The 1700-1939 Book Club! discussion

This is where the author discussion on Edith Wharton will be held.

I have added a link to wikipedia for now:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edith_Wh...

I just love Edith Wharton! I've read The Age of Innocence and The House of Mirth and loved them both! Her view on New york society is just brilliant!
A couple of years ago, I read Ethan Frome which really disappointed me. I've been wondering if I even understood it. I can't really remember what it was about.
I'm now reading The Custom of the Country for our group read, and I really like this one!

Next to poetry and Victorian classics, I must say, I enjoy Russian and American literature a lot and I love the selection of authors in the group shelves and have read at least one book of most of them but I’ve never read Edith Wharton before.

I did watch, however, The House of Mirth’s 2000 film version. I thought it was really good but since I’ve not read the book, I can’t do a side-by-side comparison. I look forward to join, whenever I can, in the group reading.

I have not read Ethan Frome yet. Edith Wharton is a wonderful author. I have a book with her ghost stories and can not wait to read them!

Amalie, I am glad you like the bookshelf and hope you have some great novels to nominate!

I watched the movie the The Buccaneers by Wharton and now I want to read the book. It was left unfinished and finished by Marion Mainwaring.

Jamie wrote: "I watched the movie the The Buccaneers by Wharton and now I want to read the book. It was left unfinished and finished by Marion Mainwaring."

That could be a great group read for our group some day! Would love to read it. Did the movie have any similarities to The Custom of the Country?

Yes, there are four American girls who try to make it in England. They have the money but are not really accepted in New York society. They go abroad for entertainment and the possibility of husbands and titles. Good and bad follows.

All the books I have read by Wharton seem to be about social climbing and social standards. The main characters seem unable to obtain happiness or deny themselves of it to make others happy.

Free e-books by Wharton:

http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/searc...

http://ebooks.adelaide.edu.au/w/whart...

very cool, thanks!

While searching for fashion books for my Fashion Book Lovers! group I came across Edith Wharton and the Making of Fashion by Katherine Joslin! I have read three Wharton novels and have a few on my TBR list. I feel like this would be a great book to read to help with the visual aspects of a Wharton novel!



Edith Wharton and the Making of Fashion places the iconic New York figure and her writing in the context of fashion history and shows how dress lies at the very center of her thinking about art and culture. The study traces American patronage of the Paris couture houses from Worth and Doucet through Poiret and Chanel and places Wharton's characters in these establishments and garments to offer fresh readings of her well-known novels. Less known are Wharton's knowledge of and involvement in the craft of garment making in her tales of seamstresses, milliners, and textile workers, as well as in her creation of workshops in Paris during the First World War to employ Belgian and French seamstresses and promote the value of handmade garments in a world given to machine-driven uniformity of design and labor. Pointing the way toward further research and inquiry, Katherine Joslin has produced a truly interdisciplinary work that combines the best of literary criticism with an infectious love and appreciation of material culture.

Wharton wrote these two non-fiction design books:
The Decoration of Houses
Italian Villas and Their Gardens

We are now reading our third book from Wharton :) What is your favorite thing about her writing style? What book of Wharton's is your favorite?

Gitte wrote: "I just love Edith Wharton! I've read The Age of Innocence and The House of Mirth and loved them both! Her view on New york society is just brilliant!
A couple of years ago, I read Ethan Frome which..."

Gitte the same for me. I read Ethan Frome years ago. Maybe I was too young. But I loved the ones you did.

I love her commentary on wealth, society and gender roles.

Yes I do too!

I really liked The House Of Mirth.

Emiliy wrote: "I really liked The House Of Mirth."

Yes! I do too.