James was probably outstanding at his time, but his prose is rambling, overly complex semantically, and moves very slowly. In my opinion, his vaunted grasp of personality and character is over-rated, and the characters themselves of interest only to readers of the same middle-upper-class obsessed with such distinctions.
There are some classics that are rightfully omitted from today's curriculum.
Curiously, although Auchincloss makes a big deal about reading the stories (many of novella length, published as magazine serials) in chronological order, they are not presented that way in the book; also, since both "Daisy Miller" and "Turn of the Screw" are probably James's best-known works, why put "Poynton" as the title? Editors are truly inscrutable. However, the introduction is worth reading if you are interested in Henry James.
I did read them in the recommended order, with long intervals between.
"Daisy Miller" did not impress me; I disliked pretty much everyone in the book, and the young man who (I suppose) loved her was a wretch, while she was just an idiot.
"Washington Square" had an occasional witty phrase, but was a very slow soap opera.
"The Aspern Papers" another slow moving story peopled with idiots.
"The Spoils of Poynton" -- so boring I could not get past the first few pages, although I read the ending and decided the loss of the house was probably apt.
"The Turn of the Screw" presented such convoluted phraseology that I could barely follow the story - if the intent was to suggest the governess was balmy, that alone makes the case. However, the first thing that jumps out (to any reader of the news in the last 30 years) is that the valet and governess were probably colluding in child abuse, which (one critic suggests) would be obvious to Victorian readers, but could never be explicitly presented (as it would be today). There is more study of character in the analysis conducted than in the story itself.

I won't be proceeding to any other works by James. ( )