I confess, the minutia of backstories and droll tone are wearing thin, but I'm hopeful my patience will be rewarded.

#TheAmericanSenator #Trollope #19thCenturyFiction

"There was something in (Mr. Masters') appearance which recommended him among his neighbors, who were disposed to
say he 'looked the gentleman;' but a stranger might have thought his cheeks to be flabby and his mouth to be weak."

In a novel about image, a subtle reminder that it's subjective. Nicely played.

#19thCenturyNovels #Trollope #TheAmericanSenator

"But, then, an attorney must live by lawsuits, and it seemed to Mr. Twentyman that an attorney should not stop to inquire whether a new client is a brute or not."

Was not expecting an entire chapter meditating on legal ethics. But then, I picked this book knowing nothing about it, so... interested to see where this goes, now that the plot has finally started.

#19thCenturyNovels #Trollope #TheAmericanSenator

"not too proud to eat toffy" is my new favorite way of expressing someone's willingness to be authentic.

#19thcenturynovels #Trollope #TheAmericanSenator

*Herculean in all but success* #trollope #Literature #reading

Earl of Earlybird #Trollope #charactfulnames #Literature

Sir Gregory Grogram Mr Chaffenbrass #Trollope #Literature #CharacterfulNames

*Struck by the searing swords of satire.* #Trollope #Reading #PhineasFinn

@sbarolo Just checked #hoopla and they don't have West, but they have a bunch of #Trollope audiobooks read by #SimonVance who is one of my favorite #audiobook narrators.

@sbarolo I just saw your #Trollope review on #StoryGraph. Do you recommend them as #audiobooks? (We may have talked about this before. I recall discussing but I didn’t remember if we talked format.)

"I can hardly describe accurately the exact position of the Masters family without first telling all that I know enough the Morton family; and it is absolutely essential that the reader should know all the Masters family intimately."

Reminds me of the beginning of #AChristmasCarol: Nothing will be wonderous of you don't know Marley is dead to begin with.

I sure do appreciate these narrators highlighting the important parts!

#TheAmericanSenator #Trollope #VictorianLiterature

When retiring, promising oneself to read and reread all the classics from home and abroad, then dropping words like heretofore and piquant into convo’s #OhYeah #Classic #Trollope #Bronte #Dumas #WhoDoesSheThinkSheIs

Wise advice with a side of snide:

"A landlord if he wishes to be popular should be seen frequently. If he lives among his farmers they will swear by him, even though he raises his rental every ten or twelve years and never puts a new roof to a barn for them."

#TheAmericanSenator #Trollope #VictorianLiterature

"So far the interior of the house has fallen from its past greatness. But the exterior is maintained with much care."

This is probably just a description of a house, and not a metaphor for the social condition of Dillsborough, right?

Why not both!

Also, why is it so important to emphasize how much of the town is built in brick? I'm not up to researching today, so just leaving a pin in that thought.

#TheAmericanSenator #Trollope #VictorianLiterature

#pallisers
#trollope
#bbc

"It's chief glory is its parish church, which is ancient and inconvenient, having not as yet received any of those modern improvements, which of late have become common throughout England."

My brief research suggests this is the turn from Gothic Revival to Arts and Crafts, though this church is likely more like the small Wren-like churches.

Ironically, Arts and Crafts buildings required wealthy patrons. None to be found in Dillsborough?

#Trollope #TheAmericanSenator #VictorianLiterature

New Year, new book, and it starts with a banger of an opening sentence,

"I never could understand why anybody should ever have begun to live at Dillsborough, or why the population there should have been at any time recruited by new comers."

Delightfully petty, showing the kind of person the narrator is, but also immediately reveals the thematic importance of geography.

I'm assuming. It's my first ever read.

#TheAmericanSenator #Trollope #VictorianLiterature

I've been lurking here for just over a week, and it looks as though I should #introduce myself.

I'm an English #Victorian scholar at the University of Otago, Aotearoa/New Zealand. I work on #Dickens, #Trollope, #pirates, the #Environmental Humanities and the #History of Emotions.

My current project is on Australian settler literature and its representations of #fire, and I'm also writing about Trollope and the #environment.