Active discussions

Please or to access all these features

Talk
What we're reading

Find your new favourite book or recommend one on our Book forum.

Original poster

Any Anthony Trollope fans?

60 replies

Canyouforgiveher · 21/04/2015 23:41

Just that. I have been reading him for more than 30 years and love nearly all of his novels (see my username :))

Anyone else a reader? I know he isn't George Eliot but I love his language, his plots, the way his authorial voice moves in and out of the story, and I love the way he creates characters who you can believe live even after the page is closed.

OP posts:
ZeroFunDame · 22/04/2015 23:02

How have I missed this thread till now?

I'm more of a Palliser than a Barchester adherent - I had a crush on Pinneas Finn for years.

TWWLN is one of my all time great reads.

Trollope does rather spoil one for run-of-the-mill, less ambitious 20th /21st century fiction though.

fairnotfit · 22/04/2015 23:00

My favourites are The Eustace Diamonds and The Prime Minister. The chapter where Lopez kills himself is compelling. I also love the final sentence in The Small House at Allington. Smile

Cooroo · 22/04/2015 22:50

I've ordered the BBC Way We Live Now (DVDs in the post, seems very old tech) and will inflict them on DP to celebrate bicentennial.

keepingmum121 · 22/04/2015 22:05

I wish Nidderdale had married Marie. They would have made each other happy.

And Felix....Trollope was a genius in devising his character Grin. He is just awful!

keepingmum121 · 22/04/2015 22:01

Ah yeah, Mrs Hurtle. I really think Paul was horrible to her and I felt so gutted for her. She was a magnanimous woman imo. Genuinely kind. I loved how she helped Ruby and John Crumb, even amidst her own disappointment.

Cooroo · 22/04/2015 22:01

I got into him while BFing my DD 18 years ago! But I'm sure I read the Pallisers and now I'm reading Can You Forgive Her? and don't remember any of it. Not sure if that was post-pregnancy brain then or ageing brain now! Either way I get to enjoy it over again.

Daisy17 · 22/04/2015 20:52

Love love love Trollope. 35 weeks pregnant so no brain to make any deep comments. But am now thinking of getting some on audio for maternity leave/breastfeeding marathons...... ??????

Cooroo · 22/04/2015 20:42

Keepingmum I enjoyed all the bits with Dolly - he thinks he's an ass, everyone thinks he's an ass, but he keeps hitting the nail on the head. The central romance was the least interesting story. I loved Mrs thingy - American lady- brain gone! Such a modern character. I think Paul would have had a much more interesting life with her - his loss!

Would have been interesting if Hetta and Marie had got together, but I'm not aware of any gay relationships in Trollope!

Takver · 22/04/2015 20:08

I haven't read them since I was a teenager, but I was thinking the other day I should read him again. I read all the Palliser novels, (IIRC I particularly liked the Eustace Diamonds), couldn't get into the others so much.

keepingmum121 · 22/04/2015 18:13

The bit in TWWLN that makes me laugh the most is in chapter 75.
Mr. Longstaff, his lawyer and Dolly are in the study talking about the mystery of the letter that Dolly didn't sign. Mr Melmotte walks in unexpectedly and tells Mr L that he should be more careful about locking his drawer in future. Mr L keeps saying, "I make no deductions and draw no conclusions". Then Dolly pipes up that he should make a deduction and draw a conclusion.....
For some reason, that scene makes me howl with laughter every time!
What are your favourite moments in the book??

magimedi · 22/04/2015 15:24

Barchester Towers & The Way we Live Now were both free for Kindle so I have just downloaded them.

Lilymaid · 22/04/2015 13:57

Miss Mackenzie is well worth a read - comic novel with a nearly middle aged spinster as the main character and the usual selection of ridiculous clerics etc.

cornflakegirl · 22/04/2015 13:47

magimedi - I read Barchester Towers first, which is very good. It's the second of the Barchester Chronicles, but so little happens in The Warden that you can safely skip it. None of the really interesting characters turn up till BT (although the ones in The Warden are actually lovely, and it is worth reading at some point).

I've only read the Barchester Chronicles though. "Can you forgive her?" is the first of the Palliser series (which I plan to read at some point) and "The way we live now" and "He knew he was right" are stand alone novels.

AnonymousBird · 22/04/2015 13:46

I've only read The Way We Live Now. It is one of my all time favourites, right up there. I simply adored it. Timothy West as narrator was outstanding.

What would be a good next one to try, grateful for recommendations where to go next. I want something utterly majestic, like TWWLN and so nervous I will get it wrong that I haven't given anything a try!

IntellectualLlama · 22/04/2015 10:02

I love Trollope. I think Barchester Towers and Dr Thorne are my favourites, but it is hard to pick. The Palliser series is great too.

They are about to release a new edition of the Duke's Children with 60,000 words (about a quarter of the book, I think) added back in that Trollope's original editor cut out.

cornflakegirl · 22/04/2015 08:30

Cooroo - he plays a passenger called Mr Birling in three episodes: Edinburgh, Paris and Timbuktu. (The episodes are named in alphabetical order.)

magimedi · 22/04/2015 07:16

He's someone I've meant to read for ages.

Any recommendations of which book to start with?

Badgerlady · 22/04/2015 06:37

I love Trollope. I've recently, with the assistance of the wonderful Mr West, 'cracked' the Palliser novels. Previously I'd struggled with 'can you forgive her?' and I was determine to read them in order! It's a long book. I'm now enjoying 'the Prime Minister' and hating the vile Mr Lopez.

Cooroo · 22/04/2015 06:26

My 'unfinishable' Trollope was The Fixed Period - a dystopian novel set in the future 1980. The idea behind it was interesting - an idyllic life in an ideal society, with compulsory euthanasia at 68 - and some of the 'futuristic' stuff was fun but the plot was, for me, tedious. And you know what's going to happen at the end on page one because he tells you. Just didn't work for me.
Facebook users I recommend the Anthony Trollope Society

Original poster
Canyouforgiveher · 22/04/2015 01:23

I read the warden after I had read nearly every other AT novel it really isn't representative of his work. Agree that Ayala's Angel is great - and funny (and when I was in London recently I walked past Queen's Gate just to feel I was part of it).

Actually most of his stuff is very funny. The first AT novel I read was The Belton Estate which isn't a great book the way TWWLN is but god it is very funny at times. one of my favourite lines from The Last Chronicle is when Mr. Crawley says "Peace, woman!" to Mrs Proudie and Bishop Proudie starts at the wife of his bosom being thus addressed.

OP posts:
Becca19962014 · 22/04/2015 00:28

I feel a lot better for not enjoying the warden now thanks to this thread! I thought it was just me!

KatharineClifton · 22/04/2015 00:25

I adore Ayala's Angel - hilarious! Did try The Warden and couldn't get through it.

Cooroo · 22/04/2015 00:16

'Too' not 'told'

Cooroo · 22/04/2015 00:15

I keep hearing about Cabin
Pressure but never actually heard it. I knew Benedict was in it but didn't realise Timothy was told! Am going to have to track it down and listen on car journey to work.

cornflakegirl · 22/04/2015 00:13

(Timothy West fans - have you heard him in Cabin Pressure? He's brilliant!)