Feeds:
Posts
Comments

Posts Tagged ‘reading’

Insults and thoughts about reading from Virginia Woolf

Posted in quotes, tagged , , , on Monday 17 March 2025| Leave a Comment »

Knowing I am always on the lookout for bits about Virginia Woolf, a friend sent me links to two articles. Today, I am sharing them with you, along with an online resource about Woolf’s reading.

Two articles about Woolf

  1. Title: “A Selection of Virginia Woolf’s Most Savage Insults”
    Author: Emily Temple
    Source: Pocket, although the post was originally published on Literary Hub on Oct. 12, 2017.
    Synopsis: The article covers moments that remind us how certain people really should have been afraid of Virginia Woolf, because she was full of epic—and sometimes kind of horrible and classist—insults.
    Read it here.
  2. Title: “Virginia Woolf on Why We Read and What Great Works of Art Have in Common”
    Author: Maria Popova
    Source: Pocket, although the piece was originally published on Jan. 23, 2020 on The Marginalian.
    Synopsis: This piece discusses the thoughts of Woolf’ and other authors on the value of reading over time.
    Read it here.

More on Woolf’s reading

Last summer, a new digital resource was made available for readers and scholars interested in Woolf. WoolfNotes.com, a project that digitizes her reading and research notes, is now live on the King’s College, London, website.

This major digital humanities project brings into the public domain Woolf’s last remaining substantial unpublished work.

Get the details.

Read Full Post »

Reading Virginia Woolf during Women’s History Month

Posted in books, novels, tagged , , , , , on Tuesday 19 March 2024| 2 Comments »

We are nearing the tail end of Women’s History Month and who better to read than Virginia Woolf?

Virginia and Leonard Woolf moved into Monk’s House in Rodmell in 1919, and as the Monk’s House guidebook states, “Books dominated the house.” During a 2019 visit, books were the first thing we saw as we entered through the back doorway. They lined the stairs to the second floor.

To that end, I have two resources that give advice on “Where to start with Virginia Woolf.”

At the starting gate with Penguin

“Are you afraid of Virginia Woolf?” asks Penguin. The publisher then advises: “There’s no need: there’s something for everyone in the Modernist writer’s back catalogue.”

The website gives a synopsis and link for seven of Woolf’s novels and/or polemics, along with links to other works related to Woolf, such as Square Haunting: Five Women, Freedom and London Between the Wars (2020).

The recommended Woolf works include the following:

At the starting gate with NYPL

The second comes from the New York Public Library. Their guide on “Where to Start With Virginia Woolf” includes a brief synopsis of each work and recommends reading them in this order:

  1. Mrs. Dalloway (1925)
  2. A Room of One’s Own (1929)
  3. To the Lighthouse (1927)
  4. The Waves (1931)
  5. Orlando (1928)

A book list of her own

Meanwhile, Woolf scholar Maggie Humm’s Twitter post two years ago on World Book Day included a list of the books Woolf liked and disliked most in 1924, 100 years ago.

Read Full Post »

Bloomsbury in Love: free British Society member event

Posted in Bloomsbury, events, tagged , , , on Thursday 8 February 2024| Leave a Comment »

The Virginia Woolf Society of Great Britain invites all members to a free members-only online event titled “Bloomsbury in Love,” in honor of Valentine’s Day as well as the love relationships of members of the Bloomsbury group.

Details

When: Wednesday, Feb, 21, 5:30 p.m. GMT
Where: On Zoom. Members will be sent the Zoom link.
What: An evening of readings by members about love and relationships from Virginia Woolf and the Bloomsbury Group.
How: If you are not already a member of the society, join now to participate.

Read Full Post »

Writing, reading: Virginia Woolf’s diary 100 years ago today

Posted in diaries, quotes, tagged , , , , on Sunday 3 December 2023| Leave a Comment »

One hundred years ago today, on Dec 3, 1923, Virginia Woolf began a long diary entry about her brother Adrian’s separation from his wife Karin with a rumination on writing vs. reading:

Back from Rodmell; unable to settle in; therefore I write diary. How often I have said this! An odd psychological fact–that I can write when I’m too jangled to read. Morever, I want to leave as few pages blank as possibe; & the end of the year is only some three weeks off. – Diary 2, p. 276.

 

Read Full Post »