Carla Remy’s review of The Reef > Likes and Comments
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Couldn't agree more on Wharton, Carla - Julian Barnes wrote a lovely and insightful essay on this novel in his collection Through the Window: Seventeen Essays - he is also a fan of Wharton. Thanks a lot for reminding me of 'The Reef', I look forward to read it too.
I recently read her Summer, Ilse, and it made me sad. So good. I read the Reef here in 2013, in one of the Wharton Library of America books. Interesting about Barnes discussing this novel.
I've not heard of The Reef either. I read Custom of the Country a few years ago and it's still one of my favorite books. I recently found a copy of Twilight Sleep by Wharton published in 1927. It looks interesting.
Cool, Kurt. Some of those old books have really good paper. The House of Mirth is one by Wharton I’ve read twice (in my 20s and 30s,so ages ago). It is about a social climber. Says so much about its time and also seems so ahead of it.
I realize you didn’t say the book was that old, Kurt. I know you like old books so maybe I made an assumption. I have this book I got at the Goodwill for $2 from 1901 or something. Trilby by George DuMaurier (Daphne’s grandpa). It’s HC and the outside looks its age, but the inside is great and the paper is so much thicker and glossier than anything I’ve seen from the later 20th century. I have not read Trilby but it is where the name/term Svengali comes from.
That sounds like a cool book! I've not read Trilby either. I knew what you meant with my book. Nope it's just a normal regular trade paperback of Twilight Sleep. Apparently it wasn't as much loved by critics as her earlier classics. I'm still looking forward to reading it. She was friends with Henry James who, while I like his books, seems to chase his own tail a lot while Wharton keeps the momentum going in her books.
Agreed, re Henry James. I always want to love him. Wharton is better. I have Twilight Sleep on Kindle. And Trilby.
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May 05, 2026 05:09AM
Couldn't agree more on Wharton, Carla - Julian Barnes wrote a lovely and insightful essay on this novel in his collection Through the Window: Seventeen Essays - he is also a fan of Wharton. Thanks a lot for reminding me of 'The Reef', I look forward to read it too.
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I recently read her Summer, Ilse, and it made me sad. So good. I read the Reef here in 2013, in one of the Wharton Library of America books. Interesting about Barnes discussing this novel.
I've not heard of The Reef either. I read Custom of the Country a few years ago and it's still one of my favorite books. I recently found a copy of Twilight Sleep by Wharton published in 1927. It looks interesting.
Cool, Kurt. Some of those old books have really good paper. The House of Mirth is one by Wharton I’ve read twice (in my 20s and 30s,so ages ago). It is about a social climber. Says so much about its time and also seems so ahead of it.
I realize you didn’t say the book was that old, Kurt. I know you like old books so maybe I made an assumption. I have this book I got at the Goodwill for $2 from 1901 or something. Trilby by George DuMaurier (Daphne’s grandpa). It’s HC and the outside looks its age, but the inside is great and the paper is so much thicker and glossier than anything I’ve seen from the later 20th century. I have not read Trilby but it is where the name/term Svengali comes from.
That sounds like a cool book! I've not read Trilby either. I knew what you meant with my book. Nope it's just a normal regular trade paperback of Twilight Sleep. Apparently it wasn't as much loved by critics as her earlier classics. I'm still looking forward to reading it. She was friends with Henry James who, while I like his books, seems to chase his own tail a lot while Wharton keeps the momentum going in her books.
Agreed, re Henry James. I always want to love him. Wharton is better. I have Twilight Sleep on Kindle. And Trilby.
