So I read my first Virginia Woolf ever! ORLANDO is undoubtedly a strange one to start out with — it’s basically a fun love letter she wrote to her “close friend and lover” Vita Sackville-West. The book is full of personal references to Vita’s family and was never meant to take on the mantle it has today. But! ORLANDO has become a satirical, gender-bending, feminist classic nonetheless. Written in 1928, it really was a radical story about a man born in Elizabethan England who ages through about 300 years and changes gender along the way, ending the novel as a woman in 1928 United States. Honestly, aside from the conceit and moments of biting satire, I didn’t enjoy the read that much. I just couldn’t shake the sense that it wasn’t meant for me to read. But I do love that I read it so closely after PAUL TAKES THE FORM OF A MORTAL GIRL — because the two are now forever linked for me. I know this has been adapted into film more than once, and I’m intrigued to check out the Tilda Swinton movie. But otherwise I need some advice on what Woolf to try next time!