Bought during the store-closing clearance sale at the Women's Press Bookshop. Snif.

Promised to schmetterling.

Hooray for Flashgirl! This edition is indeed swanky and retro, and coincidentally matches the swanky retro yellow dress I'm wearing today.

Wow, I was always under the impression that I had read this book before, but apparently not... Even though I began this book a few days ago expecting a trip down memory lane, it ended up being a different sort of trip. Apparently what *really* happened was I saw part of the movie on a transatlantic flight, which gave me the inane idea that I had read the book since I knew, pretty much, what Mrs. Dalloway was all about.
Not true! The book is so beautifully written, so complexly put-together, that no movie could do it justice. I can't help but tear from page to page, eager for more, eager to see what insight, what tragedy, lay waiting for me. And of course, the superswank cover means that I have had to carry the book around in my hand (not in my bag) prominently displayed in order to stir the most jealousy in the hearts of all who see me with the book.
Virginia Woolf just isn't the kind of book that you can take to the beach, or so it seems, but I am enjoying this book as though it were one of those bestsellers...

This book, like most Woolf that I read, struck me as achingly beautiful, terribly British, and way ahead of its time. I suppose I just don't know that much about Woolf's life itself, but I can't imagine that her books were received without a fuss.
I especially like the way that I have been shown so many different sides of Clarissa Dalloway, and yet I feel as though I still don't understand her. Though I know that if I met Mrs. Dalloway in my daily life I would probably despise her and poke fun at her in the next room, I realise that I could never truly know this person and thus have no right to assume anything about her. Would I ever make the choices that she has made? Perhaps not. How can I possibly know that? How do I know that I may not become a Mrs. Dalloway in my own time?

I did not wish to release this book into the wild, so I urged it upon another BookCrosser tonight at the MeetUp. She said she may not be able to read it for awhile, but I think that's fine, as long as I know that it's in good hands.

Thank you for your patience, Schmetterling. I WILL read it and I'll find a very appropriate release spot for it. Until then, it rests on my crushing TBR shelf...

Sadly, I just couldn't get into this book. Virginia Woolfe and James Joyce are authors I have always wanted to read, but it seems I just can't make it through either one. *Sigh*

I will find an appropriate release spot and hopefully the next reader will experience what I am unable to discover.

RELEASE NOTES:

A friend mentioned he would like to read this book so I am releasing it in the staff break room.