Where Angels Fear to Tread (1905)
The Longest Journey (1907)
A Room with a View (1908)
Howards End (1910)
A Passage to India (1924)
Maurice (written in 1913–14, published posthumously in 1971)
Prior to A Room with a View, I had only read A Passage to India which I loved.
Here is the Context Section from SparkNotes on A Room with a View if you like just a bit of time/place/background on your authors like I do.
I suspect that if I had read this book directly after Catch 22, I would have liked it more. Room with a View would have been like a breath of fresh air. I would have enjoyed it more.
The way that my book schedule stacked up, I read Room with a View directly after Emma. Maybe it sort of paled in comparison. Maybe the two books are too much alike and i got tired of it. For whatever reason, A Room with a View was just okay in my mind.
Middle and my husband read Room with a View also. And neither was a big fan.
I am not sure if it is too simple. Or too much a sort of convoluted romance or what. There aren't any heaving bosoms or bare chested men, it is not a modern romance novel.
Wikipedia noted:
A Room with a View is a 1908 novel by English writer E. M. Forster, about a young woman in the repressed culture of Edwardian era England. Set in Italy and England, the story is both a romance and a critique of English society at the beginning of the 20th century.That is a very accurate way of explaining it.
If you are wondering about the Edwardian Era (like I did), Wikipedia goes on to write:
The Edwardian era or Edwardian period in the United Kingdom is the period covering the reign of King Edward VII, 1901 to 1910.
The death of Queen Victoria in January 1901 and the succession of her son Edward marked the end of the Victorian era. While Victoria had shunned society, Edward was the leader of a fashionable elite that set a style influenced by the art and fashions of Continental Europe—perhaps because of the King's fondness for travel. The era was marked by significant shifts in politics as sections of society that had been largely excluded from wielding power in the past, such as common labourers and women, became increasingly politicised.[1]
The Edwardian period is sometimes extended beyond Edward's death in 1910 to include the years up to the sinking of the RMS Titanic in 1912, the start of World War I in 1914, the end of hostilities with Germany in 1918, or the signing of the Treaty of Versailles in 1919.
When my group met to discuss this group, pretty much everyone had ambivalent feelings. The vast majority of the group had read the book. Almost no one hated it. But, no one thought it was the best read of our year. A couple people had been unable to get past the first section. This first part, like many English Author books, sort of sets up the rest of the book. We all agreed that the first part was just sort of "to be gotten through" by all.
The more we discussed A Room with a View, the more I came to appreciate it.
