This is not typically a book I would pick from a library shelf. To be honest, I don’t think I’ve ever read any of Virginia Woolf’s books. The main reason I read this was because I was egged on by the presenters of The Minefield (a weekly podcast I listen to regularly) to read it for their ‘Not quite a book club’ series. And because I wanted to get some background knowledge on their discussion, I ordered it from my local library.

I was reassured by the presenters that it was only 100 pages or so. It shouldn’t take long for me to read. They were right. The copy I received from the library was small and indeed only 112 pages but I had to re-read a few passages as I wasn’t used to the style of writing. This was written in the 1920s. Anyway, this copy had an orange cover and typical of the Penguins classic series look. This edition was published in 2009 so it’s looking tired and worn with a few brown stains on some of the pages. In fact, the library keeps it in their stack collection (away from the public but still lendable). It’s interesting to note that they’rve categorised it as non-fiction even though the presenters of the podcast described it as a work of fiction.

So what is this book about? It’s an essay on feminism that came about from a lecture that Virginia Woolf gave at Girton College, Cambridge in 1928. In this essay, she questioned women’s role in society especially women fiction authors such as Charlotte Bronte and Jane Austen. Would they have been this or that if not for these or those certain circumstances?

Ok, even though I’m not used to the writing style, I understood the content and topic that Woolf is trying to convey in this piece of writing. That is, women have been conditioned to be lower than men in society and she questions that and I say yay! It wasn’t a piece of writing I totally enjoyed though. But different courses for different horses. You might enjoy it so on that note I recommend the book. And if you’re interested in the discussion of the book in the Minefield podcast you can listen here.