The list was cursory. I love "Pride and Prejudice", and I am very fond of "Barchester Towers". I have not read the Trollope you mention, though. I will take a look. Fielding is a bit shallow, I suppose, but I like both "Tom Jones" and "Joseph Andrews" so much, and they are suffused with a sort of worldly goodness that is very charming.
James is a bit uneven, in the sense of not necessarily very readable or enjoyable. However, among his short novels, "The Spoils of Poynton" is very good, and among his longer one's, both "The Ambassadors" and "The American" are particular favorites. "Daisy Miller" is not as good as the one's mentioned, and is therefore a let down. His later work, like "The Golden Bowl", is too obsessive about language and allusion to be readily enjoyed. "The Bostonians" is a fun read, as it sends up a lot of progressive types that are still recognizable, with clean satire, but it is not as profound as some of the others. Anyway, these are good places to start.
I might also mention Thackeray (Vanity Fair), Hardy (Jude the Obscure), Turgenev (Fathers and Sons), Stendahl (The Red and the Black), Lewis (Main Street), and Bellow (Herzog), among others..... |
