MRS. DALLOWAYVirginia Woolf
Personal Rating: 1/5
Yearly Count: 7
Unbearably boring! And...I'm not going to bore anybody else with my ramblings of remorse for reading it to its end.
Saturday, January 27, 2007
Classics Challenge #5/5 & By the Decades Challenge ~ 20's (1925)
MRS. DALLOWAYVirginia Woolf
Personal Rating: 1/5
Yearly Count: 7
Unbearably boring! And...I'm not going to bore anybody else with my ramblings of remorse for reading it to its end.
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BUT...you finished all five books! YAHOO! Way to go, Joy! I have two more to read to finish this challenge.
ReplyDeleteJoy,
ReplyDeleteI'm so sorry this book was that bad. I hate when that happens. Also I wanted to let you know that I finished Twilight and the review is up on my blog. I highly highly recommend it for you to read this year. It was wonderful. I know I'll read it again before the year is over with!!
Happy reading!
Emily
Congratulations, Joy, for finishing the Classics Challenge. I think you are the first one to finish. There sure are a lot of people saying good things about Virginia Woolf, but I'm afraid of her. (pun intended)
ReplyDeleteLooks like you didn't really enjoy any of the classics you read. That's so sad. Hope the next book you pick up is excellent.
Wendy ~ Thank you! I was just glad to bury MRS. DALLOWAY that I didn't give much thought to completing the Classics Challenge as a whole.
ReplyDeleteEmily ~ Thank you for letting me know. I'll be over to see it soon! It seems like I'm going to have to give it a try. :) If I can read MRS. DALLOWAY the WHOLE WAY THROUGH, I should be able to tolerate anything!
Booklogged ~ Thank you! Yeah, I've heard good things about Woolf too, but she's not for me. I was bored beyond belief and her sentences were 1/2 - 3/4 of the page long. It was dreadful.
However, all in all, I am glad to have participated in the Classics Challenge. I read books that I missed during High School and have wanted to read and explored authors that I was curious about...so now I know. No more wondering. Thank you for sponsoring it, Booklogged! :)
Hi Joy -- my comment isn't related to your post, but I'm responding to your comment on my blog! ;o)
ReplyDeleteThe Yahoo! system is having a "backlog of emails", and so everything is delayed a bit. It says it right on the homepage of the groups. And, it's not just OUR group, it's ALL groups!
So, give it a while -- your messages WILL show up. ;o)
<>< Mizbooks
Mizb ~ Thank you. I went to the homepage and checked out the notice. Thanks for clearing that up for me (and evidently others too). :)
ReplyDeleteI read part of this book for my British Lit 2 class and really enjoyed it. I knew what I was getting into and hope to read the rest of the book someday.
ReplyDeleteJoy -
ReplyDeleteI am reading Mrs Dalloway now. I started out thinking the same thing - my mind kept wandering, and I just wasn't enjoying the story. Then I did something I never do. Half-way through, I closed the book, took a breather, and then opened it again at page one.
I am reading it completely differently than I normally read. Slowly, for starters. I take time to absorb what I read, and if I don't follow it, I go back and read the paragraph again.
I thought I was going to hate the book, and never finish it. But now I'm actually enjoying the story!
I slogged through Mrs. Dalloway - whatshername, Clara? was a twit, but I really loved To The Lighthouse.
ReplyDeleteLover of Books ~ I just don't think this book was for me.
ReplyDeleteNyssaneala ~ There were a few parts where I thought, okay...now we are getting somewhere and the focus would then change to another character.
Foolishly I didn't put it aside. I don't think I would have ever picked it up again though. :) I did reread a few passages, but decided after awhile to just get through it.
I really tried to have a passive, but positive attitude towards it. Didn't work. I was just bored to tears. Even the "okay" parts were drudgery.
I'm glad you are finding a way to enjoy it. :)
Carrie ~ I can't see myself giving Ms. Woolf another try. Maybe I just have a bad attitude right now...give me time. *grin*
Joy, congrats on finishing the Classics Challenge. I'm only three down, so two more to go. You're probably one of the first people to complete the challenge. Well done!
ReplyDeleteI haven't read any Wolfe but have heard she is difficult. I feel that way about Henry James "The Wings of the Dove". I only finished it to spite him! It completely turned me off reading anything else by him.
ReplyDeleteI read this a few years ago and remember getting extremely frustrated with Woolf's "stream-of-consciousness" style of writing. However, I stuck with it and felt a great sense of accomplishment for reading something by Virginia Woolf. Then I read The Hours (by Michael Cunningham, I believe) which is loosely based on Mrs. Dalloway. Then I watched the movie (of The Hours) and enjoyed it so much that I re-read Mrs. Dalloway! Much better than the first time around, that's for sure! Anyhow, congrats on completing the Classics Challenge. Now on to fun books, eh? ;)
ReplyDeleteHi Joy,
ReplyDeleteI think you might have me mixed up with someone else regarding reading Sister of My Heart? I hope so and I hope it's not something I should know but forgot because I have no idea what you were talking about in your comment in my blog. :-)
Let me know! Have a great day!
Eileen
Books and Hooks
I prefer the Red and the Black to MD mostly because I think she should have killed herself instead of the cool guy. I read it in a day and will probably try it again in a year or two when its the only book around
ReplyDeleteSOrry it was not to your taste I HATE THAT I feel robbed of precious time
Sorry you didn't enjoy this book Joy.I know how you feel though. I didn't enjoy my January TBR read either.
ReplyDeleteI responded to you on my site about the Divakaruni book. :)
Lotus ~ Thank you! I picked one up after the other so I could get them done. :) This was definitely a "challenge" for me.
ReplyDeleteChris ~ Ya just gotta be in the right mood for a book like this. Or in my case...a different person! :)
Les ~ "Stream of consciousness" style of writing...LOVE THAT!
Eileen ~ Sorry about that! I responded to you on your blog.
Nessie ~ There's a portion of me that feels "robbed", but another that is proud of myself for giving Woolf a try. Now I have no need to wonder about her anymore. :)
Amy ~ Whew! Glad I found you. :)
I'm glad you and Amy got that straightened out, Joy! :-) I'm also glad to know I'm not losing my mind. LOL
ReplyDeleteI don't particularly like Woolf's writing. I read "The Waves" and was utterly confused. Now, thanks to you Joy, I know that I probably won't like "Mrs. Dalloway" either. Thanks for saving me the bother.
ReplyDeleteEileen ~ We're still working on it. Now our e-mail won't work. lol And, yes...I'm glad you feel secure in the fact that you're not losing your mind. :)
ReplyDeleteKookie ~ I don't think this one was "confusing", but BORING!!! It was very dull and drawn out.
This is the only Woolf book I've read, and I'm wondering if I liked it only because it was part of a seminar course and I did my final seminar paper over the book (sometimes the more I work on a book the more I grow to like it).
ReplyDeleteYou might be interested in reading "The Hours" by Michael Cunningham--which is based on "Mrs. Dalloway" (although you may now hate all things Dalloway). It gives a very interesting perspective on the book and the characters.
When books tend to move into stream of consciousness, my mind also begins to wander in the same way (as I make laundry lists of things I need to be doing instead of reading). Definitely takes more patience!
Trish ~ I agree 100% that reading a book for a purpose and then discussing it gives a book a much better chance of survival/approval. At the very least, it gives an appreciation for something between the covers. :)
ReplyDeleteI really thought this was extremely boring and I did not develop a connection to any of the characters. This genre truly has passed me by and I'm fine with that.
Thank you for your suggestion, but I would have to force myself to read it and that's not a good beginning to any read. :)