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Victorian Fiction

Book Reviews

  • Dracula – A 2026 Check-in

    “Dracula embodies the fear of the unknown and he personifies the ‘nothing in the darkness’ that keeps children awake at night.”  — Steve Roberts Another year and yet another rereading of Dracula. To be honest, I am no longer sure at this point how many times I have actually reread this classic. I only know that I… Read more

  • On Reading Pickwick Papers

    After my annual reading of Dracula, I decided to remain in the 19th Century by reading Charles Dickens’ first novel, Pickwick Papers. To be honest, I have struggled with most of the Dickens novels I have read over the years with the exception of The Old Curiosity Shop. But for Great Expectations, Tale of Two… Read more

  • BOOK REVIEW: The Haunted Hotel by Wilkie Collins

    Wilkie Collins (01/08/1824 – 09/23/1889) is best known for his detective novels, The Woman in White and The Moonstone. He is often credited with establishing the ground rules of the modern detective story and police procedural. Both The Woman in White and The Moonstone are doorstoppers—huge and unwieldy at times. The Haunted Hotel, on the other hand, is a more manageable size and adds… Read more

  • SHORT STORY REVIEW: “Who Killed Zebedee?” by Wilkie Collins

    Wilkie Collins (1824–1889) is an English novelist best known for his two novels: The Lady in White and Moonstone. Both novels are credited with establishing the ground rules of modern Detective Stories. For aficionados of Detective Fiction, like me, both are essential reading. While Lady in White and Moonstone are very long novels, “Who Killed Zebedee?”… Read more

  • BOOK REVIEW: The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Robert Louis Stevenson

    Like Stoker’s novel Dracula, Robert Louis Stevenson’s Gothic-Horror novella The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is a familiar and foundational work of Horror that is much different from the story that has become part of our collective imaginations. And for that same reason. like Dracula it is a book that is good… Read more

  • BOOK REVIEW: The Hound of the Baskervilles by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

    Sherlock Holmes stories are something I return to quite regularly. In the month of September this year, I reread the Sherlock Holmes novel, The Hound of the Baskervilles. For those who have not read it, the story begins with Dr. James Mortimer visiting Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson in London. He presents them with a… Read more

  • Victorian Technologies in Dracula

    On my rereading of the novel Dracula this year (that I posted about yesterday) one of the details that caught my attention was that Jonathan Harker references having a Kodak. This was a detail I had not noticed before. Since I was listening to an audiobook recording of Stoker’s classic, I double-checked when I got… Read more

  • On the Art of Rereading

    “Rereading, not reading, is what counts,” ~ Jorge Luis Borges.  “When you reread a classic, you do not see more in the book than you did before; you see more in you than there was before,” ~ Cliff Fadiman.  ““If a book isn’t worth reading over and over again, it isn’t worth reading at all.” ~… Read more

  • SHORT STORY REVIEW: “The Cat” by Mary E. Wilkins Freeman

    My pursuit of short stories available in the Public Domain has led me to discover a number of very fine 19th Century writers that I did not previously know. One of those writers is Mary E. Wilkins Freeman. I have now read a number of her short stories and will no doubt be reviewing more… Read more

  • SHORT STORY REVIEW: “XINGU” BY EDITH WHARTON

    Mrs. Ballinger is one of the ladies who pursue Culture in bands, as though it were dangerous to meet alone. To this end she had founded the Lunch Club, an association composed of herself and several other indomitable huntresses of erudition. (cf. Wharton, Edith. Xingu.) I continue to balance out my reading of Noir, Hardboiled,… Read more