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1.18.2012

Downton Abbey Reading List

This past week there have been a handful of articles with reading lists that tie into Downton Abbey. Here is the collected lists of books/poetry and the links to the articles I pulled the list from.

Lady Almina and the Real Downton Abbey: The Lost Legacy of Highclere Castle by the Countess of Carnarvon
Rose: My Life in Service to Lady Astor by Rosina Harrison
A Bitter Truth by Charles Todd
Into the Silence by Wade Davis
The World of Downton Abbey by Jessica Fellowes
Parade's End by Ford Madox Ford
The Decline and Fall of the British Aristocracy by David Cannadine
The Beauty and the Sorrow, an Intimate History of the First World War by Peter Englund
Wat the Butler Winked At: Being the Life and Adventures of Eric Horne, Butler by Eric Horne

Downton Abbey Poetry Reading List
The Collected Poems of Rupert Brooke
Poems by Wilfred Owen
Poems by Edward Thomas
The War Poems of Siegfried Sassoon

As an extra bonus, here is the full text of Owen’s most famous poem.

Dulce et Decorum est by Wilfred Owen

Bent double, like old beggars under sacks,
Knock-kneed, coughing like hags, we cursed through sludge,
Till on the haunting flares we turned our backs,
And towards our distant rest began to trudge.
Men marched asleep. Many had lost their boots,
But limped on, blood-shod. All went lame, all blind;
Drunk with fatigue; deaf even to the hoots
Of gas-shells dropping softly behind.

Gas! GAS! Quick, boys!—An ecstasy of fumbling
Fitting the clumsy helmets just in time,
But someone still was yelling out and stumbling
And flound’ring like a man in fire or lime.—
Dim through the misty panes and thick green light,
As under a green sea, I saw him drowning.

In all my dreams before my helpless sight
He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning.

If in some smothering dreams, you too could pace
Behind the wagon that we flung him in,
And watch the white eyes writhing in his face,
His hanging face, like a devil’s sick of sin,
If you could hear, at every jolt, the blood
Come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs
Bitter as the cud
Of vile, incurable sores on innocent tongues,—
My friend, you would not tell with such high zest
To children ardent for some desperate glory,
The old Lie: Dulce et decorum est
Pro patria mori.


Downton Abbey Poetry Reading List - GalleyCat
If You're Mad for 'Downton,' Publishers Have Reading List
Book list released for Downton Abbey fans

4 comments:

  1. Abooksyjourney18.1.12

    May I make a few suggestions?
    Instead of Rise & Fall by D. Cannadine which reads like an angry class-war book, try :
    1) The Fall & Rise of the Stately Home by Peter Mandler
    2) Life In An English Country House (A Social & Architectural History) by Mark Girouard and its equally delightful A Country House Companion
    3) a rare autobiographical gem called The Private Life of a Country House 1912-1939 by Lesley Lewis
    Most of us don't mind educational but much better to be entertained at the same time.

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  2. Central NJ JASNA18.1.12

    Those are some great suggestions thank you! If there are more suggestions I'll do an update post next week.

    ReplyDelete
  3. minimeredith18.1.12

    Those are some great suggestions thank you! If there are more suggestions I'll do an update post next week.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Thanks she sharing this great list of Downton Abbey inspired books!! I am trying to compile a reading list of DA inspired books or books simply set in the Edwardian Era and have found it surprisingly difficult time period to find books for!!I love DA (as I see you do as well) and I’ve seen lots of articles recently on books that are similar to the show….but most are non-fiction books....Normally I try not to shamelessly plug my own blog on my comments but I think you will enjoy this….I am trying to compile a reading list of Downton Abbey inspired books or books simply set in the Edwardian Era.So I am putting together a little scavenger hunt for books that are DA inspired or set in the Edwardian Era on my blog. I am calling on all my literary friends, bloggers, and authors to help out. If you find a book (any genre) feel free to link up on my blog! Here are the details of ‘Project Downton’ as I like to call it:http://www.thelitbitch.com/?page_id=1477

    ReplyDelete

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