A Doll's House

hmm... which version?

I wish I had read Ibsen’s A Doll’s House in high school. And that I had the copy of that play with my notes in the margins. Or, a copy of a book report on it.

Even without the notes, though, I would remember my thoughts on that play many decades later. My experience of ages 10 through 20 is that the books I actually did read made a huge impression.

I say “actually did read” because I definitely wrote an Explication-de-Text (i.e. long book report) on Silas Marner. I remember that one, not because the content of the book is indelibly etched into my brain, but because I remember nothing about it. The misery of trying to get some meaning out of those sentences one miserable Thanksgiving holiday - that’s still easy to recall. I sat on a fluffy couch in my aunt’s sunroom next to one of her enormous and hairy golden retrievers. Those days were a little bit too grey and chilly to want to spend hours outside. Nowadays, that sounds like a perfect long weekend - a book, a warm body next to me on…