Ok, so I’ve decided to change my reading order up a little. I’ve decided that alphabetical order makes no sense at all. Instead I’m moving to chronological order by publish date. I plan to be much more able to see how literature developed over the amount of time that the list covers. Thus, I start with Virginia Woolf’s Mrs. Dalloway.
It is taking me much longer to read the books lately since I don’t sit around and do nothing for eight hours a day anymore. But I’ve decided that taking more time has it’s positives and negatives. On the negative side, it is much easier to get the flow and follow the story line of a book if you are reading it all in one day. On the positive side, I have a much better ability to think about the book and form opinions as I am reading it over a longer time period.
Based on the first few pages of this book, I thought it was going to be very similar to something written by Jane Austin or Charlotte Bronte or one of those types. And it was similar in that it is set in a similar time period and location. But Woolf is not so much a dreamer as the others I think. This was a much more realistic novel. I can relate to the feelings of many of the characters. It involves thinking about, “what might have beens” and missed chances. I know that my life could easily have gone down that road. But at the same time, I think Woolf has a very judgmental tone throughout the novel. Granted, the novel is supposed to expose the characters and their flaws, but she is different than other authors I have read who have tried it. I don’t really know how to explain it, but she just feels like she has an air of superiority about her.
Another thing about the book is that it follows one person for a while and kind of just follows their whole train of thought. It’s interesting but rather confusing at times when something is happening in the plot and all of a sudden there is a flash back or a random thought so that you have to think about what is happening in reality and what is happening in the person’s head. I think I would have to say that I didn’t really like the book as I was reading it, but looking back now, it was pretty good.
Next I move on to The Sound and the Fury. I’ve heard it’s almost impossible to read, so we’ll see how it goes.
