Welcome from your moderator

[IlanaSimons]

Hello, and welcome to the April discussion of To the Lighthouse. I look forward to discussing this beautifully wrought description of identity, love, and memory.

Woolf wrote this book as an homage to her mother, who had died when Virginia was 13. Woolf claims she finished her mourning by writing this tribute to a woman at the center of her life. The book remains a tribute to women, and a masterful portrait of the way the two genders need each other. It rethinks what it is to be strong and to be feminine, and what it is to love someone.

I look forward to hearing your insights.

[KristyR]

I can't wait to get started, this my first novel by Virginia Woolf.

[IlanaSimons]

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KristyR wrote:
I can't wait to get started, this my first novel by Virginia Woolf.

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I'm so glad. It's a great one: gotta be read lying down somewhere quiet, I think.

[JesseBC]

She wrote it to show how the two genders need each other?

I thought this was the one that shows the transitory, even dysfunctional, nature of heterosexual love, was written shortly after she fell in love with a woman (while possibly being mistreated by her husband), and is one of the many reasons biographers conclude Woolf was a lesbian.

I mean, I haven't read it yet, but these are the kinds of things I've heard about it.

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IlanaSimons wrote:
Hello, and welcome to the April discussion of To the Lighthouse. I look forward to discussing this beautifully wrought description of identity, love, and memory.

Woolf wrote this book as an homage to her mother, who had died when Virginia was 13. Woolf claims she finished her mourning by writing this tribute to a woman at the center of her life. The book remains a tribute to women, and a masterful portrait of the way the two genders need each other. It rethinks what it is to be strong and to be feminine, and what it is to love someone.

I look forward to hearing your insights.

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[IlanaSimons]

Yes-- Virginia Woolf loved a few women in her life, including her famous, sexual connection with the poet Vita Sackville-West. To The Lighthouse also gets us to rethink the traditional gender roles in a heterosexual couple.
But I'll be interested to see what you think as you read. There's a great amount of loving support between the husband and wife in this book.

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JesseBC wrote:
She wrote it to show how the two genders need each other?

I thought this was the one that shows the transitory, even dysfunctional, nature of heterosexual love, was written shortly after she fell in love with a woman (while possibly being mistreated by her husband), and is one of the many reasons biographers conclude Woolf was a lesbian.

I mean, I haven't read it yet, but these are the kinds of things I've heard about it.

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IlanaSimons wrote:
Hello, and welcome to the April discussion of To the Lighthouse. I look forward to discussing this beautifully wrought description of identity, love, and memory.

Woolf wrote this book as an homage to her mother, who had died when Virginia was 13. Woolf claims she finished her mourning by writing this tribute to a woman at the center of her life. The book remains a tribute to women, and a masterful portrait of the way the two genders need each other. It rethinks what it is to be strong and to be feminine, and what it is to love someone.

I look forward to hearing your insights.

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[Everyman]

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It's a great one: gotta be read lying down somewhere quiet, I think.

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My own preference is my hammock by the edge of the water looking out on the whales as they go by. This weekend may be warm enough to move from my reading chair to the hammock for a few hours.

[IlanaSimons]

whales go by? wonderful. where is this hammock?

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Everyman wrote:

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It's a great one: gotta be read lying down somewhere quiet, I think.

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My own preference is my hammock by the edge of the water looking out on the whales as they go by. This weekend may be warm enough to move from my reading chair to the hammock for a few hours.

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[Everyman]

On the Haro Strait, on the West side of San Juan Island, in the northwest corner of Washington State, looking out over Vancouver Island and Canada.

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IlanaSimons wrote:
whales go by? wonderful. where is this hammock?

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Everyman wrote:

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It's a great one: gotta be read lying down somewhere quiet, I think.

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My own preference is my hammock by the edge of the water looking out on the whales as they go by. This weekend may be warm enough to move from my reading chair to the hammock for a few hours.

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[IlanaSimons]

sounds fantastic. I'm sitting in the brown bricked steely barred Brooklyn, NY.

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Everyman wrote:
On the Haro Strait, on the West side of San Juan Island, in the northwest corner of Washington State, looking out over Vancouver Island and Canada.

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IlanaSimons wrote:
whales go by? wonderful. where is this hammock?

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Everyman wrote:

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It's a great one: gotta be read lying down somewhere quiet, I think.

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My own preference is my hammock by the edge of the water looking out on the whales as they go by. This weekend may be warm enough to move from my reading chair to the hammock for a few hours.

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[Everyman]

I spent my years sitting in offices and apartments in New York, so I feel I paid my dues!
(

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IlanaSimons wrote:
sounds fantastic. I'm sitting in the brown bricked steely barred Brooklyn, NY.

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Everyman wrote:
On the Haro Strait, on the West side of San Juan Island, in the northwest corner of Washington State, looking out over Vancouver Island and Canada.

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IlanaSimons wrote:
whales go by? wonderful. where is this hammock?

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Everyman wrote:

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It's a great one: gotta be read lying down somewhere quiet, I think.

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My own preference is my hammock by the edge of the water looking out on the whales as they go by. This weekend may be warm enough to move from my reading chair to the hammock for a few hours.

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[IlanaSimons]

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Everyman wrote:
I spent my years sitting in offices and apartments in New York, so I feel I paid my dues!
(

makes sense.

[Laurel]

And I'm laughing out loud.

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IlanaSimons wrote:
sounds fantastic. I'm sitting in the brown bricked steely barred Brooklyn, NY.

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Everyman wrote:
On the Haro Strait, on the West side of San Juan Island, in the northwest corner of Washington State, looking out over Vancouver Island and Canada.

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IlanaSimons wrote:
whales go by? wonderful. where is this hammock?

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Everyman wrote:

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It's a great one: gotta be read lying down somewhere quiet, I think.

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My own preference is my hammock by the edge of the water looking out on the whales as they go by. This weekend may be warm enough to move from my reading chair to the hammock for a few hours.

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[ziki]

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Everyman wrote:My own preference is my hammock by the edge of the water looking out on the whales as they go by.

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OK, I hope you let me know when you see Moby-Dick!

ziki

[Everyman]

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IlanaSimons wrote:
whales go by? wonderful.

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Not only that. At this moment, sitting in my library at the computer, I'm looking out at a bald eagle sitting at the very top of the huge, aged fir tree on the corner of our property. They use it for a perch tree fairly frequently, not daily but several times a week.

The most fun is when they bring their eaglets down to the rocks in front of the house to teach them how to catch and eat fish. We can see them swoop down, grab a fish in their talons, bring it over to the eagles on the rock, and watch them tear into it. It's sort of gruesome, but also fascinating.

But this one at the moment is just sitting there thinking about whatever eagles think about. Oops -- he also just did the thing that eagles do and we are grateful we aren't standing beneath.

Which is probably TMI.

[Everyman]

Today seems to be wildlife day. It's evening now, and two deer are munching on what passes for our front "lawn," actually the rocky slope down toward the water on which grass grows during the rainy spring and dies when the summer comes because being on a limited well we don't have the water to water it.

Anyhow, one of the deer is munching the untrimmed grass on the front stoop about ten feet away from my reading chair which is by the front windows. She is totally unconcerned by my looking out at her. She looks pregnant, so we may well have some fawns around this year. We do most years, though for some reason last year we didn't.

I suppose after watching deer for thirty years I should get jaded about them, but I don't. They're beautiful animals.

[IlanaSimons]

any way to post a picture for us?

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Everyman wrote:
Today seems to be wildlife day. It's evening now, and two deer are munching on what passes for our front "lawn," actually the rocky slope down toward the water on which grass grows during the rainy spring and dies when the summer comes because being on a limited well we don't have the water to water it.

Anyhow, one of the deer is munching the untrimmed grass on the front stoop about ten feet away from my reading chair which is by the front windows. She is totally unconcerned by my looking out at her. She looks pregnant, so we may well have some fawns around this year. We do most years, though for some reason last year we didn't.

I suppose after watching deer for thirty years I should get jaded about them, but I don't. They're beautiful animals.

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[IlanaSimons]

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IlanaSimons wrote:
any way to post a picture for us?

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though, of course, we're words people. Your words do really give the image.

[Everyman]

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IlanaSimons wrote:
any way to post a picture for us?

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I'm not sure. That was possible under the BNU format, but I'm not sure it's possible under the Book Clubs format. Do you know?

I don't have a web page, so I can't post it there and provide a link.

[Choisya]

Unfortunately we don't have this facility on BNBC but we did on BNU and I remember seeing a picture of Everyman's lovely hammock there, and of his deer. Perhaps you could give the BNBC Administrators a nudge to include a photo uploading facility here Ilana, maybe in the general Community Room?

BTW I hope to be joining you for To the Lighthouse Ilana - Ziki and I did a marathon together on Mrs Dalloway in BNU so it should be fun doing this one here

Here is a useful link:-

http://www.virginiawoolfsociety.co.uk/

Bloomsbury is still a beautiful part of Edwardian London but now more likely to be frequented by the students from the University of London or visitors to the refurbished British Museum.

http://www.viewlondon.co.uk/home_feat_local_bloomsbury.asp

There are also several splendid Edwardian hotels in the area which would have been well known to Woolf and her friends, perhaps for afternoon tea:-

http://www.findlondonhotel.com/thistle_bloomsbury.htm

http://www.londonrussellhotel.co.uk/

The Russell Hotel has always been very popular with Americans, should any of you be visiting London and wanting to know of somewhere to stay (although it is quite pricey).

Virginia Woolf spent her childhood in St Ives in Cornwall which is still a beautiful 'artists colony'. The views from Talland House, where she lived, are said to have inspired 'To the Lighthouse':-

http://www.chycor.co.uk/apartments/stives_talland/

http://www.urban75.org/photos/stives/index.html

I had a wonderful holiday in St Ives a couple of years ago and visited a number of galleries there including the new Tate and the Barbara Hepworth Gallery. Although it is a 5-hour journey from London, it is an area well worth visiting and the weather in Cornwall is the warmest in the UK. (Ziki - Talland House would fit in well with that coastal walk you want to do.)

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IlanaSimons wrote:
any way to post a picture for us?

Message Edited by Choisya on 03-31-200706:45 AM

[IlanaSimons]

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Everyman wrote:

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IlanaSimons wrote:
any way to post a picture for us?

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I'm not sure. That was possible under the BNU format, but I'm not sure it's possible under the Book Clubs format. Do you know?

I don't have a web page, so I can't post it there and provide a link.

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I meant "link to a photo," b/c it's true--we don't have a way to post photos here.
If you don't have a page, we'll have to imagine your hammock through word pictures. Which we can.