Read "The House of Mirth" with me!
An open invitation to an early spring read-a-long of a classic American novel
Whenever anyone asks me what my favorite book is, I do not hesitate.
It’s The House of Mirth by Edith Wharton.
Why, you might ask? I will tell you all the whys over the next few months, as I invite you to join me on my annual read of what I truly believe is one of the best books ever written.
The House of Mirth is the novel that made Edith Wharton a household name for turn-of-the-century American readers in 1905. It “became a national bestseller and launched her career as America’s foremost novelist in the two decades that opened the twentieth century,” writes Elizabeth Ammons in the Norton Critical Edition of the novel. Wharton would go on, in 1921, to become the first woman to receive the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction (then the “Novel” award), for The Age of Innocence.
I think of Mirth as a kind of preview of what’s to come in her career. In it, she lays out the themes and character work and cultural criticisms that she will hone across her long and prolific writing career. There’s a raw edge to Mirth — something special and strange that compels many readers to read it more than once. Simply put: it’s an outstanding feat of a novel.
So, let’s read it together!
It’ll be like a reading group or a book club or a reason to pick up a great novel instead of your phone for about a half hour each night. It’ll be fun! It’ll be easier than you thought to get into Wharton’s turn-of-the-century realist prose. And I’ll be here all along the way to provide some background, cultural context, Wharton biography, and other fun academic-ish bits that will help take your reading experience up a level or two.
Here’s how it works:
We’ll call it Wharton Wednesday. Every Wednesday for the duration of our reading schedule, I’ll send out a post detailing the reading for that week. It’ll include:
A short plot summary
A bit of tracking where we’ve been
A little anticipating where we’re going next…
A few resources, quotes, and links to essays and other recommended reading that aligns with what we’ve read so far
Notes on what I’m noticing during this re-read and a summary of what you’re noticing, based on the comments and DMs you send me
Everything will be available for free subscribers, because I want anyone who wants to join us to do so without any financial considerations!
If you’re able, consider a paid subscription to help fund the time & energy I’ll bring to the project. Much of what I’ll be sharing each week is the result of 10+ years studying this novel at the graduate level (I even wrote a whole dissertation chapter on Wharton’s work!).
Why you should join:
you want to read “a classic” this year, but feel intimidated and don’t know where to start
you want to learn more about the early twentieth century (Robber barons! Keeping up with the Joneses! Fifth Avenue politics! Industrial Revolution!)
you want the experience of taking a college literature class again (or for the first time!)
you’ve tried reading Wharton (or authors like her) before, but haven’t been able to get into it — and you’re willing to try again
you’re ready to read an absolute page-turner filled with gambling, betrayal, bad investments, incredible outfits, lavish parties, and some of the most beautiful sentences you’ve ever read in your life
"A frivolous society can acquire dramatic significance only through what its frivolity destroys."
— Edith Wharton
The benefits of reading with me:
I have my PhD in literature and I’ve studied Wharton extensively!
I’m treating this reading group the same way I’d treat a college literature course — I’ll come prepared each week. All you need to do is the reading!
Weekly posts will keep you inspired!
Each Wednesday you’ll get some combination of summative notes, questions about what’s coming next, scholarly insights and biographical details to help make sense of cultural allusions or references in the story.
So. What do you think? Are you in?!
Get yourself a copy of the novel and get excited!
We’ll read the novel over 10 weeks, though it’s very possible that you’ll feel yourself swept up and finish it well ahead of schedule. Breaking it down into smaller chapters, like this, allows us to slow down and closely read as we go, developing ideas and making guesses and following Lily’s story with a slower pace.
Please feel free to read at your own pace: fall behind, read ahead, drop in, or drop out at any time. I’ll be here each week, all the same, with thoughts on that week’s assigned section.
All chapter guides are now available
Paid subscribers gain access to all reading guides after the read-a-long ends, and can access any of the chapter guides by visiting the links below! You can also view the complete list of chapter guides here.
Book 1, Chapter 1
Book 1, Chapters 2 - 4 (read to the end of chapter 4)
Book 1, Chapters 5 - 7 (read to the end of chapter 7)
Book 1, Chapters 8 - 10 (read to the end of chapter 10)
Book 1, Chapters 11 - 13 (read to the end of chapter 13)
Book 1, Chapters 14 - 15 - END OF BOOK 1
Book 2, Chapters 1 - 3 (read to the end of chapter 3)
Book 2, Chapters 4 - 6 (read to the end of chapter 6)
Book 2, Chapters 7 - 10 (read to the end of chapter 10)
Book 2, Chapters 11 - 14 - END OF BOOK 2
👀 Is now the time when I finally read House of Mirth?
Finally! We are doing this!