A Virginia Woolf Reading List

August 16, 2024

Literature

Nesha Ruther

Writer at Bond & Grace

Virginia Woolf is a trailblazer in modernist writing, penning stories that focused on a character’s internal emotional landscape and their recollections of the past rather than a clear linear arc. She also wrote the powerful feminist treatise A Room of One’s Own (1929) that rebuffed the popular belief that there had heretofore been no “great” female writers simply because women could not write well. In both style, structure, and content, her queer, feminist, and modernist writing was decades ahead of its time. So if you’ve worked your way through her novels and are looking for what to read next…

Here are eight books to read if you like Virginia Woolf.

Ulysses by James Joyce

One of the original pieces of modernist literature, Virginia Woolf read Ulysses and cites it as being her inspiration for writing Mrs. Dalloway! Both stories feature stream-of-consciousness and non-linear writing, taking place entirely during a single day

The Sound & The Fury by William Faulkner

William Faulkner took the modernist structure and style of the London-based Bloomsbury group, of which Virginia Woolf was a part, and superimposed it on the American South. This style that Virginia loved so much is incredibly fitting for a landscape steeped in history, memory, and trauma.

Swann’s Way by Marcel Proust

Proust was arguably the first to use this non-linear style to excavate the halls of memory. A novel of childhood, recollection, and coming of age, Proust’s beautiful writing and evocative imagery forged the path for Woolf, Joyce, Faulkner, and so many more.

A Vindication of the Rights of Woman by Mary Wollstonecraft

Before there was A Room of One’s Own there was Mary Wollstonecraft’s Vindication. In 1792 Wollstonecraft argued for women’s right to education, independence, and ownership of their lives and assets. The book was very well regarded in its time, until, of course, the public discovered it was written by a woman.

Maurice by E.M. Forster

A friend of Virginia’s and fellow member of the Bloomsbury group, E.M. Forester, like Virginia, explored queer love in both life and literature. Published posthumously, although written 60 years earlier, Maurice follows a young man’s profound sexual awakening.

The Hours by Michael Cunningham

This Pulitzer Prize-winning novel is a direct homage to Woolf’s Mrs. Dalloway and even features Virginia as a character, interweaving the lives of three women It interweaves the lives of three women to explore themes of mental health and identity.

Beloved by Toni Morrison

While Beloved utilizes the mystical and supernatural more than our dear Virginia was comfortable with, she would no doubt be proud and inspired by Morrison’s incredible exploration of character and her rich investigation of the lasting effects of trauma.

The Great Believers by Rebecca Makkai

Set in 1980s Chicago and 2015 Paris, Makkai expertly tracks how the AIDS epidemic ravished the gay community in the U.S. and the lasting impact of it decades later.