage of being ahead on the reading. I have added you to the list, glad you’re joining in!
I was tempted, but I think Ulysses will take up most of my brain cells in February and March. (Also, I saw the size of this in the bookstore!)
Yes… quite a chunky read. My gosh, Ulysses and Villette would do me in as well (and not leave much time for any other reading). I think you’ve made a wise choice, though we will miss having you be part of the discussion. If you end up changing your mind, you can join in at any time!
Ooh, I’ve not read this one and had no idea it was so critically acclaimed. I’m in.
Welcome, I’ve added you to the list.
Woot woot! I’m now officially joining! And, I changed the button on my sidebar, too! Can’t wait!
Yahoo! You’re on the list. Love the enthusiasm!
If it’s not too late, I’d like to participate. Have been meaning to read this for years but never got to it; I think the structure and fellowship of your readalong sound great!
Not too late at all… you are officially on the list. Glad to have you!
Okay, I’m officially joining and very excited about it!
Fantastic! Excited to have you. You are on the list now.
I can’t wait to start reading this book. I’ve officially signed up with a few caveats: http://savvyverseandwit.com/2011/01/villette-read-a-long.html
I hope you don’t mind. I’m going to participate as much as I can before and after the baby is born, but I will keep reading along.
Great, no problem at all. Glad to have you reading with us during such an exciting time!
Thanks. I’m looking forward to our first child, but nervous as well since I’ve never done this before!
I really want to still read while taking care of her and commenting…so we’ll see how it goes. I haven’t been accepting review copies for a while now to keep a few months lax and open. Thanks for including me. I hope not to go longer than 2 weeks without posting. I will do my best!
Don’t worry the two week thing doesn’t apply to you! You’ve already let me know that you will be in and out because of new baby, so it’s a unique situation. It’s just the easiest way for me to keep track of who’s fallen away from the read-a-thon and I don’t want to have a bunch of links on each post if people aren’t still participating (that would be frustrating to the others who are being diligent in checking their fellow reader’s blogs). We all know that you are going to be doing the most you can and will have something MUCH more important to keep track of.
Thanks so much. I think this will be fun.
I would like to be included too! I have gotten my ebook loaded up on my nook and can’t wait! I’ve been trying to get more classic novels in and definitely had this one on the list!
Melissa
Perfect, you are all ready to go and now you are signed up to boot. Glad to have you!
Do you have room for one more? I just discovered your readalong and would love to join in. According to the cover of my book, Virginia Woolf thought Villette was better than Jane Eyre. I can’t wait to see for myself.
Of course! I know… isn’t that exciting? It makes me very curious to know I’m going to be reading something that Woolf liked so much!
I’m in. I discovered Davina Porter narrates the audiobook so I rushed to the library to get it and download it on the iPod!
Oh good, I’ll be interested in hearing how the audio book is. You’re officially on the list, welcome!
I’m definitely in – just copied the reading schedule down on the bookmark I’ll be using.
What a good idea! Glad you’re joining.
I just found out about this readalong and was hoping I can still join in. I will be a little behind at first but will be sure to keep up. I’ve wanted to read Villette for a long time…it’s the only book by the Bronte’s I’ve never read.
Please let me know! Thank you!
~ Amy
You’re just in time. We start tomorrow. Glad to have you; I’ll add you to this list right now!
OK, ladies: In part b/c I want to finish “The Marriage Artist” without too many more interruptions, I gave full attention to “Villette” tonight and have finished (yikes) this week’s reading. It’s been a while since I’ve read mid-19th C. lit, so was immediately thrilled to see the writing styles I’d long forgotten and the way characters just appear and disappear without a lot of fuss & muss. Time to move the narrative along? Get rid of so-and-so and give Lucy a reason to pick up & start anew. Also chuckled at one line — these are the days of miracles” — followed soon after by some wonderment, but highly doubt that Paul Simon’s line about “these are the days of miracles and wonders” was inspired by Ms. Bronte’s writing! Still, it reminded me of the timelessness of great writing. Now off to finish “The Marriage Artist” so I can regroup with Lucy and see where Bronte next takes her. —
p.s. I’m very thrilled to be part of this read-along, my first. Nice to see that those of us who spend too much time in 140-character ideas can connect with long-form literature, too.
~Thanks for the wonderful bio and background! You packed it with information and painted a vivid picture of Charlotte’s life and circumstances. I can just see the siblings running on the moors, their imaginations running wild alongside them. Death was more a part of everyday life then than we could ever imagine…but with the acceptance of that must have come a fierce appreciation of each day that is sadly missing now, despite our best attempts to “carpe diem.” Really interested now in reading the Islanders and The Professor…and Elizabeth Gaskell’s biography of Charlotte will, I think, be a must-read for all of us! But first–Villette!!~
Hi, is it too late to join in?
Nope! Jump on in, glad to have you.
Hi there. Yet another person asking if it’s too late to join in? I popped over the other day after seeing the link on Bronte Blog, and then proceeded to be crazy busy at work and forgot. I have read Villette before, but am looking forward to joining in and sharing others ideas.
No, you’re welcome to join. We are in week one, and will be posting next Thursday to check in.
I’m in, of course, and have just completed my post for Chapters 1 through 5 which I will post on Thursday, February 10. Or, so I understand that’s when I should. If I’m wrong, let me know. Otherwise, I’m loving this book! So intrigued by Lucy Snowe and where she will go in life…
Yes, that’s when. My post will be up also, so you will be able to link your first week in the comments section.
I came across this challenge a little late–I started the book today and liked it so much that I could not stick to the schedule. I’m to chapter 14
Haha, that’s great! Looking forward to your thoughts on chapters 1-5 this Thursday. Will add you to the list.
I know I am late to join, but I just found this and it has struck a cord. Can I still join? My sign up post:
http://pageafterpage-kim.blogspot.com/2011/02/for-love-of-heaven.html
Thanks!
I will add you to the list now!
I’m participating! I just read the first 5 chapters today. I’m not going to post on my blog about it until Thursday, though. Please add me to the list — I’m looking forward to the discussion!
Great, perfect… Thursday is the day — you can post your update link in the comment section of my Ch. 1-5 post on Thursday if you want to. I will add you to the list now!
I didn’t find the Week One post… should I post it here?
http://tahleenreads.blogspot.com/2011/02/villette-readalong-week-one.html
Hi! Each week, there will be a couple of days between finishing the week’s reading and putting up the post. Time to reflect and put together the post. So, our week’s reading will usually end around Monday, but you won’t have to post until Thursday. The post for the first week’s reading will be this Thursday, February 10th. You are welcome to keep your link here in this post, but more people will see it if you wait until this Thursday and post it in the comment section of my first Villette update. Hopefully that makes sense!
(I’ll update the above post with subsequent posting dates– hopefully that will help).
Okay, thanks! I must have missed it when you said it… sometimes I skim things I shouldn’t. I’ll repost it there.
Not to worry — there was a LOT of information in that post. I would have skimmed it too.
Sorry! I’m late getting my starting post up, but I’ll have my chapter 1-5 up tomorrow
http://lit-snit.blogspot.com/2011/02/villette-read-long.html
Here’s my link for Chapters 1-5: http://savvyverseandwit.com/2011/02/villette-by-charlotte-bronte-read-a-long-part-1.html
Here is my Week 1 post:
http://booksandmovies.colvilleblogger.com/2011/02/10/villette-read-along-week-1/
Hi Carrie! I think you posted this about 2 minutes before today’s post went up. Feel free to post your link again in today’s Week One post so others can find it easily, and come visit your blog.
Totally had intended to sign up to join you and then forgot. Hope it’s not too late to join! I’ll do a catch up post on Thursday for both weeks if it’s okay.