Book shadows

 

How Should One Read a Book by Virginia Woolf (and also Windsong Summer by Patricia Cecil Hass)

I wrote recently about how I was rediscovering old favourite books recently and it was a weird feeling when I read Sheila Heti's introduction to Woolf's essay around the same time.

Heti is talking about the 'shadow-shape' of books that we read and the lines that stood out were:

"A book is a watery sculpture that lives on in the mind once the reading is done. When I think back on the books I have loved, I rarely remember the names of characters, the plot, or most of the scenes. It is not even the tone or mood I remember, but some residue remains - and that unlikely word is appropriate here - of unique shape.

Sometimes the shape of an entire book will be compacted into the memory of a single scene: something simple - a room that was conjured in the mind, in which two characters sat, speaking." (p7)

Heti and then Woolf go on to talk about how to read and evaluate books but it was this initial sentiment that struck and then stayed with me.

Windsong Summer was another book I remember buying from the school book sale. Even though 30+ years have gone since I last read the book it definitely left a shadow shape with me. I remembered that it was set in the summer in a tropical location, that boats were involved and that there was a hurricane but very little else. Except that at some point in the book they eat chowder...

I had no idea what chowder was as a child but I know that as soon as I saw it on the menu on a trip to San Francisco a few years ago I had to try it and that it instantly took me back to this book. 

That feeling passed but earlier this year (before lockdowns and travel bans) Mr Norfolkbookworm and I were in the Florida Keys I instantly started thinking about this book again...the seas were the colour I imagined as a child and we even saw some yachts that had been damaged in past hurricanes.

I have now read the book, and I quite enjoyed it. Again it was an experience where I felt like I was reading a new book and at the same time reading a book I knew word for word... as an adult I can see more flaws in the book and I can see why it hasn't made it as a modern classic but I'm not going to focus on them as right now we all need nice things and I am going to take myself back to a world of clear blue seas, warm weather and summer adventures!

Many thanks to Net Galley for the advance copy of How One Should Read a Book.