I recently watched the excellent mini-series adaptation of Howards End, and returned to the book, which I first read many years ago. I didn't really understand it then, having just come from the more straightforward romance of A Room with a View. This time around, I loved it. It is the story of two families; one independent and intellectual, and the other practical and conventional, and how they can connect. The setting is gorgeous; bustling London and flowering rural England, and the characters funny, frustrating, wild, insightful and affectionate, as they go on this journey towards really connecting.

E.M. Forster predicted the shape of the rise and fall of late modernism in a novel that bleeds impotent class consciousness and manages all the while to be engaging and wry without being glib

You know those books .. you thought you had read it but probably hadn't .. well I'm so pleased I was reminded to read this.
It has a lightness and flow of character, philosophy, social commentary, human reflection and more .. This is that period before the WWI and although there are hints of massive change pressing there is the ordinary stuff of life and death with characters spread across the cities and countryside of London and occasionally Germany and at the centre is a house .... well worth reading.

I'm not really sure what I think of this. Sometimes I loved it, sometimes it infuriated me ... especially dialogues on what women are/should be. Ugh ugh and ugh! There are a lot of moralistic and philosophical monologues by the narrator. Sometimes I liked them, sometimes they bored or annoyed me. I liked the two main characters and the contrast between their personalities. I did enjoy the plotlines when they weren't interrupted by monologues. All in all, I had a decent time. I listened to it on audible and it made for decent entertainment while watering flowers in the garden.

What a delightful first read of 2023. This books is more layered than an onion and I loved every dimension of it. A criticism of society and the individual in many aspects ( gender, norms, philosophy, class….)
A true masterpiece that has now joined my favorite classic shelf.

watching the miniseries streaming on Amazon Prime. it’s spectacular and i’m considering re-reading the novel.

gorgeous scenes. excellent script by Kenneth Lonergan and acting by Hayley Atwell, Matthew Macfadyen and Philippa Coulthard, Tracey Ullman

HIGHLY RECOMMEND this adaptation!

I'm not sure this should even get 3 stars but I know it doesn't deserve 2. Maybe the current events in the US (presidential election) have tainted my patience for the morals of the 19th century English wealthy but it seemed that there was too much drama over things that should have been inconsequential and not enough over the things that really matter. I love "A Room with a View" and maybe I'll try this one again when life as bit more normal (in 5 or 6 years???)