Best Leg of the Marathon

She felt somehow very like him--the young man who had killed himself. She felt glad he had done it; thrown it away. The clock was striking. The leaden circles dissolved in the air. He made her feel the beauty; made her feel the fun. But she must go back. She must assemble. She must find Sally and Peter. And she came in from the little room. 

Had I made it to the Kelly Writers House for yesterday's marathon reading of Mrs. Dalloway in time for my assigned 5:50 slot, I would've gotten one of the many exquisite party passages, but not the party passage, which came to me at 6:10. As it was, I had to fidget a little too noticeable as the woman before me pressed beyond her 10-minute slot to say, "Oh! thought Clarissa, in the middle of my party, here's death, she thought," clearly knowing the treasure that lay ahead -- the climax of the entire book. But thanks to Max McKenna and the good people of the KWH, I got to pick up with the Bradshaws, and what business they had to talk of death at Clarissa's party, and it really was the perfect way to end the week. 

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