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is_book_loring's review against another edition
4.0
I could never read anything by Virginia Woolf and fail to be inspired. Likewise, reading The Common Reader was to be joyfully affected by her passionate love in literature and the innate belief in the supernatural power of books. The style of these essays are designed for the common reader, 'who reads for [their] own pleasure rather than to impart knowledge or correct the opinions of others', in no pedantic, wordy academic prose, but in such accessible, interesting way that reading her insightful, witty review which are like no others I've ever read, and perceptive literary criticism, her studious, empathic thought she drew from authors' lives and their relationship with their writing was a delightful experience and a refreshing, stimulating conversation I will without a doubt want to revisit again.
abitlikemercury's review against another edition
challenging
funny
informative
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
5.0
wilde_read's review against another edition
challenging
slow-paced
2.5
The writing is too dense for me to enjoy. I skimmed the chapters after Austen.
jmoravec's review against another edition
informative
reflective
medium-paced
4.0
Wonderfully written essays on books and literary criticism. For being around 100 years old, the contained writings are extremely readable even to a modern audience, which I think goes to show how well of a write Woolf is and why this is for the "common reader."
My really only issue with the book is that I haven't read many of the works that she discusses within, so it can be hard to fully grasp what her goal is in the essay sometimes. Some day I'll have to come back to this book after I've read a lot more classics.
My really only issue with the book is that I haven't read many of the works that she discusses within, so it can be hard to fully grasp what her goal is in the essay sometimes. Some day I'll have to come back to this book after I've read a lot more classics.
jcampbell's review against another edition
reflective
medium-paced
3.5
I always really enjoy reading writers writing about other authors, as it helps you see where they get their inspirations and what they are trying to bring into their own writing.
thatmattcrowe's review against another edition
4.0
This collection came out in the same year as Mrs Dalloway (1925), and gives good insight into Woolf’s philosophies and inspirations for writing. It starts with reasserting Dr. Johnson’s importance on “the common reader” on who is read, which given Woolf’s reputation as difficult could be seen ironic. But these essays show just what an inviting writer she could be. Despite criticisms of snobbery found in her dismissals of some writers she mostly shows complex opinions on authors and the whole of their works, such as her conflictions on Ulysses, and her writings on Daniel Defoe and Joseph Addison (convincing me to read more of each).
There’s no overt feminist text here like A Room of One’s Own, but putting equal footing for the Brontes, Austen and George Eliot (famously calling Middlemarch one of the “few English novels written for grown-up people) and some very obscure female writings to males in the literary canon makes for its own subversion. Occasionally her pre-contemporary essays would lose my interests, and she puts a lot of emphasis on the author’s importance which made me think she would not be so keen on Roland Barthes. But despite its obvious audience, The Common Reader has wisdom to last.
Highlights: “The Common Reader”, “Defoe”, “Addison”, “Jane Austen”, “Modern Fiction”, “George Eliot”, “The Modern Essay”, “How it Strikes a Contemporary”
There’s no overt feminist text here like A Room of One’s Own, but putting equal footing for the Brontes, Austen and George Eliot (famously calling Middlemarch one of the “few English novels written for grown-up people) and some very obscure female writings to males in the literary canon makes for its own subversion. Occasionally her pre-contemporary essays would lose my interests, and she puts a lot of emphasis on the author’s importance which made me think she would not be so keen on Roland Barthes. But despite its obvious audience, The Common Reader has wisdom to last.
Highlights: “The Common Reader”, “Defoe”, “Addison”, “Jane Austen”, “Modern Fiction”, “George Eliot”, “The Modern Essay”, “How it Strikes a Contemporary”
racheladventure's review against another edition
3.0
This collection of critical essays (dedicated the cannon-thwarting Lytoon Strachey) was published just before the publication of Mrs. Dalloway. This was a very strategic move on Woolf's part to make way for herself and her own work.