You, Me, and Doris Lessing

A proposal

(bonus cat-snuggling content for you)

Hey. You. Want to read a book with me?

I just finished rereading To the Light House, as part of A Public Space’s group read. It was my first time revisiting the book in at least seventeen years, and though I’d loved and appreciated it in earlier readings, it was particularly moving to read it again now, at forty-nine, a mother of nearly the same age as Mrs. Ramsay. The experience has inspired me to revisit more of the books that I’ve loved in the past. I don’t think I reread often enough. I’m maybe too much always looking forward, on to the next. That feeling of life being so short and the list of books that I want to read so very long...

Reading Woolf as a part of a group outside of academia was a new experience for me. I’ve never belonged to a book club, have never joined any of the previous APS group reads. But there was something so pleasing about reading To the Lighthouse on a schedule, knowing that others were reading the same pages at the same time, that we were thinking together, even before or outside of the comments sections on each post.

In June, I’m going to be rereading The Summer Before the Dark by Doris Lessing, and I’d love it if you would read (or reread) along with me. Lessing is one of my favorite writers, and I loved this book when I first read it, but it’s been a while and merits another look. What do you say? Each Tuesday in June, I’ll send out a post with my thoughts on a chunk of the book. It won’t be a scholarly lecture—just my experiences as a reader interacting with those pages. And then I hope to hear your thoughts and discuss in the comments.

If this isn’t your thing, no worries. I’m not going to turn this newsletter into a book club. This is just what I’ll be doing here for the month of June, one day a week. Please do read with me!

The discussion schedule:

6/6: pp3-78* (At Home to The Holiday)

6/13: pp78-149 (The Holiday to The Hotel)

6/20: pp149-206 (The Hotel through “twitching like a puppet to those strings...”

6/27: pp206-273 (“Next day Maureen...” to end)

*Page numbers correspond to the Vintage International edition from 2009. Refer to titles instead if you’re reading a different edition