Henry James

I ran a search on his name in this thread and turned him up most often in a subject entitled "Not so classic classics". I'm still laughing about the comment that reading James is like "eating flour from a sack". Anyway it's time I gave him a shot. Where should I start?

I'd start with something shorter, like The Turn of the Screw, or something really good and relatively easy like The Portrait of a Lady. Whatever you do, don't start with The Ambassadors - I really like it but the prose is a little bit like a brick wall.

ETA: I should mention that I'm a big James fan, though. My favorites are Wings of the Dove and The Golden Bowl.

I agree with those recommendations. Washington Square is also an excellent starter-James. It's not very long, and it's not as dense as his later works. Don't start with What Maisie Knew (which I liked very much, but only because I am used to his style now).

That's funny! What Maisey Knew is what got me hooked! To be sure, it's very challenging, but it has the merit of being shorter than his other works and I loved the psychology behind it. My second favorite is The Ambassadors and then Portrait of a Lady. Next on my list is The Golden Bowl and jfetting's comment, just boosted it on my tbr list.
My recommended good start is Daisy Miller. It might seem a little old fashioned these days, but it's a good introduction to James's heroines.

I opted for a short story collection including The Turn of the Screw, Washington Square, and The Beast in the Jungle, along with a couple others. Thanks all!

Come back and let us know how you do with it. I personally found the Beast in the Jungle very challenging, but your mileage may vary.

I love The Beast in the Jungle and the Ambassadors.

Having only read two Henry James I'm no expert here...

But my first read was Washington Square. It's short and I found it a good introduction to his way of writing - and I liked it.

My next one was The Portrait of a Lady and it was a struggle to get through.

I stared with Daisy Miller and Washington Square and quite enjoyed both of them. I am yet to tackle my copy of Portrait of a Lady which has languished on the TBR pile for months/years :)

I found PORTRAIT OF A LADY, though a long work, to be enjoyable and accessible. WINGS OF A DOVE, however, was murder. The writing seemed so subjective you really had to be inside James' head to fully comprehend his meaning; writing like that, forgive me, seems self-defeating.

Interesting to see such divergent opinions!

I absolutely did not like Washington Square. It is short, but felt like it took me forever to read...like I was slogging through mud. I'm not sure what the problem was.

For myself, I much prefered The Turn of the Screw and Daisy Miller. I really enjoyed those.

I loved The Wings of the Dove!

#12 I loved The Wings of the Dove!

Oh, good! I was getting scared. But I loved the movie, so one day I hope to happily tackle the novel. I trust your opinion, Jennifer.

Strangely, I loved the film of DOVE also. There was a great story in there, just, I felt, congested by James' spider web sentences. So many supporters, though, may lead me to reconsider the book--especially now that the film has schooled me in the story.

On this, the last working day before Halloween, the UPS guy just brought me Ghost Stories of Henry James. I ordered it in August, but the timing was perfect.