Howards End, by E.M. Forster

        Howards End has a beautiful and simple premise that spans the whole of first-world society, from the poorest to the richest, illustrating a wide variety of the sentiments that travel between these groups, the pity, ignorance, desire for culture, glorification, degradation, and everybody's own ideas of what is most important in life. This is a universal book, at least I felt it to be so, but the story is told within a microcosm of it all, in England during the turn of the century, and our main characters are the Schelgel sisters, Margaret, practical and lively, and Helen, youthful and dramatic, a pair safely nestled in the upper-middle class due to a sizable inheritance. They encounter the Wilcox family, the stone cold mastermind Henry, his wife the gentle old Ruth who lives small and feels her entire existence is encompassed within her old family home, Howards End. Lastly, there is Leonard Bast, a starving young man locked into poverty but looking to become cultured.Throughout the book, their lives become entwined and certain facets of these personalities come to the forefront. We see how each character admires one, despises another, all on the basis of their philosophies for what life is about. They discuss this all openly and plainly, especially between Margarget and Helen, who have extremely open conversations. Politics come up often, for example women's suffrage, a hot topic at the time, and social welfare. The story of the Schlegels and the Wilcoxes is a story of rocks smashing together in unexpected ways, and always creating sparks, bringing to mind conflicts we all have within ourselves. Arts and culture against practical living, the sanctity of property ownership, money vs. life and death, and of course it can't give us any answers but it makes clear there are some people who are at complete equilibrium with these things, and others who think they know what is best. All the while, there's some great drama (unexpected pregnancy, old love affairs revealed, and DEATH) and some good fun. Not a dull moment.