The 50 in 52 Project continues…I finished Moby-Dick…The Woman in White is up next!
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The 50 in 52 Project Reading Challenge continues! (scroll down for more info)
I’ve just finished the 7th book, Moby-Dick by Herman Melville…only 43 more books to go!
Next up is….The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins (1860)
A little info on Wilkie Collins and his work:
Wilkie Collins was born in 1824 and studied to be a lawyer before devoting himself to writing. His novel, The Moonstone (1868), is considered the first English detective novel. The Woman in White was serialized 1859-1860. It is often called the first “sensation” novel. Sensation novels, which were extremely popular in Victorian era Great Britain in the 1860s and 1870s, mixed gothic and romantic notions, as well as melodrama. The genre sprung out of true crime books. Loss of identity and the wrongly accused man were common plots. (Foreshadowing Hitchcock!) Sensation novels brought together realism and romanticism, and thrillers like The Woman in White, were sometimes called “novels with a secret.” Collins’ life could be as scandalous and sensational as his work, especially after the public became aware of his unconventional love life: he lived with a widow and later met a 19-year-old girl, and for the last 20 years of his life, he maintained romantic relationships with both. Collins met Charles Dickens in 1851, and they became fast friends. Dickens would even go on to publish some of Collins’ work. For a time Wilkie Collins was even more popular than Dickens. He became addicted to laudanum, and when he became ill, it hastened his death, which he occurred in 1889.
The 50 in 52 Project is a fundraiser for RAINN (Rape, Abuse, Incest National Network). I challenged myself to read 50 books in 1 year (6/1/18 to 6/1/19). I’m asking folks to sponsor me by pledging a $ amount per book I read. Sponsors don’t have to pay anything until after the Challenge finishes (6/1/19). To sponsor me, click HERE. For more info and a list of the 50 books, go to the posting pinned to the top of the official 50 in 52 Facebook page.
Click HERE to see all the 50 in 52 Project posts on this blog.
