Henry James

I have been reading The Europeans by Henry James. Most people find his writing slow and ornate, but i quite like it - i like training my brain to slow down to pickup the subtleties - Henry James is a master of telling (not showing, like the old writing maxim goes) however what he "tells" is never what is actually written down on paper. Sit down with one of his sentences and you will find a little universe of meanings. The telling is always a hint and never an absolute stand.
His writing is a lot about the subtle cruelty people exude on one another. It has been my experience that the things people say are almost as dangerous as what they don't say. James' writing is about the mastery of language - his characters' weapon of choice are the words they throw at one another (or to chooses to leave out). More and more i start to see that care to language no longer only applies to aristocrats at the turn of the century. I often find myself struggling for words, digging myself deeper and deeper into frustrating places because of what/how i revealed myself. Quite disturbing but worth the read. If you can't stomach a whole book by Henry James is suggest his short stories. Precise portraits of human frailty.