I haven’t read To the Lighthouse yet.
I’ve moved it to the top of my skyscraper stack of TBR, quietly waiting: like the lighthouse itself, maybe, always in view but never quite reached. I know just enough about it to be intrigued: the stream-of-consciousness style, the slow unraveling of family and memory, the sense of time passing not in chapter sized blocks but in ephemeral sun dappled moments.
I’ve read Mrs Dalloway, and I loved it, well, most of it. I admired its sparkling clarity and modernity, even if it didn’t always make for easy reading. But approaching To The Lighthouse feels different. It's spoken about with a kind of reverence. It seems to sit at the centre of Woolf’s work like a quietly pulsing heart. And I’m ready (I think?) to dive in and swim amongst the sensory perceptions of the Ramsay family.
I know it’s set during two visits to a summer house in the Isle Of Skye. I know there’s a character called Mrs Ramsay, who’s supposed to be both comforting and unknowable. I know the structure plays tricks with time. And I know the lighthouse isn’t really about the lighthouse.
But I don’t know how it will feel. Or how much I’ll understand. Or whether I’ll want to underline every sentence or put it down after ten pages and go for a walk.
Maybe it’s the season. Woolf’s prose feels like it should be read in summer, windows open, light drifting in and out of the room. Maybe I’m just finally ready to sit still with a book that doesn’t rush to explain itself.
Or maybe I just want to see what all the fuss is about. To the Lighthouse regularly tops “greatest novel of the 20th century” lists, after all.
I’ll be honest: there’s always a little trepidation with a book like this. Coming to classic literature is a loaded experience. What if I don’t “get” it? What if I find it boring? What if I end up writing a sheepish blog post two weeks from now titled “So… About That Lighthouse”?
But that’s part of the joy of reading, isn’t it? Going in blind. Letting the book meet you where you are.
So this is just a note, really, to say I’m on my way. To the lighthouse.
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To The Lighthouse is August's Classic of the Month title. So those of you that have subscribed will have received your copy. I hope you love it! If you aren't a subscriber and want to give it a go, you can get August's 'past box' here.