Dear Reader,
Welcome to the very first Book Notes!
The idea of this newsletter is to give you the chance to further explore the latest novel we’ve discussed on the show in your own time, with friends or as part of your book club.
Every Saturday, we’ll send talking points and questions around that week’s novel, as well as suggestions on what you could read next (drawn both from The Book Club team and by selecting some of the recommendations you have sent in).
We’ll also share what’s coming up next on the podcast so you can start preparing ahead.
Consider this your guide to creating the best book club possible (with some help from us, hosts of The Book Club, Tabitha Syrett and Dominic Sandbrook).
The talking points will be created by Rhiannon, a fellow bibliophile and book clubber.
We hope this newsletter will also become a place where you can swap reading tips and thoughts with The Book Club community.
To feature in our ‘Recommended Reads’ section send in a few lines on a book you enjoyed and why to [email protected].
We’ll also have a Reviewers’ Corner where you can share your analysis on the book we discussed the week before. Did you take a different view to us? Is there an angle we missed? Do let us know.
Now to this week’s episode, where we entered the mind of Virginia Woolf’s kaleidoscopic characters in Mrs Dalloway.
It’s one of those books that delivers fresh meanings and delights with every re-read. Dominic and I both found our own experiences and takeaways changed after returning to the novel at different stages of life.
As we said on the show, its depth belies the short page length. Yet with Woolf’s captivating use of language, her take on 1920s life, and groundbreaking depictions of mental health and female sexuality, there’s so much contained within those pages.
I urge you to give it a read - or a re-read. Given how much we both loved it, I’m intrigued to see if you felt the same, especially if you’ve changed your mind this time round.
Until next week,
Tabby
If you enjoyed Mrs Dalloway…
Here are some more books to add to your list:
📚 The Hours by Michael Cunningham. Winner of the Pulitzer Prize in 1999, this beautifully written book follows the lives of three women over the course of one day, including Woolf herself, all of whom are connected to the novel Mrs Dalloway. The title, The Hours, borrows from Woolf’s original name for the novel.
📚 Ulysses by James Joyce. Woolf was reading this as she wrote Mrs Dalloway (although she claimed not to be a fan). You’ll discover many parallels as you read.
📚 The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton. Another Pulitzer prize winner (in 1921), it’s also about the restrictions of upper class life and a rapidly changing world, but in New York City during the Gilded Age of the 1870s.
📚 The Intellectuals and the Masses by John Carey. Recommended by Dominic, it “examines modernist art and literature and assaults the prejudices of the intellectual founders of modern culture”.
Share your thoughts
If you use our Book Notes, send us a picture of your club and some of the highlights from your discussion. Did the ending of Mrs Dalloway leave you deflated or hopeful? We’ll share our favourite notes in the Reviewers’ Corner. Write to us at [email protected]
Next on The Book Club
June 1: The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
June 8: The Picture Of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde
June 15: Code Of The Woosters by PG Wodehouse
June 22: Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
June 29: Game Of Thrones by George R. R. Martin
Notes on… Mrs Dalloway
Rhiannon here with this week’s Book Notes.
While Dominic and Tabby may have disagreed on their feelings about Virginia Woolf, they were united in their love of Mrs Dalloway, agreeing with the assessment that it’s one of the great novels of the 20th century.
It’s a terrific piece of writing which takes on a 1920s London in flux at the same time as examining the tumultuous inner worlds’ of its characters.
The book slips in and out of the consciousnesses of several figures all bound by one thing - the passage of time, signalled throughout by Big Ben’s chimes.
There’s plenty to discuss. Here are some talking points.
Tabby described Mrs Dalloway as “one of the greats” - while Dominic said he would “read this book for as long as I live”.
Mrs Dalloway is often described as a seminal 20th century masterpiece. Does it deserve this accolade?
Dominic felt that the older you get the more you appreciate some of the characters and see them differently. If you’re re-reading the book, how have your views changed?
While they loved Mrs Dalloway, Dominic and Tabby were divided on Woolf.
Have you read any Woolf before? Research her background and the stories around the Bloomsbury Group and explore why she’s divisive. This essay is an excellent introduction to the Bloomsbury Group.
Consider whether you need to like an author to be a fan of their work.
Woolf’s free indirect discourse style has been lauded as revolutionary by some. Did you find the way this book was written to be masterful, or was the writing sometimes hard to follow?
The narrative slips in and out of the mind of the characters and from past to present without warning. Why do you think this is?
Woolf wrote about the modern landscape demanding a new form of novel. How does her writing represent the flux of modern life?
“It’s about women and the lifecycle of a woman,” Tabby says of Mrs Dalloway. The struggles of female characters are brought to life in a way rarely depicted in literature at the time.
“This being Mrs Dalloway, not even Clarissa any more; this being Mrs Richard Dalloway”. Do you think Clarissa feels trapped in her marriage? Are there moments where she seems to show defiance within a patriarchal world?
Some early critics of Mrs Dalloway argued that Clarissa lacked depth. Do you agree?
How did you find the different ages of womanhood were painted - from young Elizabeth, to the middle aged Mrs Dalloway, to the older Lady Bruton?
This novel is seen as a queer classic and has even been banned for its portrayals of homosexuality. What did you make of the relationship between Clarissa and Sally Seton and how this evolved over time?
The book coincides with the rise of psychoanalysis and was groundbreaking in its portrayal of mental health.
Septimus and Mrs Dalloway never meet, but critics and Woolf herself talk about them being doubles. We’re led to think about how fine the line between sanity and insanity is. What are the parallels between these characters?
Woolf had originally planned for Mrs Dalloway to die by suicide - and transferred this to Septimus in a later draft. Does knowing this change your reading of the book?
Woolf struggled with her mental health and it’s often said that she transferred some of her own experience into the character of Septimus. What are your thoughts on the depiction of Septimus’s state of mind?
Allusions to the First World War run through its pages - how do you feel the book conveys a sense of generational trauma?
The party ushers in the end of the novel, with the characters haunted by regret, loss and the idea of ageing.
Big Ben’s chimes punctuate the narrative and originally Woolf titled the book ‘The Hours’. What is she trying to convey through this focus on time?
There is a sense of isolation and fragmentation, not only with characters such as Mrs Dalloway and Septimus, but across the city, seen in examples such as everyone spelling out a different word from the plane flying above. Why do you think Woolf did this?
A strong feeling of the loss of youth and melancholy permeates Mrs Dalloway but Dominic found the final passages to be both moving and hopeful. How did you feel on finishing the book?
The quote that says it all
“What is this terror? what is this ecstasy? he thought to himself. What is it that fills me with this extraordinary excitement?
It is Clarissa, he said.
For there she was.”
We had to choose the quote that moved Dominic close to tears at the end of this episode. What quote stayed with you?
Who would enjoy this book?
Someone who’s never read Woolf and needs their eyes opening to her world? A woman entering and struggling with middle age? A long lost love you met again - and who turned out to now be very boring?
Tell us, who would you share this book with?
Recommended by you
We know from our Instagram page that you have lots of thoughts about what books Dominic and Tabitha should cover!
From now on, this newsletter is your chance to tell us about the book that has changed your life, left you laughing, crying or made you want to instantly message a friend.
Tell us about that book in two or three sentences as well as one reason why fellow book clubbers should follow your recommendation. We’ll feature as many as we can in future weeks. [Email: [email protected].]
Here are some of your messages…
Jerry suggests Evelyn Waugh’s Brideshead Revisited: “I read it last year and found it heartbreaking and very beautifully written. Hopefully you feel the same.”
Roz says Cry, The Beloved Country by Alan Parton “has been my favourite book since I was 14 and no one has ever heard of it when I mention it. It’s about one man’s journey of faith, family, loss and redemption against the backdrop of the South African apartheid.”
New Zealand-based bookshop owner Louise (The Booksmith) suggests Lessons In Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus as a perfect book club read as it “presents plenty of scope for social, historical and cultural commentary”.
Reviewers’ Corner
From next week, we’ll be sharing your thoughts on Mrs Dalloway here. Having finished these notes, we have one big question for you: Is this a seminal 20th century masterpiece? Or do you feel this book was overhyped? If you re-read Mrs Dalloway, now at a different stage of life, how did that shape your view?
For now, as it’s our first edition, here are some of our favourite notes from the inbox so far.
Far out
Jacob writes in to say: “I'm a Brit living in Alaska (who used to live in New Zealand), which might make me your most remote listener.” Can anyone beat that?
Tipple of choice?
The Rt. Rev. Shay Craig (who names her cats after Beatrix Potter characters) writes from North Dakota. She says of the podcast: “It feels like a conversation with wise and funny friends. Occasionally, I listen with a glass of fine port, as an immersive experience. Residing, as I do, in a hotbed of MAGA imbecility, your podcast makes me feel hopeful about the resilience of humanity. I am very grateful for that.”
What snacks or drinks do you find pair well with the pod? (Love to Squirrel Nutkin and Two Bad Mice!)
“A cat could do better literature than this…”
Rachel recently finished a PhD in 19th century English literature and listens with her six month old. She calls the pod a “bright spot in a sometimes isolating and exhausting -though also very joyful - period of my life”.
She writes: “I particularly love the banter between the two of you - it reminds me of cross-generational debates with my favourite former professors, and fun literary discussions with my academic friends. I especially loved your episodes on The Woman in White and Wuthering Heights, two of my favourite Victorian novels, the former of which is still woefully under-appreciated. I'm still convinced that the moment when Count Fosco appears in Marian's diary when she's ill and takes over the narration is one of the wildest meta-narrative moments in all literature.
“If you want to read some truly fascinating and odd books, check out the New Woman novels of the 1890s, specifically The Heavenly Twins (1893) by Sarah Grand and The Daughters of Danaus (1894) by Mona Caird. Both massively popular in their day (though abhorred by critics) and both completely forgotten now (something my research has sought to rectify!) Regarding The Heavenly Twins, Mark Twain wrote in his diary that "A cat could do better literature than this" and I can't imagine anything he could say that would make me want to read it more (just look up the synopsis, I dare you). Dominic will ABSOLUTELY hate these authors and their novels, but Tabby might enjoy them - in any case, they're both utterly weird and disturbing in the best possible way.”
Let us know your most controversial or most hated book recommendations.
To see yourself in these Book Notes, send pictures, thoughts and suggestions on what others should read to [email protected]
Keeping score
For the second week in a row, both Dominic and Tabby gave Mrs Dalloway 10 ‘Miss Kilman’s eclairs’ out of 10 🍰
Tell us what you gave the book and we’ll share the average score next week.
See you next week for The Hunger Games!
