Tag Archives: Edith Wharton

Edith Wharton, “The Custom of the Country”

Posted on April 27, 2012 by

It took Jonathan Franzen to draw my attention to the symmetry among the titles of Edith Wharton’s three big New York society novels: The House of Mirth, The Custom of the Country, and The Age of Innocence.  Franzen also tries … Continue reading →

Posted in classic | Tagged , | 4 Comments

Beth Gutcheon, “Gossip”

Posted on March 15, 2012 by

Oh, heaven — a Beth Gutcheon novel narrated by a woman who runs a Madison Avenue boutique. I really don’t think there’s a writer working today who is as good on women’s clothes as Gutcheon: not just what they look … Continue reading →

Posted in contemporary fiction | Tagged , | 4 Comments

Edith Wharton, “Old New York”

Posted on January 20, 2012 by

When I was talking to Pat Ryan of the New York Times about this wonderful piece in that newspaper (commemorating Mrs. Wharton’s 150th birthday on January 24), I remembered Wharton’s marvelous series of novellas called Old New York, and realized I … Continue reading →

Posted in classic, literary fiction, Victoriana | Tagged , | 2 Comments

Amor Towles, “Rules of Civility”

Posted on September 2, 2011 by

I spend a lot of time thinking about story-telling, because that’s what I do for a living. My interest, retro though it increasingly seems, is pretty narrowly confined to the novel, as readers here know. As I’m reading, I’m also … Continue reading →

Posted in best seller, contemporary fiction | Tagged , , , | 5 Comments

Steve Martin, “An Object of Beauty”

Posted on June 5, 2011 by

An Object of Beauty should have been right up my alley — who wouldn’t like a fable about the contemporary art market? Complete with full-color reproductions of artworks and an ambitious girl heroine? Scenes of auctions, galleries, and art-buying jaunts to … Continue reading →

Posted in art history, contemporary fiction | Tagged , | 3 Comments

Daisy Goodwin, “The American Heiress”/”My Last Duchess”

Posted on March 27, 2011 by

The late-19th-century cultural phenomenon of American heiresses marrying into the English aristocracy has attracted literary attention from the moment it began: Henry James’s Portrait of a Lady was published in 1880, a mere six years after the foundational match between … Continue reading →

Posted in anglophilia, contemporary fiction, historical fiction | Tagged , , , | 13 Comments

Edith Wharton, “The Age of Innocence”

Posted on April 9, 2010 by

I went back to this to see how Wharton managed to write a novel about a doomed passion and thwarted sexual attraction without ever betraying the decorum in which the characters lived. And having read The Age of Innocence this … Continue reading →

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Guy de Maupassant, “Strong as Death”

Posted on February 6, 2010 by

Keen as I am on electronic reading, I do have faint reservations about this latest iteration. I downloaded the Eucalyptus app to my iPhone, then downloaded a couple of short Conrad novels that a friend had recommended. From there I … Continue reading →

Posted in classic, French | Tagged , , , , | 3 Comments

H.O. Sturgis, “Belchamber”

Posted on August 7, 2009 by

This is one in that marvelous series published by New York Review Books Classics, with lovely covers and interesting introductions, often obscure works that have been unjustly neglected. I was thrilled when I started reading: Sturgis, who was a friend … Continue reading →

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