Re-reading Howards End--I really should...

 “The house was very quiet, and the fog—we are in November now—pressed against the windows like an excluded ghost.”

― E.M. Forster, Howards End

I am not, as a usual practice, a re-reader. I remember all too well how a book ends, and that takes the fun out of it. However, there are some books that do call me back to the mystery, and I've been itching for a while to return to Howards End. I wrote my final paper for my MA-LS on the book; I focused on what I saw to be the intent of the phrase "Only connect--!" and I disagreed with most of the scholarship out there. (Go figure.) That said, the book still shimmers in the back of my mind. I think it's got more to say to me, and I have to get back into that shifting world to find out what else is there. 

That said, I have a HUGE to-be-read pile. And I'm still working my way through Russo's Empire Falls (highly recommend). I love the writing and the characters, and the setting is so familiar to me, both the physical landscape and the emotional one. 

Maybe after this book, I'll take a plunge back into the disappearing world of Howards End. I'm haunted by the fatalistic symbolism of Leonard Bast being killed by a toppled bookshelf. He wanted so much for his life, but classism and his lower-working-class life choices made it impossible for him to break free from the trap laid for him by an archaic system. 

Excluded ghost, indeed.

Have a good day,

C