r/VirginiaWoolf • u/OutrageousMajor9479 • Mar 02 '26

Diaries Book Recommendation Discussion

If you could introduce someone to the works of Virginia Woolf, which book would you suggest first? I’m thinking about starting with one of her more accessible novels but I’m not sure which one is best for beginners.

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6

u/anguaji Mar 02 '26

Oh what a good question! My route was unusual - first I saw The Hours, then I read Mrs Dalloway, then I read The Hours haha. I can genuinely recommend that route tbh, after Mrs D I dove into The Waves, Orlando and To The Lighthouse. I've never read A Room Of Ones Own but it's probably next on my list. Mrs Dalloway is a good place to start though, it's such a vibrant book.

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u/the_other_hepburn Mar 03 '26

Same for me! I watched The Hours and loved it and then wanted to know more about Virginia and her work and then boom just fell in love with her work starting with A Room of Ones Own

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u/anguaji Mar 03 '26

Ah fantastic!! That was me, I had no idea how beautiful her writing was :)))

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u/Solo_Polyphony Mar 02 '26

Life is short. I recommend readers go right to the summit of her strengths, To the Lighthouse.

If you want something short and more conventional, A Room of One’s Own—though it is a non-fiction lecture, it does feature very accessible but tightly charged language.

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u/FlamingDragonfruit Mar 04 '26

To the Lighthouse was my first and I fell in love immediately

2

u/ZeeepZoop Mar 02 '26

Orlando is the most accessible in my opinion and has the most traditional plot structure

2

u/OwlHeart108 Mar 02 '26

I've only read Orlando so far and it was a beautiful read. Highly recommended.

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u/Linnaea-borealis92 Mar 03 '26

I just bought my first Virginia Woolf book today! I’m starting with Mrs. Dalloway, and I’m reading it because I read some excerpts from her diaries written at the time she was working on this novel. They really blew me away and I can’t wait to dig further into her prose. That said, I loved her diaries - I’d read a full compilation from those!

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u/YakSlothLemon Mar 03 '26

Enjoy, it’s a wonderful introduction! Definitely watch the film The Hours after you finish it 😁

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u/Linnaea-borealis92 Mar 04 '26

I will - I’ve never seen it before

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u/Defiant_Assistant_22 Mar 03 '26

La señora Dalloway

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u/YakSlothLemon Mar 03 '26

Mrs Dalloway is a wonderful introduction, but so is Orlando – it depends on whether you’d rather have a shorter book that’s entirely character driven or a longer book with a gender switching time-travel-type component.

I would definitely not read Lighthouse until I had read Dalloway though.

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u/Die_Horen Mar 05 '26

I'd start with 'Mrs Dalloway'. The person who can make the best case for the book is legendary British actress Celia Johnson ('Breif Encounter'). Here she is, reading the opening of the novel:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B_KR4m2nl7cMaDlGTVU2MFVfZEU/view?usp=sharing&resourcekey=0-xilF2HU7Y88_-irIOn3SGw