A Victorian Thursday Thirteen

I pretty much inhaled the last third of Sarah Waters's Fingersmith.  This is definitely one of the best books I have read this year, and I think I can consider it one of my all time favorites!  When I turned the last page yesterday, I almost wanted to go back to page one and start all over again.  I don't want to give away the storyline as this is a book that is so enjoyable having it unfold before your eyes.  Let's just say it is about a major scam.  And the scam artists involved are unrivaled in their abilities to pull a good one over you without your ever realizing it is happening.  The novel is deftly plotted.  Although I was not quite as shocked by later twists as I was by the first, the story is really amazing.  I even had moments of deja vu--thinking of Wilkie Collins's novels here.  If you own this book and have not yet read it (like me--I bought it early in 2006), please move it up the TBR pile.  If you don't own it, and are a fan of Victorian pastiches--or just well told stories, I heartily recommend buying, borrowing, or mooching a copy!  I had thought I would wait to read any of Waters's other Victorian novels, but now I am reconsidering.  In keeping with my Victorian mood, I thought it would be a good time to come up with a Thursday Thirteen of Victorian novels--some I have read and some I plan on reading:

1. Fingersmith, Sarah Waters - It deserves top billing at the moment.
2. Affinity, Sarah Waters - This is set in a Victorian jail...I wonder how it compares to Fingersmith?
3. The Woman in White, Wilkie Collins - One of my very favorite books.  If you liked Fingersmith, you must read Wilkie Collins!
4. Kept, D.J. Taylor - I read this last year--an excellent Victorian pastiche.
5. Nature of Monsters, Clare Clark - I finished this not too long ago, creepily entertaining!
6. The Great Stink, Clare Clark - Now I have to read her earlier book.  It sounds very good--even the title is quite descriptive.
7. Linnet Bird, Linda Holeman - I have this in my TBR pile.  It is set begins in India and goes back in time to the character's life in the slums of London.
8. The Dress Lodger, Sheri Holman - More atmospheric slummy London--the story is narrated by a prostitute.
9. The Crimson Petal and the White, Michel Faber - Why do prostitutes make such good narrators?  I loved this book, and I think I will have to reread it sometime.
10. Some Danger Involved, Will Thomas - I have heard Thomas is a good mystery writer--this is the first of a series of mysteries set in Victorian England.
11. Silent in the Grave, Deanna Raybourn - A Victorian setting, but not the slums for once!  This was a fun, not very taxing mystery that I thoroughly enjoyed.  I'm looking forward to her next book when it comes out next January.
12. Lady Audley's Secret, Mary Elizabeth Braddon - I really want to read this--it is one of those books Victorian women probably weren't supposed to read--very sensationalistic.  Of course that means I have to read it and see what was so terrible about it.
13. Bleak House, Charles Dickens - I loved the BBC adaptation of this book and have wanted to read it ever since.

I think most of my choices are about the dirtier, slummier side of Victorian England.  I wonder why stories with that sort of setting are so compelling to read?  I probably have mentioned these in the past.  It wouldn't be a bad thing to widen my Victorian reading horizons, so if there is a favorite (of yours) that I haven't listed here, please be sure to share it.