Poppy's Paperbacks 2011

[poppyshake]

 

To the Lighthouse - Virginia Woolf

 

Amazon Synopsis: This novel is an extraordinarily poignant evocation of a lost happiness that lives on in the memory. For years now the Ramsays have spent every summer in their holiday home in Scotland, and they expect these summers will go on forever. In this, her most autobiographical novel, Virginia Woolf captures the intensity of childhood longing and delight, and the shifting complexity of adult relationships. From an acute awareness of transcience, she creates an enduring work of art.

 

Review: A lot of my reading this year has been about Virginia, whether it be books about Leonard, books about Virginia's relationship with her servants, biographies or her lovely novel about Elizabeth Barrett Browning's dog and I have enjoyed them all but I was well aware that I hadn't actually tackled anything meaty of hers, not only that but I knew that I was actually avoiding it for fear that I would hate them or be bamboozled. So it was with determination and large amounts of fear and trembling, that I began reading 'To the Lighthouse'.

 

The first thing that strikes you is the lack of information you're given, and the second is the lack of plot .. she's really not bothered about it. She just drops you into the story, into the middle of a situation .. into the middle of a conversation and expects you to immediately comprehend (alas, I frequently fell short of her expectations.) The book is split into three sections ('The Window, Time Passes & The Lighthouse'), all of them taking part at the Ramsay's holiday home on the Isle of Skye where the Ramsay family along with some friends and colleagues spend their summers. When we join the book, the youngest Ramsay child, six year old James is hoping that they will make a trip to the Lighthouse the next day, Mrs Ramsay is encouraging, Mr Ramsay is not, he doubts the weather will be fine enough and pours cold water on the scheme. I loved James's reaction which had a horrible ring of truth about it ... 'had there been an axe handy, or a poker, or any weapon that would have gashed a hole in his father's head and killed him there and then, James would have seized it. Such were the extremes of emotion that Mr Ramsay excited in his children's breasts by his mere presence.' The main protagonist would at first appear to be Mrs Ramsay, and she was definitely the person that interested me most (and said to be based on Virginia's mother) but the person we follow throughout the novel is Lily Briscoe, a young painter, attempting a portrait of Mrs Ramsay and, in the first instance, beset by worries and self doubt.

 

The second part of the book sees the house neglected and abandoned (save for an occasional visit from a caretaker,) it's full of ghosts and shadows ... 'What people had shed and left - a pair of shoes, a shooting cap, some faded skirts and coats in wardrobes - those alone kept the human shape and in the emptiness indicated how once they were filled and animated; how once hands were busy with hooks and buttons; how once the looking glass had held a face; had held a world hollowed out in which a figure turned, a hand flashed, the door opened, in came children rushing and tumbling; and went out again'. We are told about the fate of some of the characters, in passing as it were, all the big events, which would normally be given precedence in any story, have merely taken place in the gaps between the sections.

 

The last part sees some of the guests return years later to Skye. Lily is still trying to finish her painting and a trip to the Lighthouse is once more on the cards ... 'The Lighthouse was then a silvery, misty-looking tower with a yellow eye, that opened suddenly, and softly in the evening. Now- James looked at the Lighthouse. He could see the white-washed rocks; the tower, stark and straight; he could see that it was barred with black and white; he could see windows in it; he could even see washing spread on the rocks to dry. So that was the Lighthouse, was it?' No, the other was also the Lighthouse. For nothing was simply one thing. The other Lighthouse was true too.'

 

It's as unlike any other book that I've read as can be, the dialogue is brief, it's more about capturing thought, feelings, actions and reactions in a constant 'stream of consciousness'. It can be exhausting, this is one .. yes one!! .. paragraph ...

 

'She looked up - what demon possessed him, her youngest, her cherished? - and saw the room, saw the chairs, thought them fearfully shabby. Their entrails, as Andrew said the other day, were all over the floor; but then what was the point, she asked herself, of buying good chairs to let them spoil up here all through the winter when the house, with only one old woman to see to it, positively dripped with wet? Never mind; the rent was precisely twopence halfpenny; the children loved it; it did her husband good to be three thousand, or if she must be accurate, three hundred miles from his library and his lectures and his disciples; and there was room for visitors. Mats, camp beds, crazy ghosts of chairs and tables whose London life of service was done - they did well enough here; and a photograph or two, and books. Books, she thought, grew of themselves. She never had time to read them. Alas! even the books that had been given her, and inscribed by the hand of the poet himself: "For her whose wishes must be obeyed" ... "The happier Helen of our days" ... disgraceful to say, she had never read them. And Croom on the Mind and Bates on the Savage Customs of Polynesia ("My dear, stand still", she said) - neither of those could one send to the Lighthouse. At a certain moment, she supposed, the house would become so shabby that something must be done. If they could be taught to wipe their feet and not bring the beach in with them - that would be something. Crabs, she had to allow, if Andrew really wished to dissect them, or if Jasper believed that one could make soup from seaweed, one could not prevent it; or Rose's objects - shells, reeds, stones; for they were gifted, her children, but all in quite different ways. And the result of it was, she sighed, taking in the whole room from floor to ceiling, as she held the stocking against James's leg, that things got shabbier and got shabbier summer after summer. The mat was fading; the wallpaper was flapping. You couldn't tell anymore that those were roses on it. Still, if every door in a house is left perpetually open, and no lockmaker in the whole of Scotland can mend a bolt, things must spoil. What was the use of flinging a green Cashmere shawl over the edge of a picture frame? In two weeks it would be the colour of pea soup. But it was the doors that annoyed her; every door was left open. She listened. The drawing-room door was open; the hall door was open; it sounded as if the bedroom doors were open; and certainly the window on the landing was open, for that she had opened herself. That windows should be open, and doors shut - simple as it was, could none of them remember it? She would go into the maids' bedrooms at night and find them sealed like ovens, except for Marie's, the Swiss girl, who would rather go without a bath than fresh air, but then at home, she had said, "the mountains are so beautiful." She had said that last night looking out of the windows with tears in her eyes. "The mountains are so beautiful." Her father was dying there, Mrs Ramsay knew. He was leaving them fatherless. Scolding and demonstrating (how to make a bed, how to open a window, with hands that shut and spread like a Frenchwoman's) all had folded itself quietly about her, when the girl spoke, as, after a flight through the sunshine the wings of a bird fold themselves quietly and the blue of it's plumage changes from bright steel to soft purple. She had stood there silent for there was nothing to be said. He had cancer of the throat. At the recollection - how she had stood there, how the girl had said "At home the mountains are so beautiful", and there was no hope, no hope whatever, she had a spasm of irritation, and speaking sharply, said to James: "Stand still. Don't be tiresome," so that he knew instantly that her severity was real, and straightened his leg and she measured it.'

 

As I've said before, I had moments of perfect clarity and moments of complete bewilderment which might have frustrated me had I been less well disposed towards the book but I loved the language, her way with words and just the whole ambitiousness of it. This would be a fairly experimental novel if it were written today, to have written it back in the 1920's is nothing short of amazing. It's not a book to be picked up easily or to relax with, but it's definitely a book to make your brain tick. I know I will read it again and again (and hopefully hear it read too) and I hope that with each reading more pieces will fall into place (I'm not so sure that a large glass of Chardonnay wouldn't unlock bits of it previously incomprehensible to me .. I'll have to try it ) It's not going to be for everyone, I can imagine a lot of people just thinking 'what on earth is it about?' and anybody who likes their stories to be plot driven or adventurous will struggle to sustain interest and be probably praying for a catastrophe of some sort just to make 'something happen' but it is lyrical and evocative and so pinpoint accurate at times that it just bowled me over.

 

I know, I rhapsodize too much There's no denying it, it was hard work .. and you can't help but think that Virginia spent too much time rolling around in the catnip ... but nevertheless I loved it.

 

10/10 '

Edited September 4, 2012 by poppyshake

[I'mRose]

Great review, I've been wanting to read something by Virginia Woolf and this sounds promising. Which one would you recommend?

[poppyshake]

Thanks Rose, it's good to see you I've only read 'To the Lighthouse' and I'm three quarters of the way through 'Mrs Dalloway', they're very similar (in style) but I found I was more interested in the characters of 'TTL' and I just liked the whole setting. I've heard that 'Orlando' is her most popular and most accessible book but haven't read it yet so couldn't say for sure.

 

Good luck with whichever of her books you decide to tackle

[willoyd]

I've just been reading your conversation about Virginia Woolf (I'm just catching up on things on returning from holiday). I do hope you don't mind my butting in, but it rang so many bells with me. I've only recently 'discovered' Virginia Woolf for my self, and have to say I'm completely hooked. Like Frankie, I found her very daunting initially, but have begun to realise that, whilst very demanding (especially of concentration - no bedtime reading here!!), she is an absolutely fabulous writer. I came to her initially via the film 'The Hours' (one of my all time favourites), reading Mrs Dalloway first. Initially I found it difficult to follow, not least because it is so character and setting driven, but reading it a second time I was able to follow threads so much more clearly. That second reading was bout 15 months ago, and have since read The Hours itself (superb!), The Years, Orlando, To The Lighthouse, Mrs Dalloway's Party and some of her essays, along with Hermione Lee's biography. On the latter, I can only confirm what you have heard before Poppy, that it is outstanding - a serious contender for the best biography I've yet read - again very demanding on concentration, but I tend to prefer my books like that. Although there is a chronological structure, it takes a theme at a time, which can take a bit of getting used to, but does actually make aspects and phases of her life easier to trace. It certainly helped me understand the books I've read to date, not least the phenomenal craftmanship that has gone into them. Another point is that Lee is not so black and white about VW's sexual relationships either with Leonard or with her half-brothers.

 

I know that a lot of people reckon that Orlando is her most accessible, and of those I've read I'd probably agree, but I have to say it's the one I enjoyed the least. I think it's because I have so loved immersing myself in her stream of consciousness style, and this is more a 'story'. Of the other three full length novels I've read, I'd be hard pressed to say which was my favourite, but perhaps just marginally To The Lighthouse. However, I do think The Years is very underrated - it is up there with the others in spite of the fact that it is so much less well known, and might even challenge for the number one spot. I love the way she develops the family saga through such small vignettes - so much is said in such a short space.

 

I've got a couple of volumes of her essays, and have started dipping into these. From what little I've read of these and her diaries, she's perhaps even better relatively at this - I've read somewhere that she is one of the great diarists, and I can see why.

 

All in all, as you can see, I'm turning into a bit of a fan - I'd even go so far as to say that she's challenging for the spot as my favourite writer (up to now it's been Jane Austen ever since I was a teenager), but even so, I can see why people find her difficult/daunting/not very readable. A bit of a marmite author, but I do think she's more frightening in the prospect than in the actual reading, as long as one is prepared to slow down and accept the fact that she needs time.

 

 

On a completely different note, I've also just read your review of Swallows and Amazons. Ransome was the first author I ever collected: I remember in my pre-teens buying hardback copies of his books, dustjacket-less, for 2/6d at a time - hard earned pocket money, lovingly spent. Favourite was a toss up between Secret Water, We Didn't Mean To Go To Sea and Winter Holiday. I've spent many a happy hour exploring the sites which Ransome used for his book, including the island itself - it's all there just as he describes. (Talking of biographies - the Hugh Brogan biography of Arthur Ransome is excellent - much better than the more recent one by Roland Chambers). Incidentally, you're right about it being a different age. I grew up in the 60s and 70s, and it was much more closer to how Ransome describes things in the 30s then than it is to now (although there is, of course, a degree of idealisation!) - I went off camping on my own with friends and younger brothers at 14, caught the train up to London (we lived in Surrey) at 13, etc etc. The present day paranoia over protection and regulation of a child's life is one reason why (in very generalised terms) so many of our children and young people are increasingly so dysfunctional and lacking in self responsibility, in spite of all their street wiseness, something I've seen increasingly, working as a sports coach, uni lecturer and primary teacher.

 

BTW Thanks for some brilliant reviews - I love reading this thread.

Edited August 19, 2011 by willoyd

[Janet]

The present day paranoia over protection and regulation of a child's life is one reason why (in very generalised terms) so many of our children and young people are increasingly so dysfunctional and lacking in self responsibility, in spite of all their street wiseness, something I've seen increasingly, working as a sports coach, uni lecturer and primary teacher.

I think location has a great deal to do with this. My own children had a large amount of freedom because of where we live. Of course, it is hard to let them go - even with the benefit of mobile phones which we didn't have!

 

I have a friend who lives in Bristol and her children didn't have the same freedom as mine (well, not from such an early age) because of where she lives. I wonder if it is worse 'out there' now, or whether it's just reported more widely these days? Interesting stuff, but not really the place for it here!

 

I've never read any of Ransome's books but I remember seeing the film as a child and it being good fun.

[poppy]

Vita is another fascinating character isn't she? Her marriage sounds a lot like Virginia's and Leonard's. I've always wanted to visit Sissinghurst Castle but it's just that little bit too far for me, maybe one day, it's said to be beautiful. I've put 'Violet to Vita' on my Goodreads list, thanks Poppy, I love letters and intrigue and just generally being nosey

 

I first became interested in Vita because of her gardening, particularly the old roses she grew. Sissinghurst would be wonderful to see (lol it's even further for me ... the other side of the world)

 

I love biographies too, other people's lives are so fascinating

[frankie]

I'm so glad Janet is here to sort out the mess I'm getting myself into ... actually I could do with Janet in everyday life because often people give me that look like they've no idea what I'm talking about. She's explained it so well that I won't explain it further because if I did I'd be bound to confuse you ... I think I'm probably setting your English language study back years

 

That's a shame .. people will just have to remain confused. What I really need is sub-titles!

 

You crack me up, poppyshake :lol: Your English is just fine, it's my fixation to add a's to abbreviations and my lack of imagination!

 

'Mrs Dalloway' is going well but there have been bits where I could have done with a trail of breadcrumbs to get me back to where I was 'understanding things' I'm looking forward to reading 'The Hours' too .. I saw the film ages ago before I had read anything about or by Woolf and enjoyed it though I was a bit confused (no change there then!) After I've read it I'll try and watch it again, see if I can understand it better. Perhaps it's a good idea to read all my Woolf books one after the other, whilst I'm in the right mindset .. mind you that would probably loosen even more of my screws.

 

I'm glad you would've chosen breadcrumbs instead of cookiecrumbs, you would've just eaten all the cookies and gotten lost I've also seen the movie (I love Meryl Streep!) and that was confusing as it was, although I can't remember anything about it anymore. I think it's definitely a good idea to finish Mrs Dalloway, then read The Hours very soonish and then watch the film. Who knows, maybe you'll uncover a Woolfesque Narnia hardly anyone knows about, and can lead the rest of us there! I'm not sure I'd accept an invitation, until you convince me that it's possible to get back to the normal life again!

 

I know what you mean about pacing your reading, I tend to want to rush through mine too and it's hard to tackle books like Virginia's when you're in a hurry. Goodreads keeps reproaching me with the fact that I'm 24% behind on my 2011 reading target which is unhelpful. I find myself making excuses and telling it that I've been a bit mopey lately and out of sorts. It doesn't listen though ... it has no heart!

 

I'd like to believe that you know what I mean, but I just can't trust you to be true. See, your reviews do not read like a person's who wants to and sometimes does rush through books. They are way too detailed and insightful. Or then you are just one of those people who can go into a book and 'get' everything without having to stop to think for a second.

 

Oh I do that too, partly because I want to save special books for special times (but when on earth is that?) and partly because I'm terrified I won't like them and it will crush me ... I want to like them so badly. I didn't even mean to read Sylvia's journals when I did, I picked the book up and just thought I'd have a little look and then bang, I couldn't put it down (actually I looked at the pics first and then wanted to know the story behind them.) And touching on what we spoke about earlier it was actually easy to go slowly when reading Sylvia's journals because her use of language seemed to put a spell on me, I re-read passages over and over, not because I didn't understand them but because I was just so blown away by them.

Saving special books for special times, being terrified of not liking a book you want to like so much... it all sounds very familiar! And I might add one other personal tact of mine: as much as I am a true book hoarder, sometimes I just feel like I want to clear my shelves of all the books that I've bought to read mostly because they are on a challenge or because they seemed good at the time or because they were cheap. And there are quite a few of them and I get on this crazy mode where I want to read all of them at once so I can get rid of them and then move on to the books that hold a more special meaning to me.

 

No, you're absolutely correct and of course it was so much easier for men to write, Virginia still lived in an age where daughters often weren't given the same opportunities as sons, especially where education was concerned. She was taught at home mostly by her parents (this is something the Mitford girls also had to contend with and Jane Austen too of course .. and this sentence from 'Persuasion' shows how much it rankled her ... "Yes, yes, if you please, no reference to examples in books. Men have had every advantage of us in telling their own story. Education has been theirs in so much higher a degree; the pen has been in their hands. I will not allow books to prove anything.") and it makes you marvel all the more at their brilliance when you think about how much they were left to shift for themselves. It must have taken a lot of determination and discipline (good job they hadn't yet invented the Xbox )

 

Xbox, yes Thank goodness! There are so many ways in which women were un-enabled to write, the list would go on and on. A Room of One's Own will make a very interesting list! We actually discussed this issue on one of our literature courses, the professor talked about the literary canon and how white males dominated it back in the day. Not only did the women end up being homeschooled, but some of the parents thought that singing, painting, the etiquette and that sort of thing was all women needed. And who do you think were the early judges of what is the canon? Men. And when literature was taught in schools and universities, who do you think were the teachers/professors? Men. It's a mystery more men didn't go on a huge power trip and loose their marbles at the process

 

I keep coming back to the book I'm currently reading: Between the Sheets - The Literary Liaisons of Nine 20th-Century Women Writers. Eventhough the relationships dealt with in the book were sordid affairs, there was mental and physical abuse, infidelity, living off the woman's money etc. involved, what was refreshing to learn that these men seemed to be enabling the writing of their female partners. They did reading and commenting, proof-reading, editing etc. It is the kind of thing one doesn't often read about.

Having read some biogs I was aware of the problems Virginia had with one of her half brothers (if not both of them ) though there is debate as to the severity of it. I think it's most likely though that it had a profound effect on both her mental health and her sex life.

 

It must have had a huge impact on her life in every which way. I detest all type of sexual abuse and it always makes me very very angry! This is something that I get a weekly reminder of, having to read stories in news papers about rape and such like, and one of the things that annoys me the most is that at least here in Finland the sentences for these horrible low-lives are way too short! What's more, I live in the Eastern Finland and our Court of Appeals always, always shortens the already short sentences. It's a general joke (a bad one!) over here, it's like winning the lottery for a rapist to commit their heinous crimes over here :irked:

[frankie]

 

I read the synopsis that you provided and thought that it isn't the sort of book I would read, but I still couldn't help but start reading your review, and it was hilarious

 

because I found it hard to disengage my adult brain. I was all the time thinking .. 'they shouldn't really be left to fend for themselves .. what on earth is their mother thinking? ... surely that's not safe .. what if they drown? ... oh crikey they've got matches' etc etc etc. When they went to meet with the charcoal burners and one of the men took them inside his tent I was nearly having a fit. Also my adult self couldn't quite get over how well behaved these children were and how well they got on together, no squabbling or punching to speak of, they were all very responsible and little Roger, who was seven, seemed to take it all in his stride when he was told that he wasn't quite old enough to do such and such or go so and so, surely he should have been prostrate on the floor, beetroot faced, kicking and screaming? Once, after learning that he couldn't go on a particular jaunt, he was told that he could lend them his torch and apparently that was just as good!

 

I can imagine all the worried facial expressions you were having to go through, and the vein on your forehead throbbing

It was only every time I came to the name 'Titty' that I became ten again .. I can't imagine that it was ever a good idea to name her that but if it was, it certainly isn't now. I was happier to call them by their crew names ... Captain John, Master Mate (Susan) Able-Seaman (Titty) and Ship's Boy (Roger).

 

Hm, I'm having this flashback, I'm quite positive you and I have giggled about some other Titty or Tit before?!

 

Aha! So that's why my ears have been burning lately. Gosh, you two have been busy nattering away while I've been gone. For now, I will skip your not-so-subtle reminders that I've hardly written any reviews all year (the one good thing about having no time for reading is that I'm not getting any further behind in my reviews).

 

I don't even know where to start commenting... I'll have to come back to it later (need to get some work done, I suppose).

 

Hehe! Kylie, you're missing a lot of fun stuff! Come back soon!

 

I've got Violet to Vita. The Letters of Violet Trefusis to Vita Sackville-West on my TBR pile. Their relationship was quite fascinating too, I read a biography about Vita after watching Portrait of a Marriage on TV. Vita remained married to her husband Harold, they loved each other deeply, but both were involved in same sex relationships.

 

 

Vita is another fascinating character isn't she? Her marriage sounds a lot like Virginia's and Leonard's. I've always wanted to visit Sissinghurst Castle but it's just that little bit too far for me, maybe one day, it's said to be beautiful. I've put 'Violet to Vita' on my Goodreads list, thanks Poppy, I love letters and intrigue and just generally being nosey

 

Who is this Violet Trefusis person? I think the book is going on my wishlist, thanks Poppy! Poppyshake, this is very back. We were talking about Virginia Woolf one minute, then I learn about some Vita Sackville-West person from you and have now added some books about her/by her on my wishlist, and now poppy comes in and lets us know about a Violet Trefusis who wrote letters to Vita S-W. And a week a go I didn't even know about this Vita person!! Oh boy. I swear if someone comes in and starts talking about a Regina who wrote letters to Violet I'm going to ... have to laugh in literary exhaustion!

 

Yes, Leonard was a bit of a saint .. Virginia got a bit excited on their honeymoon (and from the way it was recounted I'm imagining that hysterical might be more the word) and so Leonard thought it best not to attempt it again (given her fragile mental state.) Up until his marriage with Virginia he'd had a fairly active sex life so he was definitely making a sacrifice for her. If he did manage to 'sort things out elsewhere' he was very discreet about it as nothing is known and bless him, he must have turned a blind eye to her dalliances.

Perhaps Virginia's uncomfortableness with men stemmed from her terrible experiences with her two half brothers ... who could blame her if so?

 

"Excited"? This is just my English, but that sounds like a weird choice of words (I don't know if it was yours or the writer's), 'excited' to me sounds like a positive thing.

 

Your review of To the Lighthouse was simply splendid! I really feel like I want to re-read the book immediately. I read the very long paragraph and I couldn't help but think whether the fact that I read the book in Finnish had something to do with me not enjoying it that much, the English original was just beautiful. I have to read it in English next time, fo sho!!

Willoyd, I loved reading your post and your thoughts on Woolf, and was very happy to meet someone who's been just as intimidated by Woolf as me, but who has since then fully recovered and now finds Woolf competing for the spot of favorite author ever! This is very encouraging, frankie thanks!

Edited August 24, 2011 by frankie

[poppyshake]

I've just been reading your conversation about Virginia Woolf (I'm just catching up on things on returning from holiday). I do hope you don't mind my butting in, but it rang so many bells with me. I've only recently 'discovered' Virginia Woolf for my self, and have to say I'm completely hooked. Like Frankie, I found her very daunting initially, but have begun to realise that, whilst very demanding (especially of concentration - no bedtime reading here!!), she is an absolutely fabulous writer. I came to her initially via the film 'The Hours' (one of my all time favourites), reading Mrs Dalloway first. Initially I found it difficult to follow, not least because it is so character and setting driven, but reading it a second time I was able to follow threads so much more clearly. That second reading was bout 15 months ago, and have since read The Hours itself (superb!), The Years, Orlando, To The Lighthouse, Mrs Dalloway's Party and some of her essays, along with Hermione Lee's biography. On the latter, I can only confirm what you have heard before Poppy, that it is outstanding - a serious contender for the best biography I've yet read - again very demanding on concentration, but I tend to prefer my books like that. Although there is a chronological structure, it takes a theme at a time, which can take a bit of getting used to, but does actually make aspects and phases of her life easier to trace. It certainly helped me understand the books I've read to date, not least the phenomenal craftmanship that has gone into them. Another point is that Lee is not so black and white about VW's sexual relationships either with Leonard or with her half-brothers.

 

I know that a lot of people reckon that Orlando is her most accessible, and of those I've read I'd probably agree, but I have to say it's the one I enjoyed the least. I think it's because I have so loved immersing myself in her stream of consciousness style, and this is more a 'story'. Of the other three full length novels I've read, I'd be hard pressed to say which was my favourite, but perhaps just marginally To The Lighthouse. However, I do think The Years is very underrated - it is up there with the others in spite of the fact that it is so much less well known, and might even challenge for the number one spot. I love the way she develops the family saga through such small vignettes - so much is said in such a short space.

 

I've got a couple of volumes of her essays, and have started dipping into these. From what little I've read of these and her diaries, she's perhaps even better relatively at this - I've read somewhere that she is one of the great diarists, and I can see why.

 

All in all, as you can see, I'm turning into a bit of a fan - I'd even go so far as to say that she's challenging for the spot as my favourite writer (up to now it's been Jane Austen ever since I was a teenager), but even so, I can see why people find her difficult/daunting/not very readable. A bit of a marmite author, but I do think she's more frightening in the prospect than in the actual reading, as long as one is prepared to slow down and accept the fact that she needs time.

 

 

On a completely different note, I've also just read your review of Swallows and Amazons. Ransome was the first author I ever collected: I remember in my pre-teens buying hardback copies of his books, dustjacket-less, for 2/6d at a time - hard earned pocket money, lovingly spent. Favourite was a toss up between Secret Water, We Didn't Mean To Go To Sea and Winter Holiday. I've spent many a happy hour exploring the sites which Ransome used for his book, including the island itself - it's all there just as he describes. (Talking of biographies - the Hugh Brogan biography of Arthur Ransome is excellent - much better than the more recent one by Roland Chambers). Incidentally, you're right about it being a different age. I grew up in the 60s and 70s, and it was much more closer to how Ransome describes things in the 30s then than it is to now (although there is, of course, a degree of idealisation!) - I went off camping on my own with friends and younger brothers at 14, caught the train up to London (we lived in Surrey) at 13, etc etc. The present day paranoia over protection and regulation of a child's life is one reason why (in very generalised terms) so many of our children and young people are increasingly so dysfunctional and lacking in self responsibility, in spite of all their street wiseness, something I've seen increasingly, working as a sports coach, uni lecturer and primary teacher.

 

BTW Thanks for some brilliant reviews - I love reading this thread.

Thanks Willoyd .. but never say you're butting in ... your views are most welcome I am having more trouble with 'Mrs Dalloway' than I did with 'To the Lighthouse' .. the characters are not fixing themselves in my mind as easily but there is some stunning writing in it, especially the depiction of Septimus's decline into mental illness ... that Virginia knew the subject well is so evident, I bet she suffered, more than once, from the inane comments of doctors ('there's nothing whatever wrong with you .. why don't you take up a hobby' etc etc.) I haven't finished it yet (I seem to have two or three books on the go at the moment which is not the best way to read Woolf but I needed some easier reads to take to the beach.) but I'm sure it'll be another that I'll want to re-read - there is so much in there to get your teeth into. You say that 'The Years' is a favourite of yours and I can't wait to read that .. and Hermione's biography .. and Virginia's letters .. and diaries, I think I could probably spend a year at least immersed in all things Woolf.

 

I saw a lovely hardback boxed set of the 'Swallows & Amazon' series today and was sorely tempted, I do want to read the other books. I feel quite sad about today's children, there was a little girl at the hotel I was staying at last week and every afternoon .. despite the glorious weather .. she was sitting in the corridor of the hotel playing on a computer game. There were lots of children enjoying the pool but she hardly went near it, she looked quite lonely and bored most of the time. Once I saw her run out to the pool just to watch but she was called back by her parents. Also more than once last week, in cafe's and restaurants, I saw mothers spraying their childrens hands with anti-bacterial spray and about a week ago I saw a bunch of small schoolchildren going for a walk with their teachers (and indeed the adults practically outnumbered the kids) and they were all wearing bright yellow hi-visibility safety tunics. Safety is paramount of course but things have got a bit out of hand as you say and the sad thing is that we can never go back to the carefree days .. goodness knows what these children will be warning their kids about. It all seems so stifling. As Mr Walker said ... 'better drowned than duffers, if not duffers, won't drown'

 

I'll look out for the Hugh Brogan biography of Arthur Ransome .. I love anything like that Thanks for the recommendation.

[poppyshake]

I first became interested in Vita because of her gardening, particularly the old roses she grew. Sissinghurst would be wonderful to see (lol it's even further for me ... the other side of the world)

 

I love biographies too, other people's lives are so fascinating

I feel guilty now .. making a fuss about a three hour journey I really should make the effort ... I'd love to see the 'White Garden'

[poppyshake]

I'm glad you would've chosen breadcrumbs instead of cookiecrumbs, you would've just eaten all the cookies and gotten lost I've also seen the movie (I love Meryl Streep!) and that was confusing as it was, although I can't remember anything about it anymore. I think it's definitely a good idea to finish Mrs Dalloway, then read The Hours very soonish and then watch the film. Who knows, maybe you'll uncover a Woolfesque Narnia hardly anyone knows about, and can lead the rest of us there! I'm not sure I'd accept an invitation, until you convince me that it's possible to get back to the normal life again!

You know me so well .. it would be like 'where are the cookie's? ... doh!' I don't think there are any easy routes to Woolf, I am almost concentrating myself to death just trying to cling on to her coat tails at the moment .. or is it cloak tails? I think it's rather ironic that I should keep wandering off during 'Mrs Dalloway' (Virginia would be proud of me I think) .. to be fair to the book though I haven't treated it with the same reverence as I did 'To the Lighthouse' ... it's a sin really to try and read two other books at the same time, I feel almost unfaithful

I'd like to believe that you know what I mean, but I just can't trust you to be true. See, your reviews do not read like a person's who wants to and sometimes does rush through books. They are way too detailed and insightful. Or then you are just one of those people who can go into a book and 'get' everything without having to stop to think for a second.

Oh if only *sighs and wishes for it very much* Sometimes I think I will have to staple the book to my forehead to make it sink in (don't try it though .. it doesn't work and the mess is unbelievable!) I do rush through a lot of books especially if they're not engaging me. I can't abandon though unless they're really dreadful and even then there's something perverse in me that says I have to read every word.

Saving special books for special times, being terrified of not liking a book you want to like so much... it all sounds very familiar! And I might add one other personal tact of mine: as much as I am a true book hoarder, sometimes I just feel like I want to clear my shelves of all the books that I've bought to read mostly because they are on a challenge or because they seemed good at the time or because they were cheap. And there are quite a few of them and I get on this crazy mode where I want to read all of them at once so I can get rid of them and then move on to the books that hold a more special meaning to me.

Sometimes I look at books that I've only just bought and part of me hates them especially if I've been on a book buying spree (which has not happened in a while .. this is the new improved .. more responsible Poppyshake ) it's a bit like the feeling that shopaholics get after they've splurged. But then, after a few days I love them again and can look at them and not worry about how long it's going to take me to get through them or resent them for taking up shelf space. But after reading them, I can't get rid of them ... unless I hate them and sometimes not even then, and I've got this horrible feeling it's a form of boasting .. it's like saying to people that come to my house .. 'look .. I read!' just incase they were thinking (and you've got to have sympathy with them here) that I'm stoopid.

[poppyshake]

Goodness, I have run out of time, like Arnie though ... I'll be back!

[willoyd]

Thanks Willoyd I am having more trouble with 'Mrs Dalloway' than I did with 'To the Lighthouse' .. the characters are not fixing themselves in my mind as easily but there is some stunning writing in it....but I'm sure it'll be another that I'll want to re-read - there is so much in there to get your teeth into.

Mrs Dalloway was my first experience of Virginia Woolf (encouraged into it after watching The Hours). It took me a couple of goes too. I do agree, I think you're making laife harder for yourself by trying to read something else at the same time - she requires all my energies - I struggle to even read some of her fiction during termtime as even that is too distracting!

 

You say that 'The Years' is a favourite of yours and I can't wait to read that .. and Hermione's biography .. and Virginia's letters .. and diaries, I think I could probably spend a year at least immersed in all things Woolf.

Same here! I recently bought the complete letters (all six volumes!!) through ebay, and, as I said last time, am gradually collecting her essays. I don't think a writer has quite grabbed me like this before, certainly since discovering Jane Austen as a teenager (whose work I still adore).

 

I feel quite sad about today's children, there was a little girl at the hotel I was staying at last week and every afternoon .. despite the glorious weather .. she was sitting in the corridor of the hotel playing on a computer game. There were lots of children enjoying the pool but she hardly went near it, she looked quite lonely and bored most of the time. Once I saw her run out to the pool just to watch but she was called back by her parents.....

As Janet said, it's probably not the place to go into this too much (at least by me - you can write what you like in your blog!), but OH and I have just got back from an extended cycling tour through Switzerland, Germany and the Netherlands. We didn't see any of the overprotectiveness there that we so often see here. Indeed, the numbers of youngsters out on their bikes in the Netherlands was really refreshing. So much of British society is tied up in this, including our infrastructure (of course it's safer for children in the Netherlands - we hardly ever needed to ride on the roads!). One of the things I push with my (Year 5) class is reading for sheer pleasure, with emphasis on reading time, opportunities to tell the rest of the class what we are reading, what we enjoy reading etc etc. It doesn't work for all children, but every year there are one or two non-readers who are turned on by the end of the year. The boys especially always seem to be a bit amazed that a man actually enjoys reading, and fiction at that (although I do read a lot of non-fiction too!). The problem here, though, is that reading is taught at far too early an age to those who aren't ready......

[poppy]

I feel guilty now .. making a fuss about a three hour journey I really should make the effort ... I'd love to see the 'White Garden'

 

A white garden would be wonderful to see at night, white flowers take on a luminosity and glow in the dark. Lol, three hours is still a fair hike ...you'll get there one day (and we want photos)

[poppyshake]

Xbox, yes Thank goodness! There are so many ways in which women were un-enabled to write, the list would go on and on. A Room of One's Own will make a very interesting list! We actually discussed this issue on one of our literature courses, the professor talked about the literary canon and how white males dominated it back in the day. Not only did the women end up being homeschooled, but some of the parents thought that singing, painting, the etiquette and that sort of thing was all women needed. And who do you think were the early judges of what is the canon? Men. And when literature was taught in schools and universities, who do you think were the teachers/professors? Men. It's a mystery more men didn't go on a huge power trip and loose their marbles at the process

 

Thankfully the world has moved on a lot since then but it makes you appreciate what all those women went through in order to succeed in such a male dominated world - we have a lot to thank them for .. though come to think of it I did make the lunch, tea and wash-up today (I am letting my sisters down )

I keep coming back to the book I'm currently reading: Between the Sheets - The Literary Liaisons of Nine 20th-Century Women Writers. Eventhough the relationships dealt with in the book were sordid affairs, there was mental and physical abuse, infidelity, living off the woman's money etc. involved, what was refreshing to learn that these men seemed to be enabling the writing of their female partners. They did reading and commenting, proof-reading, editing etc. It is the kind of thing one doesn't often read about.

Yes not all men are bad .. take Dickens for example, he did so much to help save 'fallen women' .. helping to educate and rehabilitate them and he worked tirelessly for St Ormond Street Hospital and spoke up for the poor and oppressed in his novels but his attitude to his wife was dictatorial, exacting and chauvinistic and he discarded her like an old sock once she'd grown old and fat (which she was bound to do after giving birth to ten children!) On the one hand I wanted to shake his hand and on the other I wanted to kick him in the underpants

[poppyshake]

It must have had a huge impact on her life in every which way. I detest all type of sexual abuse and it always makes me very very angry! This is something that I get a weekly reminder of, having to read stories in news papers about rape and such like, and one of the things that annoys me the most is that at least here in Finland the sentences for these horrible low-lives are way too short! What's more, I live in the Eastern Finland and our Court of Appeals always, always shortens the already short sentences. It's a general joke (a bad one!) over here, it's like winning the lottery for a rapist to commit their heinous crimes over here :irked:

Oh Lord! I thought things were bad enough here I do believe in rehabilitation but I always have to fight the urge to think 'just lock them up and throw away the key' when it comes to rapists and sex offenders (and I have a tendency to want to send them all to an island with only each other for company.) Something needs to change .. the way men view women for a start! .. but that sounds like I'm generalising and mean all men .. which is most definitely not the case because on the whole .. I love men

[poppyshake]

Hm, I'm having this flashback, I'm quite positive you and I have giggled about some other Titty or Tit before?!

It's true! I started laughing soon after I bought the book home and read the blurb and I mentioned it to you then. You would think wouldn't you that, by the time I got around to reading it, the novelty would have worn off but no ... the giggling just started up again but you know I'm so glad they havent changed it .. it's like all the literary Fanny's .. occasionally I will see a drama or hear a play where Fanny has been substituted for Frances etc .. it's ludicrous .. surely we're not that juvenile? :giggle2:

 

Hehe! Kylie, you're missing a lot of fun stuff! Come back soon!

Oh I do miss her, it seems awful quiet without her, wherefore art thou Kylie?

 

Who is this Violet Trefusis person? I think the book is going on my wishlist, thanks Poppy! Poppyshake, this is very back. We were talking about Virginia Woolf one minute, then I learn about some Vita Sackville-West person from you and have now added some books about her/by her on my wishlist, and now poppy comes in and lets us know about a Violet Trefusis who wrote letters to Vita S-W. And a week a go I didn't even know about this Vita person!! Oh boy. I swear if someone comes in and starts talking about a Regina who wrote letters to Violet I'm going to ... have to laugh in literary exhaustion!

I know, where will it all end? Books leading to books and writers leading to writers. Once you start reading about the Bloomsbury Group writers the list becomes endless (and no doubt shoots off in all directions,) I'm sure I'll be reading up on them forever. It was the same with Gertrude Stein's book, all sorts of interesting people and connections crop up there, not least of which was Sylvia Beach who .. to my shame .. I hadn't heard of until then

Excited"? This is just my English, but that sounds like a weird choice of words (I don't know if it was yours or the writer's), 'excited' to me sounds like a positive thing.

This is the word I read and I was baffled too because it sounded as if it would be a good thing but then I remembered that it was more commonly used to mean 'agitated' and that made more sense. The word 'hysterical' was also used .. really, Leonard's honeymoon was a bit of a shocker!

 

Your review of To the Lighthouse was simply splendid! I really feel like I want to re-read the book immediately. I read the very long paragraph and I couldn't help but think whether the fact that I read the book in Finnish had something to do with me not enjoying it that much, the English original was just beautiful. I have to read it in English next time, fo sho!!

Thanks Frankie I can't imagine how difficult translating Woolf would be! .. terrifying I would have thought, I expect they just had a stab at it and hoped for the best Yes, read it in English .. then you will genuinely know that it is Woolf tying your brain in a knot and not the translator

[poppyshake]

Mrs Dalloway was my first experience of Virginia Woolf (encouraged into it after watching The Hours). It took me a couple of goes too. I do agree, I think you're making laife harder for yourself by trying to read something else at the same time - she requires all my energies - I struggle to even read some of her fiction during termtime as even that is too distracting!

I have learnt my lesson and won't be repeating it. It's not a good idea to break the chain as it were and there really isn't an ideal time to break off from a Woolf novel, obviously you have to at some point to go to bed etc (I haven't yet reached the exalted position of having read a Woolf in a day .. well, except 'Flush' and you really can't count it .. though I will probably try ) and I'm finding that the following day I have to retrace my steps a bit.

Same here! I recently bought the complete letters (all six volumes!!) through ebay, and, as I said last time, am gradually collecting her essays. I don't think a writer has quite grabbed me like this before, certainly since discovering Jane Austen as a teenager (whose work I still adore).

You are in for a treat, I've only got the Vintage 'Selected Letters' .. I suspect once I've read them I will be on the prowl for the complete set too. I love Jane too, her novels cheer me up and they're so quotable (if only in your head) .. hardly a day goes by without some of her words popping into my head.

As Janet said, it's probably not the place to go into this too much (at least by me - you can write what you like in your blog!), but OH and I have just got back from an extended cycling tour through Switzerland, Germany and the Netherlands. We didn't see any of the overprotectiveness there that we so often see here. Indeed, the numbers of youngsters out on their bikes in the Netherlands was really refreshing. So much of British society is tied up in this, including our infrastructure (of course it's safer for children in the Netherlands - we hardly ever needed to ride on the roads!). One of the things I push with my (Year 5) class is reading for sheer pleasure, with emphasis on reading time, opportunities to tell the rest of the class what we are reading, what we enjoy reading etc etc. It doesn't work for all children, but every year there are one or two non-readers who are turned on by the end of the year. The boys especially always seem to be a bit amazed that a man actually enjoys reading, and fiction at that (although I do read a lot of non-fiction too!). The problem here, though, is that reading is taught at far too early an age to those who aren't ready......

Yes, I've noticed that in Europe they're far more sensible as regards to health and safety etc, we seem to be getting a bit hysterical about it all. It is difficult to know where to draw the line because there are so many dangers out there but common sense is everything.

It's great to hear about your work with the Year 5 students and heartening too, if you've encouraged just one child a year to enjoy reading more then that's fantastic. I'm sure your enthusiasm must rub off on them, the best teachers are always the one's that you can tell love their subject. It is a shame though that children are expected to read at such an early age now, so many of them are put off because they find it too difficult or a chore .. and are probably bored. Again I think it's something that our European neighbours have a better understanding of.

Keep up the good work Willoyd

[poppyshake]

A white garden would be wonderful to see at night, white flowers take on a luminosity and glow in the dark. Lol, three hours is still a fair hike ...you'll get there one day (and we want photos)

I hope I do .. and if I do, I will definitely take photo's .. but they won't be as good as yours Poppy, my camera skills leave a lot to be desired.

 

[frankie]

Before I go into replying to your previous posts, poppyshake, I'd like to tell you something which I found very funny, and unintentionally (?) ironic: I was going through a book titled Mastering English Literature by Richard Gill, which basically talks about studying poetry, prose and drama. It uses many wellknown classics as a case study, Jane Eyre being one of the most frequent examples. Anyhow, when the book dealt with perspective, the writer chose to illustrate a point using an excerpt from Tess of the D'Urbervilles. And he wrote: "One of the effects of reading Tess is finding her precious to characters, narrator and, in many cases, reader." My eyes were rolling so fast I was afraid they'd spin off of my head! Surely he didn't mean 'precious' as in.. precious! I feel like it's the same kind of bad choice of adjective as with Woolf getting 'excited'! What's more, Gill talks about author's attitudes and irony in the next paragraph. So surely he must've been practising his irony?

 

I feel quite sad about today's children, there was a little girl at the hotel I was staying at last week and every afternoon .. despite the glorious weather .. she was sitting in the corridor of the hotel playing on a computer game. There were lots of children enjoying the pool but she hardly went near it, she looked quite lonely and bored most of the time. Once I saw her run out to the pool just to watch but she was called back by her parents.

 

People should not have children unless they are ready and inclined to take care of them and be interested in their well-being and what they are up to! It seems like the parents were more about enjoying themselves and their precious quality one-on-one time, than having a family trip.

 

You know me so well .. it would be like 'where are the cookie's? ... doh!' I don't think there are any easy routes to Woolf, I am almost concentrating myself to death just trying to cling on to her coat tails at the moment .. or is it cloak tails? I think it's rather ironic that I should keep wandering off during 'Mrs Dalloway' (Virginia would be proud of me I think) .. to be fair to the book though I haven't treated it with the same reverence as I did 'To the Lighthouse' ... it's a sin really to try and read two other books at the same time, I feel almost unfaithful

 

Now, why would you read other books on the side? Knowing Woolf needs your undivided attention. You know the hazards and yet you choose to complicate your life

Sometimes I look at books that I've only just bought and part of me hates them especially if I've been on a book buying spree (which has not happened in a while .. this is the new improved .. more responsible Poppyshake) it's a bit like the feeling that shopaholics get after they've splurged. But then, after a few days I love them again and can look at them and not worry about how long it's going to take me to get through them or resent them for taking up shelf space. But after reading them, I can't get rid of them ... unless I hate them and sometimes not even then, and I've got this horrible feeling it's a form of boasting .. it's like saying to people that come to my house .. 'look .. I read!' just incase they were thinking (and you've got to have sympathy with them here) that I'm stoopid.

 

That's a very brave thing to say! I sometimes feel the same way, although lately I haven't really had the chance because I've been really careful with all the books I've picked, and I haven't been buying that many books. But the way you compared it to a shopaholic's feeling of deflation after a shopping spree was absolutely spot on! With the difference that a shopaholic might put the clothes they bought in a cupboard and forget them there for years, whereas you will remember exactly which titles you bought and look at them all lovingly

 

Yes not all men are bad .. take Dickens for example, he did so much to help save 'fallen women' .. helping to educate and rehabilitate them and he worked tirelessly for St Ormond Street Hospital and spoke up for the poor and oppressed in his novels but his attitude to his wife was dictatorial, exacting and chauvinistic and he discarded her like an old sock once she'd grown old and fat (which she was bound to do after giving birth to ten children!) On the one hand I wanted to shake his hand and on the other I wanted to kick him in the underpants

 

It's funny how you should say not all men are bad, and then take Dickens for example, and then talk about how wonderful he was, educating and rehabilitating women, and then move on to mention what a sod he was with his own wife

 

 

I do believe in rehabilitation but I always have to fight the urge to think 'just lock them up and throw away the key' when it comes to rapists and sex offenders (and I have a tendency to want to send them all to an island with only each other for company.) Something needs to change .. the way men view women for a start! .. but that sounds like I'm generalising and mean all men .. which is most definitely not the case because on the whole .. I love men

 

Coincidentally there was a Louis Theroux document on TV last week, and it was about paedophilia and he visited Coalinga State Hospital where they put the sex offenders who'd served their time but who couldn't be yet released into the society. I think the up-keep of one person was around $200.000 each year, and they had about 800 people there. That's a lot of money, and that's just for that one state hospital. They seemed to have it real good over there, they had their barbershops, activity rooms and loads of stuff to occupy them with, which is good, there's no use in keeping them in apathy and make them hostile by just locking them in their separate cells, but still, it's mind boggling how much care goes into this place when we know the victims will have to carry on with their god awful experiences for the rest of their lives. I like to think myself a liberal sort of person, but I have to say I wouldn't mind obligatory chemical castration on these people.

 

Oh but yes, how did we end up talking about this subject on you reading blog, I'm so sorry, I feel like I've just had a huge dump on your wonderful blog! I'll say no more about the subject, and will convert our thoughts to more pleasant things thus: I like men very much too

 

 

It's true! I started laughing soon after I bought the book home and read the blurb and I mentioned it to you then. You would think wouldn't you that, by the time I got around to reading it, the novelty would have worn off but no ... the giggling just started up again but you know I'm so glad they havent changed it .. it's like all the literary Fanny's .. occasionally I will see a drama or hear a play where Fanny has been substituted for Frances etc .. it's ludicrous .. surely we're not that juvenile?

 

Ach, so it was the same Titty! I'm glad of that, it's always the better the fewer literary Titties there are. For their own sake, of course! And surely you must realise, that yes, we are just that juvenile

I know, where will it all end? Books leading to books and writers leading to writers. Once you start reading about the Bloomsbury Group writers the list becomes endless (and no doubt shoots off in all directions,) I'm sure I'll be reading up on them forever. It was the same with Gertrude Stein's book, all sorts of interesting people and connections crop up there, not least of which was Sylvia Beach who .. to my shame .. I hadn't heard of until then

 

We will end up like the Collyer brothers, only with just books, nothing else I don't know if you saw the results of my library book sale book haul in my reading blog, but I found Leon Edel's book Bloomsbury: A House of Lions! I'm sure that'll get me started, lol! I also found a copy of The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas. And some diaries by Anaïs Nin. I was a very happy bunny and still am!

 

This is the word I read and I was baffled too because it sounded as if it would be a good thing but then I remembered that it was more commonly used to mean 'agitated' and that made more sense. The word 'hysterical' was also used .. really, Leonard's honeymoon was a bit of a shocker!

 

 

Thanks Frankie I can't imagine how difficult translating Woolf would be! .. terrifying I would have thought, I expect they just had a stab at it and hoped for the best Yes, read it in English .. then you will genuinely know that it is Woolf tying your brain in a knot and not the translator

 

I'm glad it wasn't just me who found the word a bit weird in that context, to say the least! And thank you for the info on the different uses of that word!

 

Yes, I should've cut the middleman, I.e. the translator and gone straight to the source, I.e. the English original! Goodness knows how much was do to Woolf herself, and how much was due to the translator being completely baffled. I'm sure that s/he just thought 'Screw this!!' at one point and just wrote the rest of it as it came to him/her, in a stream of consciousness

[poppyshake]

Before I go into replying to your previous posts, poppyshake, I'd like to tell you something which I found very funny, and unintentionally (?) ironic: I was going through a book titled Mastering English Literature by Richard Gill, which basically talks about studying poetry, prose and drama. It uses many wellknown classics as a case study, Jane Eyre being one of the most frequent examples. Anyhow, when the book dealt with perspective, the writer chose to illustrate a point using an excerpt from Tess of the D'Urbervilles. And he wrote: "One of the effects of reading Tess is finding her precious to characters, narrator and, in many cases, reader." My eyes were rolling so fast I was afraid they'd spin off of my head! Surely he didn't mean 'precious' as in.. precious! I feel like it's the same kind of bad choice of adjective as with Woolf getting 'excited'! What's more, Gill talks about author's attitudes and irony in the next paragraph. So surely he must've been practising his irony?

Ah those pesky multiple meaning adjectives. 'Precious' as used here means ... affected/artificial/twee. He's making reference to Tess's 'too good to be true' nature which not everyone (hands up please ) is convinced by or can tolerate.

[poppyshake]

Now, why would you read other books on the side? Knowing Woolf needs your undivided attention. You know the hazards and yet you choose to complicate your life

I know, I thought I could handle it .. but I was wrong. Don't ignore the Woolf .. she bites!

That's a very brave thing to say! I sometimes feel the same way, although lately I haven't really had the chance because I've been really careful with all the books I've picked, and I haven't been buying that many books. But the way you compared it to a shopaholic's feeling of deflation after a shopping spree was absolutely spot on! With the difference that a shopaholic might put the clothes they bought in a cupboard and forget them there for years, whereas you will remember exactly which titles you bought and look at them all lovingly

Yes, and I never regret it in the long run because a lot of thought goes into all my book buying (like all of five mins no, seriously, you know what I mean. There is a thought process behind it all, I don't just grab the first few books I see and ... in my defence .. you should see the pile of books I've left behind )

It's funny how you should say not all men are bad, and then take Dickens for example, and then talk about how wonderful he was, educating and rehabilitating women, and then move on to mention what a sod he was with his own wife

Well, he was a contradiction, like most of us are. There's plenty to admire about him but I do feel a little aggrieved for his poor wife (and children .. he seemed disappointed by them as if they weren't quite clever enough for such a clever father )

Coincidentally there was a Louis Theroux document on TV last week, and it was about paedophilia and he visited Coalinga State Hospital where they put the sex offenders who'd served their time but who couldn't be yet released into the society. I think the up-keep of one person was around $200.000 each year, and they had about 800 people there. That's a lot of money, and that's just for that one state hospital. They seemed to have it real good over there, they had their barbershops, activity rooms and loads of stuff to occupy them with, which is good, there's no use in keeping them in apathy and make them hostile by just locking them in their separate cells, but still, it's mind boggling how much care goes into this place when we know the victims will have to carry on with their god awful experiences for the rest of their lives. I like to think myself a liberal sort of person, but I have to say I wouldn't mind obligatory chemical castration on these people

Yes, I've seen it, I don't know how Louis can stand being in the same room with the people he interviews (well I do ... it's money obviously,) they're just so repellent. One of Alan's favourite subjects is 'how good prisoners have got it', he can get quite red in the face talking about gyms and TV's and computers and whatnot in prisons. To him prisoners should be locked up in clean conditions with the minimal of comfort and no privileges. We sometimes argue about it because, as I said before, I do believe in rehabilatation and I'm not against prisoners studying etc but when it comes to sex offenders/murderers and people who have committed violent crimes then it's hard to feel anything but revulsion .. and then there's always that feeling of injustice you get when you feel that the perpetrator of the crime is being protected in a way that the victim never was. My head goes around like a hamster on a wheel, it costs so much to keep them in prison, I don't believe in the death penalty because of all it's previous inaccuracies etc and also because it feels too much like 'two wrongs not making a right' but then again there are some people that are past redemption and who are a continual danger to society. I'm glad I don't have to be the one to decide. I'm with you on the castration front though .. sometimes, after reading a report in the papers, I could quite willingly carry it out.

 

Oh but yes, how did we end up talking about this subject on you reading blog, I'm so sorry, I feel like I've just had a huge dump on your wonderful blog! I'll say no more about the subject, and will convert our thoughts to more pleasant things thus: I like men very much too

You are welcome to dump on my blog anytime we have to explore our subjects .. we're improving our minds (how's yours going? mine is still fixated on chocolate but there's always hope )

 

We will end up like the Collyer brothers, only with just books, nothing else. I don't know if you saw the results of my library book sale book haul in my reading blog, but I found Leon Edel's book Bloomsbury: A House of Lions! I'm sure that'll get me started, lol! I also found a copy of The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas. And some diaries by Anaïs Nin. I was a very happy bunny and still am!

Yes, I did read about it and was impressed and jealous by turns. It's a wonderful feeling when books you're looking for turn up. I hadn't heard of the Bloomsbury book and when I looked it up not much info was available on it so I'll be interested to know more. I do hope you enjoy 'The Autobiography of Alice B Toklas' ... it's quite strange in style and it took me a while to get into her spare way of writing. It's such a fascinating time in history though that you'll find lots to trigger you off and make you go looking in other directions.

I'd be quite happy to end up surrounded by books. Whether I would ever booby trap my house/bookshelves I couldn't say. I would have to be a lot odder than I am now to consider it but I think my oddity factor does increase each year so who knows.

 

Yes, I should've cut the middleman, I.e. the translator and gone straight to the source, I.e. the English original! Goodness knows how much was do to Woolf herself, and how much was due to the translator being completely baffled. I'm sure that s/he just thought 'Screw this!!' at one point and just wrote the rest of it as it came to him/her, in a stream of consciousness

 

You can imagine them hoping that nobody will notice and it is in the spirit of Woolf to go off rambling in the woods on your own so to speak. You've got to have sympathy with them though, what a task.

[poppyshake]

 

Goodbye To all That - Robert Graves

 

Waterstones Synopsis: 'There has been a lot of fighting hereabouts. The trenches have made themselves rather than been made, and run inconsequently in and out of the big thirty-foot high stacks of bricks; it is most confusing. The parapet of a trench which we don't occupy is built up with ammunition boxes and corpses'. In one of the most honest and candid self-portraits ever committed to paper, Robert Graves tells the extraordinary story of his experiences as a young officer in the First World War. He describes life in the trenches in vivid, raw detail, how the dehumanizing horrors he witnessed left him shell-shocked. They were to haunt him for the rest of his life.

 

* warning .. this review contains some fairly disturbing quotes *

 

Review: I'd had this book on my shelf for a while, waiting it's turn along with the others but after reading snippets from it in 'Skippy Dies' I found I wanted to know more. These are the writer Robert Graves's memoirs or, as he puts it, his 'bitter leave-taking of England', in particular it's an account of his time in the trenches during WW1. The book starts with stories of his childhood and ends with him emigrating abroad but it's his wartime experiences that are absolutely riveting. No matter how many history books you read or documentaries you watch nothing prepares you for the brutal accounts of war as told by those that experienced it first hand. It's all the things you would expect it to be, raw, explicit and horrifying but it's told with candour, absolutely no frills and laced with frequent (trench) humour as in this story told to Robert by his servant ... 'bloke in the Camerons wanted a cushy, bad. Fed up and far from home he was. He puts his hand over the top and gets his trigger finger taken off, and two more beside. That done the trick. He comes laughing through our lines by the old boutillery. "See, lads" he says, "I'm off to bonny Scotland. Is it na a beauty?" But on the way down the trench to the dressing station, he forgets to stoop low where the old sniper's working. He gets it through the head, too. Finee. We laugh fit to die!' It's amazing how quickly, in war, you have to inure yourself to the sight, smell and feel of death .. it's either that or certain madness ... 'once I snatched my fingers in horror from where I had planted them on the slimy body of an old corpse'. Robert survives although he suffers several injuries (one of which was thought to be fatal and a telegram was sent to his parents informing them that he had died) but understandably he's left traumatised, shell-shocked and afflicted with all sorts of ailments that hamper him in later life. Of great interest is Roberts friendships with fellow writers and poets Siegfried Sassoon, also serving as an officer in WW1, and Wilfred Owen. They all went on to publish war poetry (Wilfred mostly posthumously) and are commemorated on a slate plaque in Poet's Corner of Westminster Abbey along with thirteen other Great War Poets. I'm on the lookout now for Siegfried's book 'Memoirs of an Infantry Officer' which is said to cover the same events but from a different viewpoint.

 

This is one of Roberts entries:

 

June 9th: I am beginning to realize how lucky I was in my gentle introduction to the Cambrin trenches. We are now in a nasty salient, a little to the south of the brick-stacks, where casualties are always heavy. The company had seventeen casualties yesterday from bombs and grenades. The front trench averages thirty yards from the Germans. Today, at one part, which is only twenty yards away from an occupied German sap, I went along whistling 'The Farmers Boy', to keep up my spirits, when suddenly I saw a group bending over a man lying at the bottom of the trench. He was making a snoring noise mixed with animal groans. At my feet lay the cap he had worn, splashed with his brains. I had never seen human brains before; I somehow regarded them as a poetical figment. One can joke with a badly wounded man and congratulate him on being out of it. One can disregard a dead man. But even a miner can't make a joke that sounds like a joke over a man who takes three hours to die after the top part of his head has been taken off by a bullet fired at twenty yards' range.

 

It has to be said that the book seems to lose focus once the war ends, Robert marries, tries his hand at shop keeping, goes on to have several children and eventually settles down to concentrate on his writing (one of the books he goes on to write is the great historical novel 'I, Claudius'.) He meets and becomes friendly with T.E. Lawrence and Thomas Hardy (and many other poets and writers .. indeed the names never stop dropping) but in comparison to his war experiences, which are told so vividly, his ordinary life experiences seem a little flat.

 

Required reading for anyone with even half an interest in WW1.

 

8/10

Edited December 29, 2011 by poppyshake

[chaliepud]

That's a definite for my wish list Poppy, I'm not a big biography fan but this looks like it could be an exception, thank you.

[willoyd]

Lovely review Poppy. It's a while since I read the book, but your comments reflect very much what I remember of it.