All three of these suggestions happen to be by Virginia Woolf. Why? Because she's "the greatest author ever to walk this Earth" *
*According to Erin, February 14, 2008
If you STILL want to know why. I would first criticize you for asking so many damn questions, and then I'd tell you this: Nobody does it like Virginia. Her stream of consciousness brings me near tears. In all of her books there comes times when I have to set down the book and just let my brain go over the beauty of her words. She makes you want to write, live, be British, go to a Lighthouse, or transform from man to woman over centuries.
Now the suggestions!
1) Orlando -- My first Virigina Woolf experience. It was junior year and I was doing a presentation on her for British Literature. My only exposure to her was through the wonderful movie and book "The Hours." Reading summaries of her most famous books, I immediately knew I HAD to read this one. It sounded farfetched with its magical sex change half way through and Orlando's immortality, Also wonderful about it: it is a love letter to Virginia's friend/lover Vita Sackville-West.
2) Mrs. Dalloway--I read this on the way to France. At first I didn't like it as well as Orlando, but then everything changed. This is my favorite novel. Seemingly mundane, all about an older woman planning a party, it also features a shell-shocked veteran of WWI whose prescence haunts the novel. I have never seen the streets of London, but through Virginia's words, I have lived there. "What a lark! What a plunge!"
3) To the Lighthouse-- The Ramseys are even more intriguing seeing that they are based on Virginia's parents. It is a portrait of family, of loss and love, of mortality. The second half of the novel astounded me. I am also reading this for my British Literature class.
2 comments:
Erin, I am up for any of these. I've wanted to read them all.
I must also mention the intriguing Sally Potter film Orlando, with a wonderful performance by Tilda Swinton. If we choose this, we could also discuss the film.
I believe Laura wrote a paper on this film (we watched Orlando in our Women in Film class at Michigan). In case you were wondering, I inexplicably wrote my paper on Silence of the Lambs...most likely because that was the last possible option. Anyway, if we are lucky, perhaps she will enlighten us with her analysis and observations.
Orlando could then possibly lead to another sex-changing book, Middlesex, which I have yet to finish.
I love the movie Orlando! I even have it in my room at home. Tilda Swinton is the only person who can pull off the role, I am convinced!
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