Jackie Reviews: Virginia Woolf’s ‘How Should One Read a Book?’

Virginia Woolf’s essay about how one ‘should’ (or more precisely should not) read a book has been newly published as a standalone book by Laurence King Publishing and feels very timely and modern – as do all her essays. Having listened to the academic Alexandra Harris’s enthusiastic championing of ‘How Should One Read a Book?’ on the radio last week, it has been wonderful to rediscover it for myself and to think about the way I read. The essay is an impassioned plea for us to pick up all kinds of books and not to feel constrained or inhibited – to accept the books for what they are as well as to sit in judgement on them, to step back from them, to read them as if we had written them ourselves. For Woolf, reading fiction is the ultimate source of pleasure and we should not be afraid to admit that this enjoyment is ‘enough’. It is irresistible to be allowed to be given a glimpse into the lives of other people, as if ‘[t]he windows of the houses are open; the blinds are drawn up’ as we walk down the street, inviting us in to experience their world for ourselves.

Sometimes it is easy to become overwhelmed by the sheer number of books that are out there, waiting to be read. Where do you begin? I have been encouraged to think that it is fine to begin anywhere and to see where it takes me. Virginia Woolf read voraciously, perhaps five books a day – with books for different times of the day and different moods. This has encouraged me to delve into my ‘to be read’ pile and not to feel discouraged! Happy (Christmas) reading everyone!