Group Read: Pilgrimage by Dorothy Richardson, vol 1 (Pointed Roofs, Backwater, Honeycomb)

Not too long ago, over in the Salon thread, there was a discussion about reading Dorothy Richardson's Pilgrimage. Below, from the cover blurb:

The thirteen magnificent novels that comprise Pilgrimage are the first expression in English of what was to be called 'stream of consciousness' technique, predating the work of both Joyce and Woolf, echoing that of Proust with whom Dorothy Richardson stands as one of the great innovatory figures of our time. These four volumes record in detail the life of Miriam Henderson. Through her experience - personal, spiritual, intellectual - Dorothy Richardson explores intensely what it means to be a woman, presenting feminine consciousness with a new voice, a new identity.

Jane (@BeyondEdenRock) proposed beginning in December and reading one novella per month through 2016. This thread will cover the first three novellas, which make up Pilgrimage v.1 in the Virago Modern Classics edition:
* December: Pointed Roofs
* January: Backwater
* February: Honeycomb

All are welcome ... who's in?

Putting aside my general rubbishness at challenges, I'm in! I just pulled my battered old copy of volume 1 off the shelves - it must be at least 30 years since I read it! This is obviously why I've spent the last 24 hours in that irritating state of not being able to decide what to read next.... 😀

Great idea. My serious reading has suffered this year, so something to rattle my brain will be good.

Love this idea and I've wanted to read Richardson for some time since reading excellent reviews by steventx on Club Read: http://www.librarything.com/topic/151899 posts 97, 119-123.

Although I ordered a copy, Amazon later sent me an email saying it was unavailable. Unfortunately, there books appear to be very difficult to come by, and my local library does not have any. If I can find a copy anywhere, I'm in.

I'm in! I have a terrible old battered copy of 1, too (and a decent 4 I got in a charity shop, and dear Julie's 2 and 3, also pristine).

>4 SassyLassy: I felt the same way. I was interested, but I can't come by a copy easily. Even on ebay it doesn't seem available.

>4 SassyLassy:, >6 japaul22: The only way I managed to get a complete set was through my daughter when she was on study abroad in the UK. She just happened to be in a used bookshop one day and there it was, with a rubber band around all 4 volumes. I wasn't especially searching for it, she just knew I collected VMCs and bought several for me right there and then. Good girl. :)

Well I don't mind keeping a lookout in the many charity shops in my area ...

Pilgrimage vol I is available for free download at Project Gutenberg

I spotted all four volumes in a charity shop window one evening and rushed back to buy them the next morning. Beyond that, I've seen the first volume a few times but never any of the other three.

The Dorothy Richardson website says that OWC will be reissuing the Pilgrimage novels, but as that doesn't start until 2018 it's not much help now.

They don't turn up that often, at least not during my searching, but I'll keep an eye out.

This is another VMC which has been sitting on my shelf for a long time so I will join in too.

I'm happy to see so many of you joining in! Other than reading one novella per month, there's no set schedule. I need to finish another book before starting Pointed Roofs, so I hope to begin sometime next week.

I've finished "Pointed Roofs" and am trying to get my thoughts together for a review. Such a wonderful book - I'd forgotten just how brilliant she is!

I'm going to be starting mid-month when I've chipped away at the TBR a bit ... I have finished my last Forsyte book, though, so my previous challenge is now DONE.

>15 LyzzyBee: Well done with the Forstyes! I failed miserably with them, so hopefully the Richardsons will be more successful! :)

I finished Pointed Roofs yesterday and like Karen I really enjoyed it. For some reason I expected the stream of consciousness style to be difficult but it wasn't at all, and I loved the way it put you inside Miriam's head, experiencing all of her thoughts and feelings in "real time."

And did anyone else notice the "Virago within a Virago" reference? On page 111 of the VMC edition, Miriam and the French governess are discussing books. Miriam asked if she knows a particular English book. Mademoiselle says,
"Oh, the most beautiful book it would be possible to read." An indrawn breath, Le Secret de Lady Audley?
"Yes," responded Miriam sleepily.

Do you think we may be more sophisticated as modern readers, and that the books reputation as difficult has just followed it down the years, Laura? Whatever it is, I loved the book - such vivid images it creates - and I can't wait to read the next one! Such a good idea of Jane's to read this sequence!

I have done a little introductory post on Richardson prior to my review, if anyone is interested:

https://kaggsysbookishramblings.wordpress.com/2015/12/20/re-reading-dorothy-rich...

>19 kaggsy: I really enjoyed that, Karen.

>20 lauralkeet: She was a fascinating woman, that's for sure! I'm really looking forward to the next book in the sequence.

My review is now up: https://kaggsysbookishramblings.wordpress.com/2015/12/22/finding-freedom-in-germ...

An excellent review, Karen!

>23 lauralkeet: Thank you Laura! :)

I've posted my review now! https://librofulltime.wordpress.com/2015/12/31/book-review-pointed-roofs-virago/ I also didn't find it as difficult as I'd feared / remembered from reading Vol 1 a good while ago, and am really looking forward to continuing through the series!

Well, it's a new month ... Backwater awaits! I'm not sure how soon I will read it but will definitely get to it in January.

Me, too!

Me three! I hope to get onto it fairly early as I'm keen not to leave too long between the books!

I've finally gathered my thoughts and written about Pointed Roofs:

http://beyondedenrock.com/2016/01/06/pointed-roofs-by-dorothy-richardson-1915/

I was tempted to move straight on to Backwater but I decided that as Dorothy Richardson wrote the books over many years I should space them out a little. I've been a little distracted by other books, but I definitely want to keep to the book a month thing so that I can hold on to the thread of the life that runs through the thirteen.

Lovely review Jane, and thank you for providing the motivation for me to pick these books up again. It's so tempting to keep reading, isn't it? But I think you are right about spreading them out!

Ha - I agree, I'm making myself read some other stuff before plunging in to the next one - esp as I read Pointed Roofs pretty late in December!

I've just started Backwater and, though it's early days, I can say that I was dazzled by the first page of writing and the possibilities for this particular volume look very interesting.

I agree Jane! I just started it yesterday. I was struck by Miriam's happiness at being with her sisters and in familiar surroundings, vs feeling both like an outsider and incompetent in her first teaching position. Her emotions are very well portrayed; I truly feel like I'm inside her head.

I just started this too, and I'm loving it so far. It's wonderful seeing the world filtered through Miriam's perceptions and watching all her new experiences.

I finished Backwater today. How's everyone else getting on?

Finished it and absolutely loved it. Trying to work out what to say for my review that is more coherent than just 'brilliant' repeated over and over again..... I loved the contrast between the two sides of her life, and also the parts where she discovered smoking and reading newspapers!

About to start reading it after being away for 4 days travelling by train and so unable to justify taking a big thick book I was only going to read a bit of!

Here's the review I posted on the book page (the first and only review so far -- hope to see more!)

This is the second book in Pilgrimage, a set of 13 novellas published by Virago in 4 volumes. Author Dorothy Richardson pioneered the stream of consciousness form in telling the life story of Miriam Henderson. In the first book, Pointed Roofs, Henderson’s family falls on difficult financial times and 17-year-old Miriam obtains a teaching position in a German girls’ school. It’s a formative if unhappy experience; Backwater opens after her return to England, where she is about to take up a new post in a small girls’ school in London.

Miriam’s delight at being reunited with her sisters jumps off the early pages of this book, as does her enthusiasm for her new teaching position. But since the reader is privy to all of Miriam’s thoughts, we are also keenly aware of her feelings of awkwardness, self-doubt, and isolation. Her relationships with men are tentative and uncertain, but she seems to accept that even as her sisters pair off and become engaged. While she becomes a more confident teacher, she also yearns for something better, but undefined. She’s thrilled to discover newspapers, which she squirrels away in her room to read in secret. And she’s positively euphoric when she stumbles across a library near the school, and begins devouring every book in sight. Miriam’s summer holidays see her reunited with her sisters, enjoying long warm sunny days but perhaps living somewhat beyond their means. Near the end of this novel, financial pressures become more acute, Miriam’s mother’s health is threatened, and Miriam once again feels compelled to find a different form of employment.

I am really enjoying Richardson’s writing, and taking this in approximately 150-page increments is working well for me.

>38 lauralkeet: Lovely, Laura! Yes, this is definitely the best way to read it!

I just reviewed Louisa Treger's book about Dorothy Richardson if anyone is interested:

https://kaggsysbookishramblings.wordpress.com/2016/01/19/imagining-dorothy/

I've read and reviewed Backwater now - really enjoyed it and this way of reading is really suiting me, as it makes me long for the next volume rather than quail at the pile of thick books! Review here but I'll put it in the work on here, too. https://librofulltime.wordpress.com/2016/01/24/book-reviews-mrs-dalloway-and-bac...

My review of Backwater is now up here:

https://kaggsysbookishramblings.wordpress.com/2016/01/27/life-at-the-edge-of-thi...

I loved it - her writing is just marvellous!

>42 kaggsy: You make a really good point about Miriam's lack of self-awareness, and how badly she reads other people. I noticed that when I read the books and wondered if it was just my perception of the narrative, but it does seem to be deliberate on Richardson's part.

>43 Sakerfalcon: I think it's intentional myself - Miriam (presumably like many women of the time) is quite sheltered for one thing, but she has that gaucheness of youth and perhaps not terribly good interpersonal skills (as we would say nowadays). I can recall being much the same in my teenage years! :)

>42 kaggsy: What an excellent review, Karen! I love your insights about the contrast between Miriam's home and school life, and her lack of self-awareness and general cluelessness about why things happen the way they do. Her relationships with men are awkward and while Mr. P certainly doesn't seem like a "good catch," how much of that is him, and how much is Miriam's failure to understand herself and how to be in a relationship with another person?

I wonder, would you and Liz (>41 LyzzyBee:) -- and anyone else who has reviewed this book -- be willing to post your review on the book page? So far mine is the only review and yours do so much more justice to this lovely book.

>45 lauralkeet: Thanks Laura! Yes, I think many of Miriam's problems with other people do stem from herself and this may be something many girls of her kind of upbringing would have faced at the time.

I've been posting links to my reviews on the Pilgrimage page, but I'll go and link on the individual pages too - I hadn't noticed there were separate ones! :)

I've put my review on the Pilgrimage 1 page, because it won't let me review it on the individual page without adding it to my library??

>47 LyzzyBee: oh right, I forgot about that. I add books to my library when they are part of an omnibus like these, and keep them in a separate collection. So I'm reading the VMC editions, but reviewing the individual books. I might go back and "review" each VMC by linking to the individual reviews.

>47 LyzzyBee: I've had the same issue, and I don't really want to add two copies of the book to my library! Most confusing....

Okay, it's mid-February and I was frustrated with another VMC I'm reading, so I started Honeycomb. Once again I am delighted to be back in Miriam's world, this time as she takes up a post as a governess. The early pages are her introduction to "how the other half lives" which she seems to find fascinating, especially when she realizes that she is smarter than they are in many respects.

Anyone else started yet?

I've just read the first chapter or two and am finding Miriam's next phase fascinating. Despite maturing a bit she still seems plagued by self-doubt.

>51 kaggsy: yes, and I love the passages where she says something out loud and then Richardson continues with her inner monologue.

>52 lauralkeet: Yes - I sometimes find I'm not sure if she's actually saying or just thinking something!

Is anyone else reading Honeycomb besides me and Karen?

How do people feel about continuing with Vol 2 in March?

I've finished Honeycomb and loved it - I'll definitely be carrying on with the series and I'm looking forward to vol 2. My review will be up soon and I'll link here.

I'm still reading, but I've been a little distracted by life, work and other books this month. My plan is to finish Honeycomb this weekend and to move on to volume 2 very soon.

Not leaving too long between books is helping me to appreciate Miriam's evolution.

I can see that I forgot to link my thoughts about Backwater - here they are.

I am still reading too but am a bit behind. I'll probably not get to Vol II for a few weeks yet but now I have started I plan to finish the IV vols. (date uncertain but sometime in 2016:-))
I am enjoying Richardson's writing but it did need a group read to get me started!!

Great, I'm glad there is still interest. I'm enjoying the books and being inside Miriam's head. I'll create a thread for vol 2 in the next week.

I've finished (a while ago) and reviewed Honeycomb here https://librofulltime.wordpress.com/2016/02/25/book-review-honeycomb-virago-plus... I enjoyed it although it felt a bit interstitial, using the narrative to push her from one path to another. I have only got this far before, so I'm really looking forward to moving on to Vol. 2 next month!

>59 LyzzyBee: Hurray!

Here's a link to the thread for Volume 2.

Thank you - I can see that's building some replies already. Hope to start that one a bit earlier - maybe the first read in the month (I'm on a Virago at the moment and I do like to vary things a bit ...)

I finished Honeycomb on Saturday, and I think it was my favourite of the first three books. I had a real sense of both Miriam and Dorothy maturing and I'm eager to press on with the other books.

Just squeezed my review of Honeycomb in in time - here it is!

https://kaggsysbookishramblings.wordpress.com/2016/02/29/to-marry-or-not-to-marr...