First published in 1925, Virginia Woolf’s essay How Should One Read a Book delves into what makes some books truly great, how we remember books and pass them on through history and the important roles of the reader and the critic. Published as a standalone essay for the first time, and with an insightful introduction and afterword by Sheila Heti, this small but thought-provoking book will make a great stocking-filler (if it isn’t too early to think about such things!)

I will 100% be adopting this for my 12th grade students next year. I think it will provide both a great introduction to the idea and study of literature, as well as a great introduction to British writers.

“The only advice, indeed, that one person can give another about reading is to take no advice, to follow your own instincts, to use your own conclusions.” — Virgina Woolf

In this introspective essay, “How One Should Read a Book” we are granted access into the mind and thought processes of Woolf’s timeless piece which was first delivered in 1926 to an all girls school in Kent England. It was edited again that year in October and is now being published again with an introduction and afterword by writer, Sheila Heti. 

In her essay, Woolf encourages readers of all kinds to be more than casual critics. To be careful, passionate, and sympathetic friends to writers. To be writers themselves. A sentiment echoed by Heti throughout her introduction and afterword as well. She divides reading into two parts: 1. reading with an open mind and  2. judging, comparing and reviewing. By doing so, it gives you something to think and reflect upon as you read and also write.

As a lifelong reader, I especially liked her call to action. That we banish all preconceptions when reading. That we consider the work of the writer in telling his/her story as we begin our own critiques. When we ultimately decide what’s good or bad; what works or doesn’t work. Further confirming why this essay has withstood the test of time. 

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me an advance digital copy in exchange for an honest review. 

Publication date: 10/11/20
#NetGalley #HowOneShouldReadABook #ARC

I thoroughly enjoyed this captivating essay, which is brimming with Woolf's trademark style of perceptive observation in her accessible, engaging and conversational tone. Here Woolf tackles the question 'How Should One Read a Book?' - a question that many readers and non-readers alike are apt to ask themselves. The topic is particularly timeless and, in combination with Woolf's approach, means that readers today are bound to identify with the experiences she explores throughout this essay.

The original essay is complimented beautifully by the words of Sheila Heti, who adds her own perceptions on reading and writing and explores deeper some of the points touched on by Woolf. Heti brings Woolf's words back into the limelight and into the hands of today's readers, as well as sharing her own experiences on this topic. 

Wonderfully cosy autumnal reading - perfect for an hours solitude with a cup of coco. Would thoroughly recommend to anyone who wants to understand more about the power of books and readers, as well as those who already know the magic of reading.

Virginia Woolf first delivered this as a lecture in 1926 before having it published in The Yale Review later that year.  Essentially she’s saying that everyone can be a critic, analysing and comparing authors and their work, but that the love of reading mustn’t be lost in the process.  She encourages us to ‘give yourself up to the delight of rubbish-reading’.She rather snobbishly says it has no value and ‘is negligible in the extreme’ yet it can be absorbing for a short while, provided you recognise it as such and return to the masters afterwards.

Reading is seen as a complex process.  To enjoy a book to its fullest, we must ‘wait for the dust of reading to settle’ before we can really judge it, as severely as possible, and compare it with the greatest books written - ‘..even the .... least of novels has the right to be judged with the best’.  And yet, we must never lose sight of the main reason we read.  She finishes by saying that she imagines the scene at the gates of heaven on the Day of Judgement.  ‘.the Almighty will turn to Peter and will say, not without a certain envy when he sees us coming with our books under our arms, ‘Look, these need no reward.  We have nothing to give them here.  They have loved reading.’. And so say all of us!

Bearing in mind this was a speech delivered to schoolgirls, it’s aimed at encouraging reading in the young rather than being a profound critique on the reading process.  It’s full of ideas, however, and even after reading it over a few times (it’s very short), I am still finding new ones.

With thanks to NetGalley and Laurence King Publishing Ltd for a review copy.

How should one read a book? is a journey into the mind of Wolf that how she folds and unfolds the concept of reading and writing. In her essay, she talks about three things- reading, writing and books. How she looks towards readers. How she wants the works to be read. It is not only about reading and moving forward but it is a journey we all made by reading, remembering and gaining something from the book. I like the way she talks about frozen and unfrozen minds. She dutifully tells us that what is feels to write and then read it by others. How some people easily judge while some takes a while to fully grasp the hidden meaning behind the words written. I really like her idea of relating it with other famous writers like Austen, Hardy, Defoe.
I really loved the afterword written by Sheili.H. It is lyrical related with her own life’s incidents and the way she describes what it actually feels to be liked and disliked. By like and dislike, I mean the world she has created. 
I wanted to highlight each and every word of it.

This small book contains three beautiful essays on books, reading and readers. Sheila Heti’s introduction is a lyrical and beautifully written essay about reading that takes off from what Woolf says in her essay. Woolf’s essay which was delivered as a speech to a girls’ school is as smart and well-written as one would expect from this master. She uses other authors to make her points and walks us through how a reader can read and experience a variety of writing. I love the concept of how a book is frozen and then unfrozen in our minds so that all our experiences come together with the author’s intent to create a shape in our heads of what the book means to us. And in the final short essay, Heti gives us insight into a writer’s process and community. All these essays point out who writing is an art, yet an art form that lives more than others and can change. A treasure for any reader to keep as a reminder of why we read, not only how we can read.

How Should One Read a Book? – Virginia Woolf

This is a slim novel as it’s the transcribed version of a speech Woolf gave to the Hayes Court Common School girls school in 1926. Even though it’s short, I didn’t find it quick to read through – there’s something in the style of the classics writing which means that each word is carefully placed, tightly packed. 

It has an introduction and an afterword by Sheila Heti, who I’m afraid to say, I wasn’t familiar with and hadn’t come across. Thanks to the internet and Wikipedia, I now know that she’s a prolific writer across a number of genres, from playwriting and short stories to a novella and editing. She seems to be happiest working in a collaborative way, from her curated short stories to the ‘crowd-sourced’ “Women in Clothes”, which sounds fascinating.  

Also somewhat shamefully, I have never read Virginia Woolf. I have copies of “To The Lighthouse” and I’m sure I’ve seen snatches of “The Hours”, the early 2000 film based loosely on Mrs Dalloway, but I have never actually sat down and read what she wrote. I think, a little like not really needing to see The Godfathers because everyone knows what happens (Wedding, Fredo, horse head), I thought I knew enough about Woolf to just gather it in, through osmosis.  She was in the Bloomsbury Group, did some very forward thinking stuff about women and drowned herself later on. I know, that is a reductionist view and she was much more than that. What I’m trying to get to, rather clumsily, is that I will, after reading this essay, be sure to seek out more of her writing. 

She talks through the twin paths of reading – that of critically reviewing and enjoying – beautifully. Discussing the difficulty in comparing King Lear with Macbeth, poetry with novels. How do you compare like for like when it isn’t? I also loved the part where she describes how reading a book isn’t just that, it’s affected by where you are, how you feel and what’s happening with you at the time. Certain books are always fixed in my memory as being of a specific time. I read “IT” the summer of my 30th birthday, and I remember reading it at Glastonbury, in the boiling hot sun of our back garden when Andy Murray won Wimbledon and a dozen other markers. I read 14 books on holiday once, nearly 20 years ago, and the only one I can really remember is “The Memory Keeper’s Daughter”, flooded with sunlight and smelling of SPF 30. Finishing Garth Nix’s book “Clariel” in our living room, I cried with the shock of the ending – something you know is coming but still hits you like a train. 

Woolf talks about the shape authors are trying to make with their writing – cathedrals or triangles. I really get what she means – for me, it’s more the song that they’re writing, the rhythm and the sound, but I understand the shape. I describe the film adaptation of “The Lovely Bones” as true to tone, if not all of the events in the novel – it sounds the same. 

Of course, Woolf has her own axe to grind about critics, and I see her point there too. They have no obligation to be nice, but rather are impatient for the work to be finished, to be perfect and exactly what they are expecting, or the author has wasted their precious time. This delicate comparison with your friend, another creative, reviewing this, was lovely.  She talks about how each creative piece, whether writing or art or music, is crowdsourced (that isn’t the word she uses, of course) and each novel has perhaps had forty different people reading the piece before it’s let loose. And there it hangs, a moment in time and influenced by the fingerprints of all of those who have come before. I guess that’s where Heti finds her connection, with the idea that all creative work should be, and is, open to review and influence and essentially, raised by a village. 

This would be a great addition to any budding author’s bookshelf, and perhaps the budding critic, too. 

Thanks to netgalley and Laurence King Publishing for the DRC.

"To read a novel is a difficult and complex art. You must be capable not only of great fineness of perception, but of great boldness of imagination if you are going to make use of all that the novelist – the great artist – gives you."

'How Should One Read a Book?' by Virginia Woolf was first delivered as a lecture that Woolf gave to the girls of Hayes Court Common school in Kent on 30 January 1926.

Published for the first time as a standalone volume, Virginia Woolf’s short essay, How Should One Read a Book? celebrates the importance of great literature, pays homage to the reader and teaches us a thing or two about refining our competence in passing judgments on books.

Woolf eloquently discusses the "shadow-shape" of books after being read, meaning the shape the books leave in us over time while years pass by and we forget the plot and the characters and are only left with this feeling (shape) that stays with us.

I found it poignant to read Woolf's stance on our responsibility of readers as critics. The following passage can be read as directed at all of us here who review books. 

"If behind the erratic gunfire of the press the author felt that there was another kind of criticism, the opinion of people reading for the love of reading, slowly and unprofessionally, and judging with great sympathy and yet with great severity, might this not improve the quality of his work? And if by our means books were to become stronger, richer, and more varied, that would be an end worth reaching".

If you needed permission to voice your opinions, there you have it from one of the greatest writers of the 20th century.

The book has an introduction and an afterword by Sheila Heti, where she discusses the importance of writer friends in the process of writing books and how, in that vein, all books are collectively written. Her writing beautifully accompanies Woolf's masterful piece.

This is a read you can devour in half an hour, but the words will surely reverberate in your head. Highly recommended. It's a must-read for all book lovers. 

Thanks to Laurence King Publishing and NetGallety for my gifted copy.

#HowShouldOneReadABook #LaurenceKingPublishing #LaurenceKing #NetGalley

I love Virginia Woolf's writing. Her essay is thought-provoking and will stay with me for a very long time. In fact, I might reread it soon. Her use of the language itself makes it a pleasure to read.
The introduction and the afterword are interesting, engaging.

Powerful essay, and I love the Introduction and Afterwords just as much. It certainly brings a new sense of clarity on how one shall read a book, and I believe it will offer new insights for each time if rereading it. It serves like a mind cleansing tool to the readers.

How Should One Read a Book?
By Virginia Woolf

A delight to be able to check in with Virginia Woolf on the proper and correct way to read a book. Her observations release everything a dutiful reader may have clenched, having taken on this hefty title. It was a surprise and gift to read the author’s thoughts on my passion for reading. It blew my mind, in a happy way!

The bonus that accompanies this short book is the afterward by Sheila Heti, who also weighs in with her thoughts on this topic, which are also mind broadening, and an absolute treat.

A Sincere Thanks to Laurence King Publishing and NetGalley for providing an ARC to read and review.

The reader’s independence is a primary focus in Virginia Woolf’s essay.  Consequently, she clearly states her intention is not to give direct advice but to share thoughts which will hopefully help the reader find their own path. An intent that is successfully achieved. Her suggestion is readers approach each book with an open mind, without preconceptions, and with an expectation of being introduced into new worlds. Each author has their own way of sharing their tales and the reader needs to make allowance for this. The one primary attribute readers really require is an imagination. Another clear principle the author draws out is not to allow others, professional critics for instance, to determine the reader’s opinion of a book. They should really make their own diagnosis. 

It is hard to do this excellent, insightful essay justice in a short review unless its content is to be repeated, which would make this a pointless exercise. The only further points to draw out from Virginia’s essay, that was originally delivered as a lecture at a girl’s school, are: despite the title it is an essay not just for readers but also for authors, critics, and reviewers; and her viewpoint of reading being half reception (receiving the story) and half judgment. This really is an essay that covers all aspects of reading and deserves to be read in its own right. Not an onerous task considering the excellent content and concise length.

This enhanced edition of Virginia Woolf’s essay includes a forward and afterword by Sheila Heti: an internationally published author who has also been the subject of media features.

The forward endeavours to fathom and define the abstract, intangible, ambiguous, and ambivalent nature of reading, books, and the stories they contain. To provide them with a defining shape. The result is a composite of the writer’s own speculations and notions and her attempt, by drawing upon the primary essay, to interpret Virginia Woolf’s own thoughts. It also clarifies how a reader’s memory and recollections of a book may alter over time. How often it is about the impression left rather than the actual content. This forward certainly provides food for thought.

In the afterword Shelia Heti seeks to inform the general reader of what it is like to write a book. The pain, frustration, fear, joy, and ultimate sense of achievement. It is in fact an essay of her own which has little connection with this book’s primary subject. Nevertheless, it provides an insight into the character of an author. An insight some will find enlightening and one that helps them comprehend how the book they have just read came to be.

This is a short book that takes little time to read. However, if a reader is constrained for time they are recommended, despite the interesting concepts propounded, to skip the forward and afterword and concentrate on the primary essay. After all that is what this book is principally about: the nature of reading and the reader.

"To read a novel is a difficult and complex art. You must be capable not only of great fineness of perception, but of great boldness of imagination if you are going to make use of all that the novelist - the great artist - gives you." 

Maybe I'm not the right reader or just not in the right mood, but I didn't enojy this really short book as much as I wanted. Virginia's essay is half of the book, the other half is introduction & afterwood by Sheila Heti. Overall it's about importance of understanding and perception of reading, and how significant are proof readers (hint: book is not made only by an author).
But if you love Virginia Woolf or Sheila Heti's writing, or just books about books, give it a go, it has only 65 pages.

“If …the author felt that there was another kind of criticism, in the opinion of people reading for the love of reading, slowly and unprofessionally, and judging with great sympathy and yet with great severity, might this not improve the quality of his work?” – p.49 

I adored this essay and also the contributions of author Sheila Heti. It was fascinating as a would-be writer (currently studying writing in university) to read the ‘Other Readers’ section and to hear about the giving and receiving of feedback and drafts. I believe some excellent points were made on writer’s groups and the importance of honestly in criticism, specifically constructive criticism. 

The writing style of both authors while different in tone and texture, flowed onto each other well while still standout as separate pieces. I enjoyed the beautiful classic writing on the part of Ms Woolf and the more modern contemporary style writing on the part of Ms Heti. 
Thoroughly enjoyable and quick read. Perfect for university student studying writing or English literature, or anyone looking for their next Virginia Woolf read. 

“The greater part of any library is nothing but the record of such fleeting moments in the lives of men, women, and donkeys.” p. 36

2,5*

I read this so late at night I was probably lacking some brain cells, and it was a bit hard for me to follow the speech and to understand and pay attention to most of it. I did enjoy the meaning of it, the importance of reading, how reading is subjective, ... and the extra addition in the end, how critics are important and how the book is shaped by many people, not only the writer. However, while quick and an interesting topic, I did not take much from it.

This essay answers its titular question with a response of almost vague mysticism. There's no practical insight here, but a series of fascinating musings on the process of reading, forming opinions, being changed by what you read, and so on.

Woolf aims to reclaim books from critics and false dichotomies, without eradicating the need for them. Her desire is to place ownership of reading and judging in the hands of the reader experiencing and evaluating the novel in a kind of transcendental way.

Writer Shelia Heti adds her voice as well, in an introduction which goes into Woolf's idea that a novel takes some kind of shape in the mind once it has been read and the dust has settled. One might do well to read the introduction afterwards, rather than having your expectations shaped before approaching the essay itself.

Heti also contributes a conclusion which any burgeoning writer would benefit from reading, speaking about a very specific form of readership: someone reading a draft of book before it has completed, of whom genuine feedback is expected. This notion of collaborative work in any piece of art is intriguing and, though definitely an application of Woolf's ideas, makes an oddly niche note to end on.

I really enjoyed all three essays in this book, and the three essays worked well together. They are meditations on Virginia Woolf's work in particular, and writing and reading in general. The first essay focuses on how and why Virginia Woolf became famous. The second is Woolf's essay, which discusses the relationship between imagination, reading, and writing. The third essay is about the writing and reading processes and how they are connected. It's a short book, but I could happily and profitably read it many times.

Despite what this sounds like, it is not a regular advice book. Rather it is a meditation on how much should we as readers allow the voices of the literary critics color our experience with a book. It is about supporting the independence which according to Woolf every reader should possess in selecting and thinking about our books. Being a writer, she makes the case for books being read with compassion and understanding. Then goes on to illustrate what that may look like for the different categories of books like poetry, letter, and novels, and how we while maintaining our independence of judgement and not being affected by any critic can still become more discerning readers. 

Sheila Heiti's Introduction and Afterword supplement this essay well.Particularly the Afterword which talks about the Other Readers, who read a book when it is still developing. While this essay does get a bit repetitive in the middle, I learned to look at books in a very different way than I am used to from it. This is a gem of a book, and I recommend every reader to go through it because of its interesting insights to the reading process.

This book as made up of a short essay (Originally a speech) by Virginia Woolf , about reading, with a preface and afterword by Sheila Heti. 

Heti writes about the importance between friends criticising work and critiques. I really enjoyed this part, I found it really insightful and helped to understand the many steps and different hands books pass through until they are deemed finished.  

Virginia Woolf's main message is to read more so that you can understand more about what is is that you're reading. Also how important it is to think for yourself when reading and not have others think for you. 

This was a nice short read that was enjoyable.