Book Review | Book Chatter

Of Human Bondage Read Along

Hey there!! Some of you expressed an interest in joining me for a read-along of Of Human Bondage. I’ve never read it, but when I was in the hospital recovering I began to mentally make a list of the books that I’ve always wanted to read and Of Human Bondage was one of them, and some of you so kindly said that you’d join me!

I picked up this version of the book, Vintage ISBN9780593687680, but you can read any version. Most of them are about 700 pages but we will break it down by chapter so any version will do.

Details:

We will take the entire month of October to read it! (10/1-10/31)
Each Friday, beginning 10/4, I will post a check-in post.
This is a no pressure read along. Read what you can, but I will post a schedule below for those who need one.
If anyone is on X/Twitter, I will be using this hashtag #ofhumanbondagereadalong

Suggested Schedule:

Chapters below are numerical and in Roman numerals depending on what version you have it might be helpful. Page counts are listed as well.

Chapters I-IV / 1-4 (18 pp.)
Chapters V-IX / 5-9 (21 pp.)
Chapters X-XIV /10-14 (20 pp.)
Discuss the above by 10/4 here on the blog. (59 pages total)

Chapters XV-XXI / 15-21 (40 pp.)
Chapters XXII-XXXI / 22-31 (43 pp.)
Chapters XXXII-XXXV /32-35 (30 pp.)
Chapters XXXVI-XXXIX / 36-39 (22 pp.)
Discuss/Read the above by 10/11 (135 pages total)

Chapters XL-LI / 40-51 (82 pp.)
Chapters LII-LIII / 52-53 (13 pp.)
Chapters LIV-LV / 54-55 (12 pp.)
Chapters LVI-LXII / 56-62 (38 pp.)
Chapters LXIII-LXVIII / 63-68 (29 pp.)
Discuss/Read the above by 10/18 (174 pages total)

Chapters LXIX-LXXII / 69-72 (26 pp.)
Chapters LXXIII-LXXVIII / 73-78 (37 pp.)
Chapters LXXIX-LXXXVI / 79-86 (45 pp.)
Chapters LXXXVII-LXXXIX / 87-89 (19 pp.)
Chapters XC-XCVII / 90-97 (49 pp.)
Discuss/Read the above by 10/25 (176 pages total)

Chapters XCVIII-CII / 98-102 (23 pp.)
Chapters CIII-CIX / 103-109 (42 pp,)
Chapters CX-CXI / 110-111 (12 pp.)
Chapters CXII-CXXII / 112-122 (60 pp.)
Discuss/Read by Thursday 10/31! (137 pages total)

Sign-up here!

How the Light Gets In
By Joyce Maynard
William Morrow, 9780062398307. June 2025, 432 pp.

The Short of It:

Wow, wow, wow.

The Rest of It:

Following the death of her former husband, Cam, fifty-four-year-old Eleanor has moved back to the New Hampshire farm where they raised three children to care for their brain-injured son, Toby, now an adult. Toby’s older brother, Al, is married and living in Seattle with his wife; their sister, Ursula, lives in Vermont with her husband and two children. Although all appears stable, old resentments, anger, and bitterness simmer just beneath the surface. ~ Indiebound

How the Light Gets In is the follow-up to Maynard’s much loved Count the Ways. The family has grown, there are new losses to navigate. Eleanor is still Eleanor but still struggling with motherhood and marriage and what tragedy can do to a family.

In this story, it’s presented early on that Eleanor’s son Toby suffers a brain injury. Although Toby suffers in some ways, he thrives in others. He’s the most caring, loving individual and quite the qualified goat farmer. Eleanor is of course, very protective of him and that drives how she interacts with nearly everyone he meets.

This is a layered, family drama that spans the pandemic years and those very difficult election years so it is heavy in places. Maynard touches on sexual identity, infidelity, drug and alcohol use, the prevalence of school shootings, and political unrest. I feel that Maynard did her best to pack everything into this book, and by the time you turn that last page you will have been through it. It’s heavy and weighty.

There are some beautiful, quiet moments though. I think that is what most of us come to expect from Maynard and she does not disappoint.

Source: Borrowed
Disclosure: This post contains Indiebound affiliate links.

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