To The Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf

[Tracey]

A few of us wanted to read Virginia Woolf and February is possible for reading To the Lighthouse

Please post below if you are in for this.

See message 22 & 23 for background and reading schedule.

Discussion for Part I starts at message 26.

[Zahraa]

I’m in!

[Manon*]

I’m interested. :)
It’s been on my TBR for ages.

[beta]

i’m in, too <3

[Siobhán]

I'm in, February is perfect :)

[Sue]

February sounds good for me too 👍🏻

[Madeleine]

February sounds great :)

[rebecca ☂]

I'll probably be reading this in March or April :)

[Valentina]

I had to read this book for an exam I took in December, but I'd love to re-read it in February

[Tracey]

This all sounds good. Start date 1st February.

[Jasper]

I'm in!

[thelibraryofalexandra]

I am in! It’s on my list!!!!

[thelibraryofalexandra]

are we going to have a sort-of schedule for reading?? or do we just read throughout the month of feb and at the end, we come together and discuss???
xx

[Tracey]

allieereads wrote: "are we going to have a sort-of schedule for reading?? or do we just read throughout the month of feb and at the end, we come together and discuss???
xx"

I can post a schedule and some info on the author a few days before we start if anyone wants that. I will edit message one and post it there. Sound good?

[Jenny]

Yes, I'd like to join :)

[Siobhán]

I for one would like a schedule, if it’s not too late :)

[Jasper]

Are we still reading in February? :)

[thelibraryofalexandra]

Yes please! I’m in for February still!

[Tracey]

Hi, sorry peeps, a bit late with this. I have been ill with some virus or other but I have started the book.

There are some great resources on Virginia Woolf on youtube which I can recommend including her voice:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E8czs...

Documentary: The mind and times of Virginia Woolf

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qyr53...

Also, the book is available as an audiobook by a most excellent narrator which I am listening to along with reading:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yF2yN...

Also a 1983 movie adaptation of the book with a very young Kenneth Branagh as a main character. I haven't watched it yet and will leave it until I finished reading.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x-dG2...

[Tracey]

The book is partly autobiographical and the two main characters, Mr and Mrs Ramsay are said to be based on her parents.

The novel centres on the Ramsay family and their visits with various friends & acquaintances, to the Isle of Skye in Scotland between 1910 and 1920.

I like what is said about the novel on wiki but I recommend that you read that after reading the book as it has spoilers, but it would be good to aid further discussion at the end.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/To_the_...

It is written in the narrative mode called stream of consciousness and again wiki seems good on information about this:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stream_...

About the author:
VW not only wrote novels but articles and was involved in publishing with her husband, Leonard, at their publishing company Hogarth Press. Their home in Bloomsbury was a nucleus for other artists and these intellectuals became known as the Bloomsbury Group.
VW used a lot of her life experiences in her novels and this complex woman is said to have inspired feminism. She was sexually abused as a young girl and struggled with mental ill-health all of her life. She is thought to have been bisexual, as apparently was her husband, and had Vita Sackville-West, another author, as her lover.
She died by suicide in 1941 being afraid of another depressive episode that was coming on. Who knows what great novels we would have had if she had lived longer.
A lot more about the author:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virgini...


The book is divided into 3 parts and I would like to suggest that we read and comment on the first, and longest part, before preceding to the next two.

Part 1 The Window: February 1st- 14th
Parts 2 & 3 Time Passes, and, To the Lighthouse: February 15th-29th.

[Tracey]

So far I am loving the novel and look forward to discussing part 1 on February 15th with you all.

[thelibraryofalexandra]

Absolutely fantastic! Thank you so much! Can’t wait for the discussion!

[Tracey]

So what are all your thoughts?

This is my first Virginia Woolf and whilst I love it, it is not a quick read. I actually read this twice and felt that was necessary.

Much is ambiguous which I personally liked as it allowed me to consider each relationship from my own perspective making the novel an introspective novel both for the author and the reader.
I loved the way one's perspective of a situation or character changed with the increased knowledge that came from several people's perspective of the same. At first I didn't like Mr Ramsay, finding him passive-aggressive towards his wife and family. However, he turns out to be a devoted husband and father and a man with inner conflict that causes him to be brittle.
I loved Virginia's sensitivity towards children despite not having any herself. Apparently she was a wonderful auntie and loving remembered by Vita Sackville-West's children. Mrs Ramsay is really a darling.
Virginia wrote the novel in her writing lodge at Monk's House and a lot of her environment and life are found in the novel; the children playing cricket that she could see from the lodge, the red-hot pokers in the garden (which are not actually found on the Isle of Skye) the concerns over the cost of the greenhouse.
So what is the window? A window on to the inner life of others or Virginia herself and her world? I think both.
I think I have fallen in love with Virginia and find her to be a sensitive intelligent woman who bravely struggled with mental health issues and pains most of her life.