I know some people are still reading – but I didn’t want to wait until the very last day of February to post this little round up of the first phase of #Woolfalong. Please feel free to come back and drop any links to reviews that I might have missed/or aren’t up yet in the comments box. I have tried to keep up with everyone as best as I can. I know not everyone who has been reading along with me are bloggers – but they have been able to join in the conversation using the #Woolfalong on Twitter.
My intention of starting #Woolfalong with To the Lighthouse and/or Mrs Dalloway was to explore two of Virginia Woolf’s best known, possibly best loved novels. Many readers will have chosen to read one or the other, I decided to read (strictly speaking re-read) both. I am so glad I did – my experience of both novels was vastly superior to my first reading of them. If I had to choose one over the other I would pick To the Lighthouse as the one I liked the most – but really both were wonderful reading experiences. They require a little effort from the reader of course, but I believe it is effort which is well rewarded.
Both To the Lighthouse and Mrs Dalloway are modernist novels written in a stream of consciousness, told through shifting perspectives and published only a couple of years apart.
Each novel naturally has its own themes and it isn’t my intention to try and compare the novels in any depth. However, to my mind there are a few similarities in the two novels. Mrs Ramsay (To the Lighthouse) and Mrs Dalloway – central figures in their respective worlds, middle aged, mothers, though Mrs Ramsay seems a more passive woman than Clarissa Dalloway. Each of these women have a powerful effect on the people around them.
The passage of time and reminiscence play a part in both novels – that sense of time passing I felt was particularly strong in To the Lighthouse, while in Mrs Dalloway the central characters seem forever looking back, remembering or haunted in some way by times past.
To the Lighthouse is an elegy to Virginia Woolf’s parents – and presumably her childhood. The novel itself is about a marriage, childhood, parentage, reminiscence and grief, the tone is elegiac, poetic, characters perceptions are at the forefront of everything in the exploration of complex relationships.
For me, despite that hot day in June, Mrs Dalloway feels altogether darker, due perhaps to the presence throughout the novel of the inevitability of death and its other themes of mental illness and (due to the context of the times) repressed homosexuality.
Overall reading both these novels has got my #Woolfalong campaign off to a great start. I have enjoyed seeing other readers thoughts – and so I include some links below to reviews I have spotted, Apologies if I have missed any – if you make me aware of them I will edit them in, when I have a chance. Please hop through to the reviews below – they are all well worth reading.
Max, David Liz Grant and Leah read Mrs Dalloway Rachel, listened to Mrs Dalloway on audio book while Val read Mrs Dalloway’s Party – which I hope to read during the short story phase. Caroline at Bookword pointed me in the direction of her Mrs Dalloway review from last summer. Karen at Bookertalk has just posted her review of Mrs Dalloway and you can read it here. I’ll let you read their reviews for yourself to appreciate their diifering experiences and thoughts.
Several non-blogging readers on other social media platforms joined me in reading To the Lighthouse – including some friends of mine who make up a small but very lovely monthly bookgroup. Helen at She Reads Novels and Caroline at Bookword posted their reviews in January. Julie posted her review on Goodreads, Sarah from Hard Book Habit and Grant from 1streading’s blog recently finished reading it too. Cathy came late to the Dalloway party – and her wonderful review shows how much she loved it.
Karen at Kaggsy’s Booksish Ramblings has alerted me to her reviews of both Lighthouse and Dalloway from 2012 and 2014.
Phase two of #Woolfalong begins in a little over a week – for March and April – ‘beginnings and endings’ to read one or more of: – The Voyage Out/ Night and Day (Woolf’s first and second novels – or Between the Acts (her final novel). I read The Voyage Out last year – so I shall start with Night and Day – and possibly move on to Between the Acts. I hope some of you will join me.
So if you have read either of these novels please let us know some of your thoughts – positive or negative.
I am slap bang in the middle of Mrs Dalloway and am really loving it. I hope to have my post up before the end of the week!
Ooh great. So glad you’re enjoying Mrs Dalloway.
This is an interesting round up of the various responses to Mrs D and To the Lighthouse.
I have started The Voyage Out for the next phase, and found – I’d forgotten this – Mrs Dalloway gets on board with her husband. It’s such a different novel to the ones we startewd with.
Thanks for the links and for #Woolfalong.
I really enjoyed The Voyage Out. It is more of a conventional narrative I think, although I seem to remember the perspective shifts around a little .
I’m about 2/3 of the way through Mrs. Dalloway. Adoring it. Taking my time. Savoring. The sadness. The madness. I ache. I’ll post a review in the next week or so, as I finish and let it all settle.
Here is my review of To The Lighthouse. https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1139176492?book_show_action=false#comment_form
And I’m ready for The Voyage Out for March.
Oh that’s brilliant Julie, thank you for the link. So glad you’re enjoying your Woolf reading.
I’m still making my way through Mrs. Dalloway. I have it on the go along with the other books I’m reading. It might not be done by the end of the month, but I’ll just keep reading and write about it when I’m done. I’ll definitely by checking out some of these other reviews to compare my thoughts – thanks for sharing them!
No worries Naomi I will be very interested in your thoughts when you’re finished.
I’m most of the way through a To The Lighthouse reread so will hopefully be done in time 🙂
Brilliant. I will of course link to your post when it’s done.
Lovely post Ali! I reviewed both of these books previously and so I hope you don’t mind me linking here:
Mrs. Dalloway: https://kaggsysbookishramblings.wordpress.com/2014/10/01/leaden-circles-dissolve-in-the-air/
To the Lighthouse: https://kaggsysbookishramblings.wordpress.com/2012/10/01/a-long-overdue-re-read-to-the-lighthouse-by-virginia-woolf/
I’m intending to revisit “Between the Acts” for phase 2 which I haven’t read for over 30 years, so I’m really looking forward to this!
Of course I don’t mind you linking your reviews – thank you for that. 😊
Hi Ali, I do not see where we are supposed to post our links. When I click on the #Woolfalong tab above, it takes me to your post with the schedule of books and though there is the sentence “add links in the comment box below,” it is blank. I am stumped. None of your other comment sections (like this one) are blank, but that one is….?
Ah I hadn’t realised that – of course those pages don’t allow comments. Link can be pasted into the comments on this post if you like – sorry to confuse you.
I’m afraid to say that I’m running a bit behind with everything at the moment, so I’ve yet to start To the Lighthouse despite my best intentions at the beginning of the year. I will get to it at some point, but it’s unlikely to be February. Apologies, Ali…my reading tends to be driven by mood and various whims, so there are times when I find it hard to join in with certain readalongs.
No apologies necessary. I know all about reading by mood. It really doesn’t matter when you review To the Lighthouse, I will always be interested in your thoughts and I can add a link later. Happy reading.
Thank you. 🙂
Thank you for these great links which are enhancing my reading! Liking the challenge of the first stream of consciousness novel I’ve read in a while.
I’m glad you are enjoying reading Virginia Woolf. It’s always interesting to see how others react to the same text.
Lighthouse rocks! How can a 40 page description of an empty house be moving? And yet, it is.
I know it is. The whole book is like a series of exquisite images coupled with the thoughts, wonderings, and feelings of the people who move through them.
I’m rereading Mrs D allowance this week & hoping to get To the Lighthouse read too… will report back😊
Excellent, looking forward to seeing your thoughts.
I read To the Lighthouse and reviewed it here: https://shereadsnovels.wordpress.com/2016/01/19/to-the-lighthouse-by-virginia-woolf/
I didn’t like it as much as you did, but I loved Orlando when I read it a few years ago, which gives me hope that I’ll enjoy some of her other books too. I’m looking forward to taking part in some of the other phases this year. 🙂
Thank you, so glad you’ll be reading more Woolf. I loved Orlando too. Sorry I missed your review. I will try to find time to edit it in above with others that I have missed.
Hello there! My name is Soonha and I’ve been reading your blogs for a while now and enjoy them very much. I’m Co-Founder of Zabaan Writer’s Collective. I was wondering if I could have your email so i could contact you about a possible blog you could write for us.
Hoping to hear from you soon! 🙂
Hi. My email is on my ‘about me’ page under review policy. However I currently have no time to write for anyone else.
I’m still reading Mrs Dalloway – will just about finish it before February is over. It’s not a novel to rush through,more one that I want to savour. Like you I’ve found my second reading is more impressive than my first….
Yes I think Woolf’s writing is definitely worth savouring. I think second and even third readings of many books are often richly rewarded.
So interesting to read everyone’s thoughts on To the Lighthouse. I will try to add my review soon.
Definitely the reason I love readalong events is seeing different views. Looking forward to seeing your thoughts.
Thanks for this round-up, Ali. I know I wasn’t overly enthusiastic about Mrs Dalloway, but I enjoyed taking part in the woolfathon nevertheless. I’m looking forward to popping round to see what everyone else had to say about it…
We can’t all like the same things, and I ‘my glad you were able to join in.
As I re-read both Mrs D and to the Lighthouse very recently, I’m bypassing stage one, but have my copy of Between the Acts already lined up which I’m really looking forward to!
I have just blogged a Lighthouse post which I’ve linked below!
http://hardbookhabit.com/2016/02/25/mr-ramsey-and-how-the-world-is-full-of-crashing-bores/comment-page-1/#comment-4223 🙂
Thanks for the link. I hope you enjoy Between the Acts.
Still intending to read To the Lighthouse by the end of the month – it’s next up after my current Virago and I should get some good reading time in over the weekend! And then I will go for as much as I can in March and April – so good to sink into Woolf like this.
It is. So glad you will be reading more.
I made it just in time with my review on Mrs Dalloway. Gosh this was a tough one to review – I think I could have written so much more and still not done it justice. http://bookertalk.com/2016/02/27/virginia-woolfs-mrs-dalloway-and-her-unfulfilled-dreams/
Brilliant, I’ll pop along and read your review in a while. I found writing about Virginia Woolf’s writing very hard indeed.
Hello Ali, I’m squeaking in at almost the eleventh hour. Thank you so much for reminding me how much I value To The Lighthouse and that, having last read it twenty years ago a re-read was in order! http://ladyfancifull.wordpress.com/2016/02/29/virginia-woolf-to-the-lighthouse/
Once I started thinking about it I couldn’t stop
Thank you for the link. I’m so glad you loved your re-read of To the Lighthouse.
I’m planning on joining in phase 2 – a little excited about my very first Woolf 🙂
http://bronasbooks.blogspot.com.au/2016/02/classics-club-february-meme.html?m=1
Yay. I hope you enjoy reading Woolf. Great to have you with us.
[…] a lot about the Dorothy Richardson novels I’ve been reading lately (all reviews can be found here – this search for “Dorothy Richardson” should give you all mentions of her on […]
Finally finished and reviewed “To the Lighthouse” https://librofulltime.wordpress.com/2016/03/07/book-reviews-to-the-lighthouse-and-the-fly-on-the-wheel-virago/
Thank you for the link. 😊
[…] Phase 1 – January/February – Getting started with a famous Woolf novel – To the Lighthouse or Mrs Dalloway […]