Washington Square(1880) by Henry James

 1,001 Novels: A Library of America

Washington Square (1880)

by Henry James

Washington Square, Greenwich Village, NYC

Manhattan: 31/33

New York: 83/105

     It has been a decade since I last seriously read Henry James- 2013, to be specific, when I read What Maisie Knew, The Portrait of a Lady and Turn of the Screw- as part of the 1,001 Books to Read Before You Die project.  I followed that up with The Bostonians in 2020 but somehow missed Washington Square.  I'm not surprised that 1,001 Novels editor Susan Straight picked this book and the editors of the 1,001 Novels to Read Before You Die project skipped it because it was generally considered his biggest hit by the reading public and James himself didn't like it because it was too straight-forward.

  I listened to the Audiobook and I enjoyed listening to James more than I enjoyed reading him, though I did see that back in 2013 I thought he was a real breath of fresh air after slogging through the literature of mid 19th century England.  And once again, it seemed shocking that Washington Square was written in 1880, not 1925.