Welcome to Litsy!

My #bookspin list for May! Hoping to get back on track this month. April was a bit of a slump for me.

For anyone interested, A Public Space will be reading To the lighthouse next month!

#InQuotes Day 16: #Intimacy

Reread of a favorite that did not disappoint. No one is better at describing a character‘s interior life than Woolf.

I cannot "get over" the racism in order to enjoy reading this. So going to bail.

Wow. This lady was really racist huh? I am not sure if I knew that at some point and forgot? I have only read one other book of hers years and years ago I read Mrs Dalloway. But I don't know if I am going to finish this one.

Happy 2023! The new year brings a bunch of new books from 1927 into the public domain (and into #SerialReader) including To The Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf among other works by Agatha Christie, Ernest Hemingway, Willa Cather, Edith Wharton, Arthur Conan Doyle and more!

Find the full list and more info over at Serial Reader's blog https://www.serialreader.org/blog/new-books-1927-public-domain-2023-lighthouse-h...

1. Skye
2. Tagged book plus several others for mood reading
#two4tuesday

"Did Nature supplement what man advanced? Did she complete what he began?"

My list for July‘s #bookspin! I would be happy to read any of these picks, so looking forward to seeing what is in store this month!

#OnThisDay in 1927 Virginia Woolf published her follow up to Mrs Dalloway, To The Lighthouse. Woolf began writing To the Lighthouse partly as a way of understanding and dealing with unresolved issues concerning both her parents. Published through her own house, Hogarth Press, and with a cover designed by her sister Vanessa Bell, the book outsold all her previous novels and the proceeds allowed the Woolfs to buy their first car. #HistoryGetsLIT

Lately I've been reading so many classics, and I knew I wanted to read this book. The writing was as you might expect, though I could understand it and found it rather descriptive I found myself finding different quotes that resonated with me, particularly ones that described my favourite characters, Mr and Mrs Ramsay. The characters relationships were well developed and I really loved the philosophical side of the story.

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The beginning is a classic family drama. The middle is a symphony in prose. The ending is a metaphysical triumph

To the Lighthouse is the quietest novel I have ever read. I don‘t entirely know what that means but I know it to be true. It is a novel of observation. Characters rarely speak to each other and when they do we hear of it through the eyes of a third party. Oftentimes it is simply communication without words, words somehow feeling inadequate. It‘s a novel you‘ll want to flip open to a random page and savor each and every word.

I've never read Virginia Woolf, so I'm excited to finally do so! The seniors at my school are assigned this text which makes me feel a little behind the curve as they ask me questions that I can't answer. (I teach freshmen, but I get a lot of seniors in my study hall period.)

What other books by Virginia Woolf should I seek out?

Ending the year with two stories that I've been meaning to get to for a while now. 🤓

What's your last book of 2021?

My first Virginia Woolf book! 🥳 This was...stunning. One of the best books I‘ve read this year. I was worried that it might be kinda hard to read or something, but I was happy to find that it was actually very readable. The writing was gorgeous, the characters were excellent, and its philosophical insights were very profound. Woolf really knew how to draw the transcendent from the mundane. One of my first exposures to Modernism, and it was great!

In a quiet summer-home setting, Woolf paints a portrait of inner character and relationship dynamics through the language of thought. Sublime work! How can distinct, limited persons find unity, love, & buried purpose? Woolf shows the way in her greatest novel. The “Time Passes” section is daring and transcendent. The portrait of a struggling artist moves me with its truth. This is one of my very favorite books: kind, trenchant, artful, beautiful.

“Told from multiple viewpoints, To The Lighthouse gives unprecedented insight into the minds of the characters, as well as telling a broader story of personal and social change in the world after the World War I. To The Lighthouse is a landmark work of English fiction. Virginia Woolf explores perception and meaning in some of the most beautiful prose ever written.”

Yes, the writing is exquisite but I had a hard time getting into the story. ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Beautifully written but too prosey for my liking.

Reading at work whenever I can

#JulyJourneys #Lighthouse But of course!

Thank you so much @UwannaPublishme for my new favourite bookmark. Brings back very happy memories. 😍 #litsylove

I can't say how I got this far without having read this, but I have read it now. It's as excellent as everyone says it is, and nothing happens, as everyone also says. I'm still reading through her diary slowly in between other books. That's a slow read because I want it to be. I'm not looking forward to that one ending.

I'm posting one book per day from the ever growing unread stacks in my personal library. No description or explanation, just books I own and plan to read. #tbr

Day 44

🎧 Well I must say I‘m really enjoying this as an audiobook 🎧

A discapito del suo fine, il faro non fa che oscurare ancora di più i pensieri di tutti i personaggi che prendono le distanze uno dall‘altro inesorabilmente. I flussi di coscienza di ciascuno hanno un motivo musicale di fondo comune, ma ogni componente della famiglia sceglie l‘intensità che gli è più consona, affina il tono al proprio timbro, allunga o rallenta il tempo del brano a seconda della bassa o alta marea dei suoi pensieri. #virginiawoolf

I picked this up earlier this year but it just did not click with me at all. Now I am absolutely loving it and can‘t put it down! Might end up in my favorite 20 books of 2020... thanks to Jennifer @Jas16 for sending this to me gosh, 3 years ago?! ☺️

I just finished it again. I breathe for this existential, psychological immersion! Who else loves Virginia Woolf? Any suggestions beyond 'Mrs. Dalloway?'

I have the cutest reading buddy! #dogsoflitsy

"No, she thought, putting together some of the pictures he had cut out - a refrigerator, a mowing machine, a gentleman in evening dress - children never forget." (p. 62)

I love the themes of motherhood I am noticing now that I am reading 'To the Lighthouse' again. There is such honesty around motherhood in this text, another feminist statement by Woolf, I imagine. My most recent motherhood painting, "An Artist Like You" (copyright 2020)?

"Suddenly, as if the movement of [Mr. Bankes'] hand had released it, the load of [Lily's] accumulated impressions of him tilted up, and down poured in a ponderous avalanche all she felt about him. That was one sensation. Then up rose in a fume the essence of his being. That was another. She felt herself transfixed by the intensity of her perception; it was his severity; his goodness." (pp. 23-24)

#silent #quotsysept20 @TK-421

This has been my comfort book for years. You know, the book you keep in your handbag, in the glove compartment of the car or in the top drawer of the nightstand. I'm going to read it cover-to-cover again. So excited! P.S. -- Tyler doggie says hey.

If this book has taught me anything it‘s that Nature has always been here and will continue to be here long after we‘re gone.

OK you were all right, this is really maudlin and oblique and tough going. The writing style, with its 300 word sentences, made it really hard work at times. There's some interesting exploration of gender ("women can't paint, women can't write" - shut up Charles this is why everyone hates you) but the overall theme seems to be 'life is pain and everything dies'.

Apparently one of my library reserves came in 10 days ago and I didn't notice. Cool.

My first Woolf! This book was dense, and her stream of consciousness style was difficult for my quarantine brain to follow. But I can see the mastery there, and I‘m glad I tackled it. I wish I could have read & discussed it in a college-level English class. So much to delve into.

Thanks for the tag @wanderinglynn
I think this year - after having been at home for 14 weeks I‘m going for number 2!
Now to decide where - I fancy 2 weeks on the Scottish island of Skye with Woolf, but I could also fancy working in the kitchen garden of Pemberley, with the promise of a chance meeting with Darcy

I guess Virginia is just not for me. I felt overwhelmed during the long first part with it's dense prose and non-existent plot. To further slow my progress, at first I took the time to jump to the back of my book to reference some of the 161 notes in the book. It was distracting.

I found the last part, The Lighthouse, to be much more readable and decipherable as there was actually something happening, and it was full of turmoil and melancholia.

#7Books7Days Day 2. Read when I was 18. Reading classics written by women transformed my reading life. I devoured Woolf and then moved on to Austen, Bronte.

I really enjoyed this quiet novel.

Have to say, didn‘t love it.
It‘s a novel about Big Life.
Enjoy the fleeting here and now or try to make the meaning of your life permanent and eternal? Fight the destruction of the beach by the waves or cherish the tingle and roughness as the sand washes from underneath your feet? Big questions for sure.
But didn‘t love it.
Wanted to love it.
I want a “worthy” circle for valuable books that I did not enjoy.