Poll

This poll is live. You can change votes, so use strategy if you'd like :-) .

My choice would be “Alice James: A Biography” by Jean Strouse, with an introduction by Colm Tóibín.

Ever since reading "The Master" by Colm Tóibín, based upon Henry James's known thoughts, experiences and writings, I have been fascinated by his sister, Alice, the youngest of the five James children, smothered and repressed by her family, encouraged to remain an invalid and unable to express herself. Henry wrote "in our family group girls scarcely seem to have had a chance."

Alice attended several private schools for girls, but her education was primarily about female "accomplishments." In Europe, she did not attend school, received instruction in French and math from a series of governesses. These studies were inconsistent and offered Alice little preparation for any sort of independent life away from the James family.

Alice James never married and lived with her parents until their deaths only months apart when she was 34. After their parent’s deaths Henry assumed responsibility for her, saw to her finances and health care. She had already suffered two major nervous and physical breakdowns, diagnosed as ‘hysteria,’ and which continued to recur. At that time, hysteria, considered a systemic nervous and physical collapse, occurred almost exclusively in leisured female patients. Today it is believed to be a result of the widespread suppression of women's energies and talents in the name of "femininity" and the Victorian period's expectations of ladylike conduct.

The reviews of Strouse’s book intrigue me to read more about this fascinating person.

I just bought The Mad and the Bad and I'd love to share ideas about it in Sept! Yay!

I, too, just bought a copy of The Mad and the Bad, and will read it in any case, in September, while on vacation. At 163 pages I should be able to start and finish it on the plane, which is how I like to read books -- in one sitting, if possible.
J

Used to do all my reading on the Broadway # 104 bus. Alas, now I have to sit in an easy chair. Prefer moving vehicles! Have learned that I can read 800 pages on a train from coast to coast and back. That's in the U.S. Wonderful to read for three days and nights on Amtrak and then again on the way home.

Agree. A lot of my reading is done on the train on my way to and from work. I've never been so absorbed that I missed my stop, but I've come very close to doing so!

Trevor,
Finally looked up your poll books and was surprised to learn that they are not current. Thank you for introducing me to these classics. "A High Wind in Jamaica" appeals to me, although still doesn't get my first vote, and has been added to my book pile—which grows and grows, like Pinocchio's nose!

I'm thrilled that you're with us, Alice -- and for the rest of you as well! I did want to tell you that, though it looks like the group won't choose the Alice James biography that it is one of my favorite NYRB Classics title (currently number 6 on my top ten here). I highly recommend it! And all thanks to NYRB Classics for bringing these books to us :-) .

Also, I would like to note that the two top books are neck-and-neck -- if any of you voting for the bottom books want to change your vote to support one of the top two, you can!

My book pile grows and grows. I don't seem to make a dent. California lifestyle is definitely not as conducive to reading, as it was in New York, where I always had a book with me and seemed always to be waiting. Waiting for a bus, waiting for a friend, waiting for a doctor. California is drive here, drive there. The books remain on the table next to the chair with the ottoman that I put there just for reading.

I will add 'A High Wind in Jamaica' particularly because I just finished a disturbing and beautifully written first novel 'Falling to Earth' by Katie Southwood, about a 1926 tornado that demolishes a town in Illinois, leaving only the Graves family intact, which left me much to consider about how we treat one another.

Ah, I hear you with the difference in East and West. A couple of years ago I moved west from New York, where I'd been working for six years, finishing books left and right because of long train journeys and long lines :-) . Like you, I now drive where I need to go (which is why I got into podcasting), but getting through the books is much more difficult! Good luck!