Friday, May 11, 2012

Book 144: A Passage to India and Book Stats.

Title: A Passage to India
Author: E.M. Forster (1879-1970)

First Published: 1924
My Edition: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (seen at left)
Pages:368

Other Works Include: A Room with a View, Howard's End, Where Angels Fear to Tread, The Longest Journey, Maurice

My first and only other experience with E.M. Forster took place when I read book #3 on my list, A Room with a View. I was blown away by the story and the writing, so I have been anxious to read the only other title by Forster on my 250 project list.

Well folks, the time has come. For some reason, I had the hardest time locating a copy of A Passage to India. It was one of the books I always looked for at the book store, but I never could get my hands on a copy. Instead, I had slowly collected his other works, so I have them ready for future reading. Then, magically, there was a huge stack of this one on a display table, so I snatched up a pretty one and have been waiting to read it ever since.

I think it is about time I get on that, so reading my second work by Forster is talking place right now. I'm not going to lie, I already started it, but I'm anxious to get a little deeper. It seems like an interesting work, and I like that it takes place in India-a far cry from the settings and locales in A Room with a View. I think it'll be a good comparison! I'm also hoping it'll help me tackle Kim, which I started last year and never got into (I often find that books with similar locales, themes, or in the same time period connect together in a way to help me get through ones I'm not that big a fan of).

If you're curious, here are a couple of my posts on A Room with a View. I am somewhat embarassed to link them, since they were at the very beginning of this project, but, who cares, right? :)
Thoughts on Forster? Love him, hate him? Plan to read any of his work?

14 comments:

  1. I loved Howards End and Room with a View is one of my all-time favorites, but I just couldn't get excited about this one. I haven't read Maurice (seen the movie) and I vaguely remember Where Angels Fear to Tread. I should give it another try. I know Passage to India is supposed to be his "best" work (or maybe just most important) but I don't see it.

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  2. I love Forster! Howards End is my favorite, followed closely by A Room with a View. I also enjoyed Where Angels Fear to Tread. Sorry to say A Passage to India didn't do much for me...

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  3. I have A Passage to India but I've never read it, and I think I might have A Room With A View too... I'm excited to hear what you think about A Passage to India, and I think I'm going to go and look at your Room With A View posts too to see if I can be convinced to read it hehe

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  4. EM Forster and I have a troubled relationship. I really want to love his books, and I suspect that one day I will. Right now, when I read them, I can't hear his voice. I know it's there, but I can't hear it! So the books fall flat for me. I know that as soon as I figure out how to read his books, I will love them. Does that sound stupid? Voice is so important in these things. I did love The Machine Stops (his sci-fi novella).

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  5. I like Forster a good deal. I think the first thing of his I read was actually non-fiction: his lectures on literature, Aspects of the Novel. It may have colored my perception of his fiction afterwards. In any case, when I first read A Passage to India, I wasn't terribly impressed. I reread it last year and wow, had I missed a ton of details and subtext. I really liked it a lot at my second reading. I also find it much richer than A Room with a View (and I do like A Room with a View).

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  6. I seem to be reverse of most people I really enjoyed A Passage to India, but didn't care for A Room with a View. Howard's End was also really good.

    I really enjoyed the locale of Passage and the politics and racial issues that the story explores.

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  7. I finished Howards End last night and I absolutely loved it....my favourite Forster now although I haven't read them all. A Passage to India being one which I must read very soon.

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  8. You were awesome in the beginning of your project and you are awesome now, so no worries about linking. :)

    I've only read A Room with a View too. I think I have another on the shelves some where...

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  9. i have always wanted to read a passage to india but never took the time to sit down and DO IT! I even signed up with Book Drum to help out on creating the secondary info for the book...now i've simply got to find my own copy AND READ IT! Thanks for the reminder!

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  10. A Room With A View has already been in my reading list, thanks to your review in this blog!

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  11. I agree with Karen - I love A Room with a View, but just didn't enjoy A Passage to India. I want to reread it soon. I read it my freshman or sophomore year of college and my tastes have developed quite a bit since then, and I won't be trying to read it and a stack of other books for classes at the same time. And the class I read it for was just a one-hour class that was part of my honors program, so we barely talked about it and I'm sure I missed the point.

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  12. Coincidentially I'm planning to read A Room with a View later this week. I am spending the weekend in Grado, Italy and what could be more appropriate to read there than the story of a girl touring Italy? :)
    I am already looking forward to my first Foster very much, and I hope I willbe able to count him among my favourite novelists once I finish!

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  13. I really love Forster. Howards End is by far my favorite. Passage is interesting, but very different.

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  14. I've had this book (and some other Forster) on my shelf for years... don't know what's taking me so long to get to it. I read Maurice a few years ago and really, really enjoyed it. There's another that I don't have, yet, but that I hope to find a copy of soon... I can't remember the name of it, it's a bit more obscure, I think, but the premise was super interesting & dark (which I tend to lean towards). I'll have to go through my wish list and see if I can figure out which book I'm talking about... because I'm sure this is super-annoying. Lol

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