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Henry James - Dustie - 10-27-2009
Has anyone read a lot of Henry James works? Its easy to find a lot of info on his books, but I can't find anything saying "start with this" or "if you have time for only one book, read this one."
Any suggestions?
Re: Henry James - Jakensama - 10-27-2009
I read Washington Square back in college for some class or another, it was like a male version of Jane Austen. If you aren't a big Pride and Prejudice fan, avoid that one. If you are a big Pride and Prejudice fan, go ahead and start wearing dresses...
Portrait of a Lady is the other one people read alot, but I never did. AFAIK its considered his 'masterpiece' so that would probably be worth looking into if you really feel the need for 19th century realism.
Re: Henry James - Snowreap - 10-27-2009
I've never read Pride and Prejudice, but Pride and Prejudice and Zombies was an excellent read. we do also have Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters, but I haven't read it yet.
so if you haven't read P&P&Z yet, that would be a good start. if you then imagine the book without the zombies, you might get an idea of what to expect from Washington Square.
I haven't read any Henry James books myself, fwiw.
-ken
Re: Henry James - Dustie - 10-27-2009
Jakensama Wrote:Portrait of a Lady is the other one people read alot, but I never did. AFAIK its considered his 'masterpiece' so that would probably be worth looking into if you really feel the need for 19th century realism.
Ok, I was getting an impression that Portrait of a Lady was the place to start. Good, thanks.
lol Snow, I'll have to do the P&P zombies next.
Re: Henry James - Grieve - 10-27-2009
I've seen the BBC adaptations of Portrait of a Lady and The Bostonians, if that counts. I think Portrait of a Lady is one of those books I started reading and never finished, which also includes Ulysses (which I started reading on the plane as I emigrated to the US) and Dostoyevsky's Crime and Punishment. I'm going to have to dig those out one of these days...
Re: Henry James - Jakensama - 10-27-2009
Crime and Punishment isn't bad but Ulysses... Ugh... Joyce.. The only thing worse than Ulysses was Gravity's Rainbow.
Re: Henry James - Dustie - 10-27-2009
Grieve Wrote:I've seen the BBC adaptations of Portrait of a Lady and The Bostonians, if that counts. I think Portrait of a Lady is one of those books I started reading and never finished, which also includes Ulysses (which I started reading on the plane as I emigrated to the US) and Dostoyevsky's Crime and Punishment. I'm going to have to dig those out one of these days...
Check http://www.gutenberg.org/wiki/Main_Page if you can't find them. You can legally download the text to a lot of these there.
Re: Henry James - Dustie - 10-27-2009
Jakensama Wrote:Crime and Punishment isn't bad but Ulysses... Ugh... Joyce.. The only thing worse than Ulysses was Gravity's Rainbow.
So what are you favorites in terms of non-fantasy?
Re: Henry James - Jakensama - 10-27-2009
Any Milan Kundera (Unbearable Lightness of Being and Farewell Waltz the best), Confederacy of Dunces is probably the funniest book ever written, The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen, Heart of Darkness, Sometimes a Great Notion by Kesey, Pillars of the Earth by Follet, Cormac McCarthy's stuff is solid, I'm a big Hemingway fan as well.
Thats just off the top of my head, right now I'm reading The Yiddish Policeman's Union (which is an interesting Alternate History murder mystery novel if the state of Israel failed and a Jewish refugee camp had been established in Alaska) by Michael Chabon and a book called The People's Act of Love by James Meek which is a really good novel that takes place in the Russian/Czech border after the 2nd world war.
You go through a lot of reading when you ride public transportation to and from work every day.
Re: Henry James - Dustie - 10-27-2009
I wish I could read during my commute but I need to drive so I'm stuck with audio books and Modern Scholar type collections.
After a few James, I think I'm going to hit all of Hemingway. After seeing his Key West place with the "catwalk office" separate from the house I decided I better read everything of his (to see if he has any more great ideas).
Re: Henry James - Jakensama - 10-27-2009
Pick up Confederacy of Dunces sometime on audiobook, that version isn't bad and it really is a fucking hilarious novel.
Re: Henry James - Dustie - 10-27-2009
Jakensama Wrote:Pick up Confederacy of Dunces sometime on audiobook, that version isn't bad and it really is a fucking hilarious novel.
roger roger
Re: Henry James - Grieve - 10-27-2009
Depends on how loose your definition of non-Fantasy is, but some good ones are To Kill a Mockingbird (my most recent book on tape), Brave New World, 1984, Animal Farm, Heart of Darkness, On The Beach, The Catcher in the Rye, On The Road, All Quiet on the Western Front, The Grapes of Wrath, Of Mice and Men, War and Peace, Don Quixote, Price and Prejudice (with or without zombies), Frankenstein, Dracula, Our Mutual Friend, Equus, etc, etc.
I wish I still had the time to read like I did when I was young...
Re: Henry James - Dustie - 10-27-2009
Grieve Wrote:Depends on how loose your definition of non-Fantasy is, but some good ones are To Kill a Mockingbird (my most recent book on tape), Brave New World, 1984, Animal Farm, Heart of Darkness, On The Beach, The Catcher in the Rye, On The Road, All Quiet on the Western Front, The Grapes of Wrath, Of Mice and Men, War and Peace, Don Quixote, Price and Prejudice (with or without zombies), Frankenstein, Dracula, Our Mutual Friend, Equus, etc, etc.
I wish I still had the time to read like I did when I was young...
The first half of your list looks like my high school summer reading lists so I've read most of those. I never did read War and Peace though, or any of the last 5 books in your list. I'll add those to my list, except for Equus -- is that about horse lovers?
Re: Henry James - Jakensama - 10-27-2009
Its a play from the 70s. Its the one that was in the news because they did a version of it in London and the kid who played harry potter did one scene of it where hes naked when he was 17.
Re: Henry James - Dustie - 10-27-2009
Jakensama Wrote:Its a play from the 70s. Its the one that was in the news because they did a version of it in London and the kid who played harry potter did one scene of it where hes naked when he was 17.
that explains why Greive likes it
Re: Henry James - Grieve - 10-27-2009
Dustie Wrote:You mean that explains why I listed it as something you would enjoy.Jakensama Wrote:Its a play from the 70s. Its the one that was in the news because they did a version of it in London and the kid who played harry potter did one scene of it where hes naked when he was 17.
that explains why Greive likes it
Actually I've never seen the play performed, but the book form reads very well. I studied it as part of my English Literature A Level, back when I was going to be an English major instead of getting sucked into the evil world of computers. It made a big impression on me, even made me want to be psychologist for a while.
I don't remember if we had high school summer reading lists, but if we did, I never read any of the books. Screw that, I'll pick my own books on my summer vacation!
Re: Henry James - Dustie - 10-27-2009
Yeah, I always thought summer reading corrupted the unbridled freedom of summer.
Re: Henry James - Slamz - 10-27-2009
Jakensama Wrote:Pick up Confederacy of Dunces sometime on audiobook, that version isn't bad and it really is a fucking hilarious novel.I'm not a huge fan of that one. It had its moments but I kept waiting for the story to develop and it never did. I guess that's what they call "character driven" (that is, there is no overall plan to the story, it's really not going anywhere, it's just following the life of this character).
Re: Henry James - Jakensama - 10-28-2009
Its pretty much Don Quixote in New Orleans. Figured you would have enjoyed the mockery of a character who was over-educated in superfluous and esoteric subjects.