A Room of One’s Own is an extended essay by Virginia Woolf. First published on the 24th of October, 1929, the essay was based on a series of lectures she delivered at Newnham College and Girton College, two women’s colleges at Cambridge University in October 1928. While this extended essay in fact employs a fictional narrator and narrative to explore women both as writers and characters in fiction, the manuscript for the delivery of the series of lectures, titled Women and Fiction, and hence the essay, are considered nonfiction. The essay is seen as a feminist text, and is noted in its argument for both a literal and figural space for women writers within a literary tradition dominated by patriarchy.
A Room of One’s Own
Virginia Woolf
(1929)
Narrated by: Juliet Stevenson
Every single time I sit down with Virginia Woolf I come away a different person, whether I liked the book or not.
After reading this book I came away with a few questions.
Why a novel?
What does having space do for creativity?
How are the themes still relevant today in 2023?
Originally published in 1929 it’s hard to imagine the world Woolf lived in. This essay is a collection of two pieces that began as lectures given to students at women’s colleges.
I have some criticism that is mostly excused by this being a historical piece of literature. The takeaway for me is that for fiction and creativity to occur one must have choices, the freedom the make them, and the space in which to do them.
I can work with that.
This book has been on my to-be-read list for a long time. I am so glad to have finally read it.
A ROOM OF ONE’S OWN…⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
When Benjamin Braddock graduates from a small Eastern college and moves home to his parents’ house, everyone wants to know what he’s going to do with his life. Embittered by the emptiness of his college education and indifferent to his grim prospects—grad school? a career in plastics?—Benjamin falls haplessly into an affair with Mrs. Robinson, the relentlessly seductive wife of his father’s business partner. It’s only when beautiful coed Elaine Robinson comes home to visit her parents that Benjamin, now smitten, thinks he might have found some kind of direction in his life. Unfortunately for Benjamin, Mrs. Robinson plays the role of protective mother as well as she does the one of mistress. A wondrously fierce and absurd battle of wills ensues, with love and idealism triumphing over the forces of corruption and conformity.
THE GRADUATE
Charles Webb
(1963)
Narrated by: Scott Brick
MIND-NUMBING!
I sincerely considered DNFing several times toward the end of this book.
I’m finding with a little bit of poking around that some modern classics were made classics because of the popularity of a movie. Not the other way around.
I’m thinking that has attributed to the success of THE GRADUATE and its being named a classic.
Mostly dialogue is told almost exclusively in conversations between new graduate Benjamin and those in his life. I imagined myself as an FBI agent listening in on monotonous recordings.
It was not fun.
What I understood it to be is not what is portrayed to be at all. Making this a really confusing and unenjoyable reading experience.
Webb and I were not on the same page.
What’s portrayed about THE GRADUATE is it’s a story about a young man who is depressed after graduation (read somewhat listless) he decides to have an affair with his parents’ partner’s wife and then sets eyes on their daughter.
Creating a love triangle.
The book as I read it is about boundaries. Ben has none. And everyone in his life knows it and is willing to varying degrees to exploit it.
There is nothing amorous about the relationship between Ben and Mrs. Robinson from my viewpoint. And I’m trying, trying so hard to get into the mind of Ben to try to understand but I can’t. Webb gave me nothing to work with.
Someone has to explain this book to me. As it stands it is a two star. The worst book of my reading challenge so far.
THE GRADUATE…⭐️⭐️
Classics reading tip #4: Take Notes.
Madame Bovary is the debut novel of French writer Gustave Flaubert, published in 1856. The character lives beyond her means in order to escape the banalities and emptiness of provincial life. When the novel was first serialized in La Revue de Paris between 1 October 1856 and 15 December 1856, public prosecutors attacked the novel for obscenity. The resulting trial in January 1857 made the story notorious. After Flaubert’s acquittal on 7 February 1857, Madame Bovary became a bestseller in April 1857 when it was published in two volumes. A seminal work of literary realism, the novel is now considered Flaubert’s masterpiece, and one of the most influential literary works in history.
The Therapist
B.A. Paris
This is B.A. Paris’s fifth book and the fifth one I’ve read. BRING ME BACK was a disaster as far as I was concerned, so I was curious where Paris would go with this one. Psychological thrillers are my absolute favorite books to read. When the storyline involves an actual mental health professional, it piques my curiosity even more. There are so many dark avenues to navigate when talking about characters who explore other people’s minds.
In This book, however, there was a bit of mirror play. Overall, I believe Paris was really expressing the narrative of boundaries and that came through in different plot lines and in several of the dynamics of the characters. I found this book to be extremely consumable, with enough going on that I was continuously interested and relatively satisfied with the book as a whole.
The biggest problem that I have with the writing is that I really felt Paris was again over-explaining, re-hashing too much, Internal dialogue mimicking external dialogue. It creates unnecessary lulls and times where I’m rolling my eyes screaming, “get on with it already.”
Paranoia is often an annoying personality trait to play out with a character while reading a book. And on the opposite side of the spectrum, avoidance of red flags and general apathetic regard for the truth and obvious signs are even more annoying. Paris possibly pushed it to the limit from time to time during this book.
Overall, super entertaining!
Four Stars
So glad I was able to get my hands on an early copy thanks to @netgalley and #macmillanaudio
Check out #netgalley for your advanced copy; request today!
