Boxall's 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die discussion

Starting to look at the Henry James titles on the list. Would love to see people's comments on this author in general and regarding specific titles.

The Golden Bowl (removed from the 2006 list)
The Ambassadors
The Wings of the Dove
The Turn of the Screw (removed from the 2006 list)
What Maisie Knew
The Portrait of a Lady

I haven't had much luck or success with James, but did like Portrait of a Lady when I read it. However, that was a long time ago so I'm not sure if I would still like it. Turn of the Screw was okay, but again, read it too long ago to say for sure. I've tried the other books but had no success at all, and gave them up before I got too far.

Which is a shame - I love Edith Wharton, and they were especially close. I thought I'd enjoy his writing as much as hers, but they were very different writers.

I've only read The Portrait of a Lady, but found it rewarding. I'm unsure of how his style evolved, but there were points when I would open the book and think, "My God, these paragraphs are over a page long!" Although at times it felt like a slog, I am better for having met Isabel, Ralph, and Osmond.

I've just recently read The Turn of the Screw, and I have to say I was really disappointed with it, didn't realise it had been removed from the 2006 list. I also have The Ambassadors sitting on my shelf and I'm a little bit daunted by it now! (It's much bigger than The Turn of the Screw!)

Elizabeth (Alaska) wrote: "Starting to look at the Henry James titles on the list. Would love to see people's comments on this author in general and regarding specific titles.

The Golden Bowl (removed from the 2006 list)
Th..."

Why on earth is "The Turn of the Screw" had been removed!? It's one of my favourites and one of the best psychological thrillers specially from the Victorian era!

As for other novels of H. James, I'm yet to read.

I'm a big fan of Henry James, but I understand why he isn't for everybody. He writes in a very circuitous way which can be a challenge for the reader, but which totally fits the reserved aristocratic Victorians he portrays. What James' characters avoid talking about can be more important than what is stated outright.

His earlier books are generally less work for the reader, and may be a more gentle introduction to his writing style. I tend to prefer his later books for their subtlety and complexity, and The Wings of the Dove, The Ambassadors, and The Golden Bowl are generally seen to be his best books. Of the three, I think TWotD has a more typical marriage plot which makes it easier to read and enjoy than the other two.

I also recommend Colm Toibin's The Master, a fictionalized account of James' life which gives a lot of insight into his books as well as his life.

In the What List Book Did You Just Finish? thread, Elizabeth (Alaska) wrote: "I have read only one James title: Daisy Miller, which I gave 3 stars. I just looked at my review, in which I say that I look forward to reading more James. What is it that you find so ..."

I think I've given an impression of a greater level of DISlike for James than I really feel. Perhaps its more that I fail to really LIKE his work. On the other hand of the 4 I've read, I've given a 2*, two 3* and a 4* rating.

My James delvings so far are:

** Portrait of a Lady, 1881, 600p
*** What Maisie Knew, 1897, ~250p
**** The Turn of A Screw, 1898, ~200p
*** The Ambassadors, 1903, ~500p

In my review of WMK, I said "The worst thing about this book, is James' interminable convoluted sentences, which are incredibly annoying." In the Ambassadors the same sentence style didn't drive me as crazy, but I did note in my review that - although it seemed to 'fit' the period - it can be difficult.

A like or dislike for the characters also affected my enjoyment. POAL dragged for me because (from my review) there are few characters to like in this story. Perhaps it is the characters themselves, perhaps it is the author's 'disinterested' way of presenting them, but we just don't feel anything for these people. It's like watching a movie without the music soundtrack to pluck our heartstrings. And TA got a higher rating from me, because, despite the style being more difficult, I liked the main character.

Again from reading about James work overall, it sounds like the difficult sentence structure is something that developed mainly in his novels, and mainly later on. From Wikipedia, because its said so well: ...he increasingly abandoned direct statement in favour of frequent double negatives, and complex descriptive imagery. Single paragraphs began to run for page after page, in which an initial noun would be succeeded by pronouns surrounded by clouds of adjectives and prepositional clauses, far from their original referents, and verbs would be deferred and then preceded by a series of adverbs. ... It has been debated whether this change of style was engendered by James' shifting from writing to dictating to a typist, a change made during the composition of What Maisie Knew. His friend Edith Wharton, who admired him greatly, said that there were passages in his work that were all but incomprehensible.

On the other hand, there IS something fun/challenging/interesting about deciphering some of this. Reminds me of picking my way through a difficult classical piano piece for the first time, trying to feel and understand the phrasing.

And I would like to point out that as character studies there is a lot here that is very sophisticated. So I definitely appreciate this work, don't feel that it is wasted time in any way, and am not daunted about the two long list titles that remain for me.

However, for off list reading, I think I may prefer his short stories and novellas. From Wikipedia: James was particularly interested in what he called the "beautiful and blest nouvelle", or the longer form of short narrative. Still, he produced a number of very short stories in which he achieved notable compression of sometimes complex subjects.

Thank you, Stephanie, for taking the time for my question. Sentence structure *can* be quite annoying! We'll see how I go with one of these, still not sure where I might start.

Henry James "stars" in The Fifth Heart by Dan Simmons

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/tom-ald...