Virginia Woolf On Reading the Original

I found this interesting quote in Common Reader I,

“The temptation to read Pope on Addison, Macaulay on Addison, Thackeray on Addison, Johnson on Addison rather than Addison himself is to be resisted, for you will find, if you study the Tatler and the Spectator, glance at Cato, and run through the remainder of the six moderate-sized volumes, that Addison is neither Pope’s Addison nor anybody else’s Addison, but a separate, independent individual still capable of casting a clear-cut shape of himself upon the consciousness, turbulent and distracted as it is, of nineteen hundred and nineteen”.

I agree with her. It is always best to read the primary source to get a clear view of what exactly the writer is saying.

DK

Boy Eats Universe

Boy Eats Universe is a unique book. Telling the life story of a young boy, Eli,  in a dysfunctional South Brisbane  suburb it grips your attention from the first page.

Mum is in prison, Dad is gone, stepfather is a drug runner and brother doesn’t talk.

Despite the frequent drug references this book is a gritty and ultimately positive story of life outside of the norm.

This is a first novel by author, Trent Dalton, and it is loosely based on his own life.