Well we all know about Mr Dickens and his birthday this year, but we must not let him overshadow everything. Edith Wharton was born on this day 150 years ago and is, in my opinion, one of America's greatest writers. I came across her quite by chance one day when my local library was having a book sale must be twenty years ago now, and there were two volumes of her short stories on sale. Bit dubious, you know how I am with short stories, but picked one up started to read and that was that, knew I had to have them. So hied me home with these two books which put me back all of 20p and that was it, I was off. True to form I then read everything by this author that I could lay my hands on.
I know many readers think that The Age of Innocence is her masterpiece but for me, it is The House of Mirth. I first read this when I was on holiday with my husband and daughters many years ago, probably about 17 years now, and I had packed my suitcase with as many books as I could carry (no Kindle then) and this title was one of them. I remember reading it with growing intensity and horror and the final few chapters were spent by me sitting on my hotel balcony overlooking a lemon grove on the hills just outside Sorrento in that quiet hour just before dinner. I came to the end with an awful feeling of dread creeping over me and ended up having to do my eye make up all over again as I was reduced to floods of tears by the last page. It is her most heartfelt and moving book, for me at any rate.
Rather surprisingly, well I found it so, she also wrote some deliciously creepy ghost stories and I defy you to read them without a shiver down the spine. I mentioned a couple here.
I read her biography by Hermione Lee reviewed here, and, as I said in this post cannot imagine that another one will ever need to be written as this says it all. Found it difficult at first, had actually given up on it at one stage, but then went back and so glad I did.
Various events seem to be taking place to celebrate
http://www.edithwharton.org/events-detail.php?record=95
but nothing much over here – presumably we are all organising Do's for Dickens.
I have all her books on my shelves and keep looking at them longingly promising msyelf that one day I will re-read them (perhaps with the exception of Ethan Frome, wonderful though it is, as it always leaves me feeling so depressed and filled with the desire to put my head in the gas oven – am all electric thank heavens) and I really really want to. At the moment, however, I have just finished Great Expectations, have a group read of Martin Chuzzlewith to hand, want to re-read Hard Times and also have Dicken's letters (of which more later) on the go, and I simply have not got the time to do it all. I do wish these authors wouldn't have birthdays………
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