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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:
Cooroo · 21/04/2015 23:51

Hi, I think we spoke before! I've recently listened to The Way We Live Now on audio and I'm now reading your own special book - Can You Forgive Her!

My favourite has to be Barchester Towers for the unforgettable characters - Mrs Proudie, the awful Slope, the divine Signora and her lovely heartless brother. And the wonderful Archdeacon Grantley exclaiming 'Good heavens' as steam comes out of his ears.

I love Trollope for his kindness, his understanding of what makes us human, for his warm and funny authorial voice chatting with us about the characters and what he should do next.

Any plans for the coming bicentennial?

keepingmum121 · 21/04/2015 23:51

I love love love The Way We Live Now. Have read it at least 20 times. Also read He Knew He Was Right. Enjoyed that too.
Can you persuade me to read others? I tried The Warden but couldn't get into it for some reason!

keepingmum121 · 21/04/2015 23:53

Cooroo, was it read by Timothy West? He narrates it perfectly, doesn't he?

Original poster
Canyouforgiveher · 21/04/2015 23:55

Keepingmum121, I loved those too. Try Can You Forgive Her. I echo Cooro, Mrs. Proudie is one of the great comic characters of literature. The entire Barchester series is fab (Warden is a bit piano, start with Barchester Towers), culminating with the wonderful The Last Chronicle of Barset.

Also although Lily Dane can be a bit of a pill at times, The Small House at Allington is great. as is Three Clerks.

The Warden isn't really typical of his wonderful big, intense, character-filled novels. Ski and try one of the bigger ones.

OP posts:
Becca19962014 · 21/04/2015 23:55

I love him too just started reading them again after a long break.

Try barchester towers first even though it's the second book, I found it much better and then went back and read the warden. I've recently begun them again after getting them on kindle for free.

Cooroo · 21/04/2015 23:56

Yes! I'm a huge fan of Timothy West. Also his wife Prunella Scales read the perfect Emma, not sure if it's available now.

Persevere with The Warden (try audio?) because after that you will be able to read BT and the other Barchester novels!

Cooroo · 21/04/2015 23:58

Wow, cross postings in a Trollope thread! My faith in humanity is restored.

keepingmum121 · 22/04/2015 00:01

Prunella Scales also read Wives and Daughters. I love that too, though I hate that Gaskell died before finishing it :(

keepingmum121 · 22/04/2015 00:03

Would love a thread to talk about TWWLN. There is so much I would love to say.

Re. the others, I think I'll just start with the second book of the series. I just can't enjoy The Warden. Maybe I'd come back to it...

cornflakegirl · 22/04/2015 00:11

I'd agree about The Warden. I actually really liked it in the end, but it is very slow. It's much worse in the BBC adaptation - there you don't even have the lovely authorial ramblings and absolutely nothing happens! So much better once Slope and Mrs Proudie show up!

cornflakegirl · 22/04/2015 00:13

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

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.

Cooroo · 22/04/2015 00:16

'Too' not 'told'

KatharineClifton · 22/04/2015 00:25

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

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!

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:
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

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.

magimedi · 22/04/2015 07:16

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

Any recommendations of which book to start with?

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.)

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.

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!

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.

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.

magimedi · 22/04/2015 15:24

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

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