Uploaded September 2025 | Updated September 2026, 3 weeks ago
0:00 Welcome to the tenth year of Victober.
Join the vibrant Victober conversation on Discord discord.gg/u6Dam2wrYZ
The other nine hosts:
Katie @katiejlumsden youtu.be/_RWZlJaUU-E
Kate @katehowereads youtu.be/HmcjpgJwayE?si=Q5Mi6IEhj1mX6EFQ
Marissa @BlatantlyBookish youtu.be/ztsTdAcdmcw
Jess instagram.com/dickens.and.docks
youtube.com/@dickens-and-docks youtu.be/qMttOTjhLVk?si=Lr5F1EdkWzEBQsdW
Roy @royreadsanything youtu.be/W7Knn7Owbec?si=6pE-QV4OWAF4OJ6J
Hannah @HannahsBooks youtu.be/ZrN1y5VK3Z4
Elizabeth @elizabethaliteraryprincess youtu.be/Egpr2t6NQIQ
Milena @MilenaReads youtu.be/ExhyaqrJff0?si=f-XxrRv_IBRYeUaa
Catherine @takingteawithcatherine youtu.be/cRWSGhLwkFk?si=ruaaSZLl_BAQuP46
4:10 The group read:
Hester by Margaret Oliphant
Schedule is two chapters a day 1-21st October and last three on 22nd. Discussion happening on Discord.
6:26 The challenges:
Get a checklist/bingo card created by Roy drive.google.com/file/d/168mYn9yPWY1WbAvZZqAoC6Ny3IjCm_O8/view?usp=drivesdk
1. Kate’s challenge: Read a Victorian book where friendship is featured
2. Katie’s challenge: Read a work of Victorian literature that is not a novel (i.e. a play, short story, poem or work of non-fiction
3. Marissa’s challenge: Read a work of Victorian literature where a character experiences a change in class status (social mobility, rags to riches, fallen women, etc.)
4. Ros’s (my) challenge: Empire spotting: see how many times you can spot signs of the Empire in your Victober reading
5. Elizabeth’s challenge: Read a work by an underrated Victorian woman writer (meaning not the Brontes, Elizabeth Gaskell, George Eliot, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, or Christina Rossetti)
6. Hannah’s challenge: Read a Victorian work that discusses education
7. Jess’s challenge: Step back in time—read a Victorian work set in a different era
8. Milena’s challenge: Spin a (digital) colourwheel and pick a Victorian book with a cover that primarily features that colour. You can pick any edition
9. Roy’s challenge: Read a Victorian work of fantasy
10. Catherine’s challenge: Read a Victorian book that has a connection to Jane Austen
The Victober challenge success scale (as suggested by Kate):
Completed 1–3 challenges = Mr Micawber level
Completed 4–6 challenges = Jane Eyre level
Completed 7–9 challenges = Sherlock Holmes level
Completed 10 challenges = Dracula level (because you have to be an immortal magical being in order to complete all ten challenges!)
15:51 More on my challenge to spot evidence of the Empire in your Victober reading.
Things you might spot:
Setting in another part of the Empire
Author lived in another part of the Empire
Characters coming from or going to another place in the Empire
Fortunes made via the Empire
A character serving in the British navy
Eating, drinking, wearing or using imperial products
Loan words from other languages across the Empire
And many more you will think of or discover. Do share and discuss your Empire finds and recommendations in the Discord channel for this challenge discord.gg/eD5YV4dFbU
0:00 Welcome to the tenth year of Victober.
Join the vibrant Victober conversation on Discord discord.gg/u6Dam2wrYZ
The other nine hosts:
Katie @katiejlumsden youtu.be/_RWZlJaUU-E
Kate @katehowereads youtu.be/HmcjpgJwayE?si=Q5Mi6IEhj1mX6EFQ
Marissa @BlatantlyBookish youtu.be/ztsTdAcdmcw
Jess instagram.com/dickens.and.docks
youtube.com/@dickens-and-docks youtu.be/qMttOTjhLVk?si=Lr5F1EdkWzEBQsdW
Roy @royreadsanything youtu.be/W7Knn7Owbec?si=6pE-QV4OWAF4OJ6J
Hannah @HannahsBooks youtu.be/ZrN1y5VK3Z4
Elizabeth @elizabethaliteraryprincess youtu.be/Egpr2t6NQIQ
Milena @MilenaReads youtu.be/ExhyaqrJff0?si=f-XxrRv_IBRYeUaa
Catherine @takingteawithcatherine youtu.be/cRWSGhLwkFk?si=ruaaSZLl_BAQuP46
4:10 The group read:
Hester by Margaret Oliphant
Schedule is two chapters a day 1-21st October and last three on 22nd. Discussion happening on Discord.
6:26 The challenges:
Get a checklist/bingo card created by Roy drive.google.com/file/d/168mYn9yPWY1WbAvZZqAoC6Ny3IjCm_O8/view?usp=drivesdk
1. Kate’s challenge: Read a Victorian book where friendship is featured
2. Katie’s challenge: Read a work of Victorian literature that is not a novel (i.e. a play, short story, poem or work of non-fiction
3. Marissa’s challenge: Read a work of Victorian literature where a character experiences a change in class status (social mobility, rags to riches, fallen women, etc.)
4. Ros’s (my) challenge: Empire spotting: see how many times you can spot signs of the Empire in your Victober reading
5. Elizabeth’s challenge: Read a work by an underrated Victorian woman writer (meaning not the Brontes, Elizabeth Gaskell, George Eliot, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, or Christina Rossetti)
6. Hannah’s challenge: Read a Victorian work that discusses education
7. Jess’s challenge: Step back in time—read a Victorian work set in a different era
8. Milena’s challenge: Spin a (digital) colourwheel and pick a Victorian book with a cover that primarily features that colour. You can pick any edition
9. Roy’s challenge: Read a Victorian work of fantasy
10. Catherine’s challenge: Read a Victorian book that has a connection to Jane Austen
The Victober challenge success scale (as suggested by Kate):
Completed 1–3 challenges = Mr Micawber level
Completed 4–6 challenges = Jane Eyre level
Completed 7–9 challenges = Sherlock Holmes level
Completed 10 challenges = Dracula level (because you have to be an immortal magical being in order to complete all ten challenges!)
15:51 More on my challenge to spot evidence of the Empire in your Victober reading.
Things you might spot:
Setting in another part of the Empire
Author lived in another part of the Empire
Characters coming from or going to another place in the Empire
Fortunes made via the Empire
A character serving in the British navy
Eating, drinking, wearing or using imperial products
Loan words from other languages across the Empire
And many more you will think of or discover. Do share and discuss your Empire finds and recommendations in the Discord channel for this challenge discord.gg/eD5YV4dFbU
