Reading it for the first time; I've just read the very first bit, in which she recounts her earliest memory. I'm discovering all over again the wonderful combination of wisdom and elegance in her writing. In places she is rather mysterious; I don't know if it is because of reticence, or just that she is teasing the reader with a reference to things that will be described in depth later. I'm thinking of the passage where she says of her father "he was always so far ahead". She's just finished describing an episode in which he was literally ahead of her on a garden path, but here she's clearly using that metaphorically and I don't really know what she means.
Glad you are enjoying it Lewis! She was always in awe of her father, and here she means it in a spiritual way. She and her mother both thought of Henry Goudge as being much closer to a "saint" than they were themselves. She tends to be very hard on herself and the child she was as she goes on, so she thought of him as further down the path to real goodness/saintliness. She is being very sincere and direct when she speaks about her own life, so I would take things at face value, so to speak.
Yes, I've already noticed how self-critical she is. I can't help wondering how much of that is due to accurate self-observation, and how much is just humility.
This is a first-time read for me, and I'm loving it. I just read the part where she was made to give away her presents at Christmastime and immediately thought of Henrietta doing the same. Which book is that in? They all blend together in my mind, in a good way. :)
Glad you are enjoying it! That is in A City of Bells with Grandfather - after the Christmas party I believe. I keep writing the names of all of the books she is reminding me of in the margins and she really covers quite a few on each page! Fun to hunt them all out. :)
Reading it for the first time; I've just read the very first bit, in which she recounts her earliest memory. I'm discovering all over again the wonderful combination of wisdom and elegance in her writing. In places she is rather mysterious; I don't know if it is because of reticence, or just that she is teasing the reader with a reference to things that will be described in depth later. I'm thinking of the passage where she says of her father "he was always so far ahead". She's just finished describing an episode in which he was literally ahead of her on a garden path, but here she's clearly using that metaphorically and I don't really know what she means.
Glad you are enjoying it Lewis! She was always in awe of her father, and here she means it in a spiritual way. She and her mother both thought of Henry Goudge as being much closer to a "saint" than they were themselves. She tends to be very hard on herself and the child she was as she goes on, so she thought of him as further down the path to real goodness/saintliness. She is being very sincere and direct when she speaks about her own life, so I would take things at face value, so to speak.
Yes, I've already noticed how self-critical she is. I can't help wondering how much of that is due to accurate self-observation, and how much is just humility.
This is a first-time read for me, and I'm loving it. I just read the part where she was made to give away her presents at Christmastime and immediately thought of Henrietta doing the same. Which book is that in? They all blend together in my mind, in a good way. :)
Glad you are enjoying it! That is in A City of Bells with Grandfather - after the Christmas party I believe. I keep writing the names of all of the books she is reminding me of in the margins and she really covers quite a few on each page! Fun to hunt them all out. :)