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grimeysociety · 3 years

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do you have a favorite classic book? I'm trying to read more of them but I don't know where to start... they make me feel dumb

if you're being told by anyone that classics "should" be read... don't listen to them

just because a book is old doesn't make it "smart" or "good" -- remember that at the time they came out people definitely didn't like it then, and you don't have to like it, period

sparknotes helps for books that are more dense or complicated, there's no shame in having a book go totally over your head; also plenty of teacher resources can help with deciphering classics

seriously, classics aren't necessarily great

also remember that a bunch of dudes decided to make them classics, white cis dudes. so. ahem.

my favourite classic is To Kill A Mockingbird. I'd start there. I also really like Mrs Dalloway.

#reading #anonymous

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katesilverman-blog · 5 years

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Process 3

I have had enough confusion for one book. I gave up and just looked up a character chart on SparkNotes ( https://www.sparknotes.com/lit/dalloway/characters/ ). I had a very hard time following the plot of the book because the author uses characters’ names and writes about them as if the reader already knows who they are (and clearly I don’t). This chart somewhat helped me understand who everyone is, however it did not explain the connections to the main character, Clarissa Dalloway, if there even is a connection. So far, the only connection seems to be that these people pass each other throughout their days.

Besides my frustrations with the characters, I have some other thoughts. My first being that love sucks! Everyone in this book who supposedly “loves” each other seems to be more tortured by their relationship than anything else. Here are some examples:

1) Clarissa’s husband, Mr. Dalloway, hasn’t even been in the book so far, he is just a presence (or lack there of). The few times he has been mentioned hasn’t been very positive either, such as the fact that he is meeting with another woman for lunch.

2) Rezia’s husband, Septimus, is suffering from what seems to PTSD from WWI. However, no one can diagnose it as PTSD because it wasn’t discovered until the 80s. She takes him from doctor to doctor, trying to find out what is wrong and why he is talking about killing himself. Although she loves him and wants to help him, Rezia is unbelievably unhappy, and she doesn’t know anyone else so she is all alone and has no one to talk to about it. Also, she wants kids before she gets too old and Septimus is not in a place to have kids, so some of her dreams are being postponed or destroyed if he does not find proper help.

3) Peter Walsh just seems tortured. He was rejected by Clarissa, who is married to another man. Now, he loves Daisy from India, who is also married to another man. He is either stuck on the past and mourns about Clarisaa, or he is setting himself up for an unhappy future, falling in love with a married woman.

Another thought I have is about death. Throughout the book, several characters think about whether or not life is meaningful, if they are worth something, or if anything is worthwhile. On page nine, Clarissa contemplates if she is okay with the fact that everything in the world will go on when she dies. Will it matter if she ceases completely? Woolf uses the quote “Fear no more the heat o’ the sun/ Nor the furious winters’ rage.” It is song by Shakespeare. I wonder if these allusions to death and afterlife foreshadow a death in the book. But, I am only halfway through and the party (Mrs. Dalloway’s party) hasn’t even begun! Stay tuned for more information.

#aplit19readingthework

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fakeboitherottengirl · 2 years

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I think I want to make it my goal to read every book I was assigned in college that I sparknoted because I didn’t have the time to give it an actual read but wanted to, and Im going to start with Mrs. Dalloway because I wrote a wonderful essay on it about compulsory heterosexuality and loved the bits that I read but didn’t have the chance to actually enjoy it. I hate how academia forces you to consume art.

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dracolizardlars · 6 years

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MBTI Book Tag

(That’s so niche, how am I supposed to tag anyone in this? I don’t even know anyone else who’s into MBTI?)

From @neon-lake

Questionnaire Portion

1. First things first, what is your MBTI type?

INTP

2. When did you learn to read?

I dunno I was probably like 4

3. What languages can you read?

English. If I see a tumblr post in German I can sometimes figure out what it’s about but that’s it for other languages

4. What books are you currently reading or most recently read?

The Dark Tower by Stephen King

5. Name three books you never finished:

Nation by Terry Pratchett, Dragonspell: The Southern Sea by Katharine Kerr... I can’t think of others but I’m sure there are a few more.

6. What are your favorite books from childhood?

Artemis Fowl series, Inheritance Cycle (particularly Eldest), The Wee Free Men by Terry Pratchett, Harry Potter...

7. What are your current favorite books?

Loads of Discworld books like Jingo, Monstrous Regiment, Thud!, Wintersmith... Also Mrs Dalloway by Virginia Woolf and Brave New World by Aldous Huxley.

Multiple choice (bold as many as apply to you and add your own choice if you want):

8. Your favorite genres:

Mystery/Sci-fi/Chick Lit/Young Adult/Horror/Nonfiction/Memoirs/Dystopias/Self-help/Historical Fiction/Fanfiction/Realistic Fiction/Biographies/Essays/Fantasy [I added ‘fantasy’ myself because how was it not there]

9. Your opinion about rereading books:

I do it all the time/it has to be a really good book/i can’t stand it/I haven’t done it since I was a child/I only read my favorite sections

10. How does it take you to read one book on average?:

1 to 3 days/a week/a couple weeks/about a month

Define ‘on average’?? Also I genuinely have no idea, I don’t keep track.

11.How do you typically read?

Every opportunity I get, in transit, while waiting, etc/before bed/on the go by audio book/when I can truly relax/when I remember to

12. How many books do you typically read in a year?

none or 1/about 1 to 3/maybe 4 to 10/at least more than 10/at least 50/too much, I can’t keep track

13.For school assigned books, what type of student are/were you

I read all the books in detail/I read all but sometimes skimmed/I nearly read all, I may have skipped a few because they were top boring/I only read the interesting ones/There’s a reason why Sparknotes was made!

[I actually read Mrs Dalloway twice in the space of a few months. But then, I do just love that book, as well as being set it for my A-level!]

Tagging whoever wants to do it

#tag games #I am so glad mrs dalloway was a set text cus it awakened me to how much I love virginia woolf

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