Thoughts from my book nook: Trollope in Barchester 2021

Another read-along group I joined with this year is hosted by two great friends of Anthony Trollope's Barsetshire Chronicles.

January: The Warden

The Warden was the first book I finished this year. I found it to be an excellent start to the Barsetshire series. Mr. Harding sticking to his conscience was incredibly satisfying, especially when it would have been so easy for him to give in to what those around him (and above him in authority) were saying. I found Trollope's commentary on reform interesting——as was his poking fun at Dickens or "Mr. Popular Sentiment."

February/March: Barchester Towers

“How often does the novelist feel, ay, and the historian also and the biographer, that he has conceived within his mind and accurately depicted on the tablet of his brain the full character and personage of a man, and that nevertheless, when he flies to pen and ink to perpetuate the portrait, his words forsake, elude, disappoint, and play the deuce with him, till at the end of a dozen pages the man described has no more resemblance to the man conceived than the sign-board at the corner of the street has to the Duke of Cambridge.” ― Anthony Trollope, Barchester Towers⁠

“There is no happiness in love, except at the end of an English novel.” ― Anthony Trollope, Barchester Towers⁠ ⁠∙ I have a new favorite Victorian novel. Now, admittedly I have many favorite Victorian novels. But Anthony Trollope's Barchester Towers firmly ensconced itself in the upper echelon of my favorites. ⁠Memorable characters and writing. And the insight Trollope provides into his characters is *chef's kiss*. All at once his characters are precise, complex and utterly hilarious. ⁠∙ And can we appreciate the character names for a minute? Farmers Greenacre & Topsoil; Drs Fillgrave, Rerechild, Lamda Mewnew & Omicron Pie; Revs Brown, White, Grey & Green; the aspirational Lookalofts; Rev Quiverful with his 14 children; diplomatic Mr Plomacy; loud Mrs Clantantram; attorney Vellem Deeds. ⁠∙ Consider me the newest Barchester Towers/Anthony Trollope evangelist. ⁠⁠∙ More favorite quotes: “Till we can become divine, we must be content to be human, lest in our hurry for change we sink to something lower.”⁠ ⁠∙ “She well knew the great architectural secret of decorating her constructions, and never descended to construct a decoration.”⁠ ∙ "It is ordained that all novels should have a male and female angel, and a male and female devil. It it be considered that this rule obeyed in these pages, the latter character must be supposed to have fallen to the lot of Mrs Proudie, but she was not all devil. There was a heart inside that stiff-ribbed bodice, though not, perhaps, of large dimensions, and certainly not easily accessible."⁠ ∙ “Her virtues were too numerous to describe, and not sufficiently interesting to deserve description.”⁠ ∙ “There is, perhaps, no greater hardship at present inflicted on mankind in civilized and free countries than the necessity of listening to sermons.”⁠ ∙ "Wars about trifles are always bitter, especially among neighbors. When the differences are always bitter, especially among neighbors. When the differences are great, and the parties comparative strangers, men quarrel with courtesy. What combatants are ever so eager as two brothers?"⁠

April/May: Doctor Thorne