Is it 103 degrees where you are? Is the bright harsh heat coming from everywhere at once like some titanic sun-fall? Are you inside reading like I am?
I’ve been swamped in words and want to share. This has caused me to fall behind on listing what I’m reading. I’ve already finished Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, but thought it deserved to sit on my site for a moment in all its epistolary glory. Reading it has convinced me epistolary novels are the only way to go. I’ll probably be done with A Room of One’s Own by the end of the day, and Lost Horizon shan’t last much longer, I imagine.
I’ve also just finished Virginia Woolf’s essay “How Should One Read a Book?” which contained the quote “reading is a longer and more complicated process than seeing.” Too bad we cut away so much of the long and complicated these days. Woolf also said in the essay that “facts are a very inferior form of fiction.”
Her other thoughts deserve a bit more reflection and maybe another post. I’ve been thinking about women, and reading books by women, and people with idiosyncracies and the bravery to have them. Shall I put all that in one post? Sounds dangerous.
Lastly, a word: Parvenu. From the French for to pass through or arrive (roughly), it means someone who is newly rich or powerful and does not know how to behave in this new exalted station. I do not think it would be too much of a stretch of the word to use it on the many “housewives” and other newly famous of reality television. Coined in 1802, perfect for 2010.
Comments 2
LOL to parvenu. Methinks you are correct.
Also, I LOVE Woolf’s philosophies. I just find her antiquated style hard to read. (I’ve become such a lazy modern reader, which I don’t consider a good thing, but it is what it is…) Still, I’m glad then to have you quote her, so that I can soak up tiny droplets of her genius without being upset with myself for finding her actual books dense and overwhelming.
Posted 06 Jul 2010 at 7:56 pm ¶I read the Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society for a book club. When I first started I was disappointed that it was all letters, but as I kept reading I started to really enjoy it. It definitely made me want to go write some letters to friends and family. Sadly these days we rarely write real [on paper] letters and when we do, no one writes back. I have a huge box of letters from high school, though they are mostly about what cute boy is sitting nearby:-)
Posted 16 Jul 2010 at 2:25 pm ¶Post a Comment