Reading Response

The two entries were definitely both informative and beneficial to not only a writer but also a reader. In all honesty I thought that Virginia Woolfs "How Should One Read a Book?" was a little hard to follow along with.  A few key points that I did capture were the way that she talked about poems.  I found it particularly interesting when she used the short four line poem to explain how strong and captivating poems are.  She stated that "for the moment there is no other sensation except that of the poem itself." (Woolf, 7.)  I read and re-read that poem numerous times and each time it felt like the first time reading it. I am sitting in the JC and if I do not focus on the poem I can hear the music on the first floor, the students talking about classes behind me, and the people walking by.  But when I was reading the poem everything became quiet and my mind was filled with the thoughts associated with actions and places and events regarding the poem.  I have never thought of poetry in that sense before today.

Another passage I particularly liked was the following:

"It is simple enough to say that since books have classes---fiction, biography, poetry---we should separate them and take from each what it is right that each should give us." (woolf, 2.)

We have all been to the library but I know personally that I have never thought of it as different sections. It was always just a room filled with books.  It just so happens that the books are categorized by the stories they tell.  Some books tell us stories that actually happened and some tell us about stories that have happened in the writers head.  I feel it is best to take from the book what the book presents to us.

C. Belin