A Room of One's Own by Virginia Woolf

 "All I could do was to offer you an opin­ion upon one minor point—a woman must have money and a room of her own if she is to write fic­tion; and that, as you will see, leaves the great prob­lem of the true na­ture of woman and the true na­ture of fic­tion un­solved"

I know that Virginia Woolf is considered to be one of the most amazing authors and yet I find her almost impossible to read. Not because the sentiments here aren't spot on - they are. Sadly, women face many of the same issues today as when it was first published in 1929, many still struggle for financial independence, we grapple with inequity of earnings and the glass ceiling. That being said, I feel she could have got to the point in about half the number of pages and still conveyed the same message. Her meandering style never fails to drive this reader to distraction and long for a fast forward button - terrible to admit I know.

Money, freedom and education are necessary to facilitate women's voices to be heard and to record their view of history. There I've basically summarised the essay in a sentence. Throughout history circumstance and social convention have contributed to the empty shelves concerned with the history of women, and let's hope that has changed at least. For this at the very least, we should be grateful for Woolf's contribution.

For who could argue with making the most of the opportunities that have been so hard won for us?

As the author suggests, "A thou­sand pens are ready to sug­gest what you should do and what ef­fect you will have. My own sug­ges­tion is a lit­tle fan­tas­tic, I admit; I pre­fer, there­fore, to put it in the form of fic­tion" and as an avid reader myself, I can't help but agree.

5 out of 5 for the notions, despite the long path to get there.