Howards End

Without giving anything away, this is from the ending.

“Margaret was silent. Something shook her life in its inmost recesses, and she shivered.

“I didn’t do wrong, did I?” he asked bending down.

“You didn’t, darling. Nothing has been done wrong.”

Oh, the understatement! Read this remarkable novel again with the epigraph, “only connect” firmly in mind.

Persuasion

It’s a love story that keeps you on the edge of your seat till the end. The Captain writes to our heroine Anne the best love letter of all time that includes this line:

“I can listen no longer in silence. I must speak to you by such means as are within my reach. You pierce my soul. I am half agony, half hope. Tell me not that I am too late, that such precious feelings are gone for ever.”

So are we, dear readers!

Stoner

I was reading Steve Almond’s book about writing, Truth is the Arrow, Mercy is the Bow, and on page 8 he said that Stoner was his favorite novel.

What? A book I’ve never heard of.

I put aside Almond’s book and read Stoner. And then I knew why. Stoner is a literary masterpiece. The story peels away the layers slowly like an onion, and I never wanted the story to be over.

It’s not fast paced. It’s literary and oh so good.