weekly geeks 10/14

This is my first post participating in Weekly Geeks. This week's assignment is to ask for and give recommendations!

So, I'm looking for recommendations of Victorian literature- as in, something actually written during and set in the Victorian era. I'm sure I could easily find a list somewhere, but I'd love personalized recommendations and descriptions. I read a

 lot of contemporary fiction with a Victorian setting, but I've read very little of the real thing!

That said, I've compiled a list for you of a few of my favorite novels with a Victorian setting. 

Tipping the Velvet by Sarah Waters

This is one of my favorite books ever. Sarah Waters evokes such a remarkable sense of time and place that you feel you are there with Nancy at her parents' seafood restaurant, watching the object of her affections on stage at the theater and making her way through London's seedy sexual underworld. It's an exploration of Victorian sexuality and the place of women in Victorian society

 and just a damn good book. It's sensational, in more ways than one. I can't recommend this book highly enough.

The Gemma Doyle Trilogy by Libba Bray

I've read a lot of criticism of these books, but to me they were just delicious brain candy, an elaborate Gothic fantasy set at a Victorian boarding school in the form of big thick books that I never wanted to end. The series has its ups and downs and the first book is probably the best, but I really, thoroughly enjoyed them.

The Ruby in the Smoke by Philip Pullman

I just read this, and I think the series is going to quickly become a favorite. I wish I'd read these as a kid. The book opens with a mysterious death and the deception and mystery just keeps piling up, and I love the gloomy Victorian setting.

Fingersmith by Sarah Waters

I don't love Fingersmith quite as much as Tipping the Velvet, but I still love it lots and lots. Sue Trinder is an orphan and a well-trained pickpocket who is enlisted to take part in a sleazy scheme to con a lonely young girl in a dark, mysterious mansion. It's like Oliver Twist meets Jane Eyre meets something a million times more awesome. Once again, I love the exploration of the seedy London underworld and the creepy Gothic elements and the touches of romance.