Notes of a Son and Brother

Book excerpt: "Notes of a Son and Brother" is the autobiography of American born British author, Henry James. James is a recipient of the Order of Merit and is considered by many to be among the greatest novelists in the English language. Though born in New York, his family moved frequently throughout Europe as his father Henry James Sr. pursued a publishing career. He begins with their stay in the French-Swiss border, where his parents had moved for his and his sibling's schooling. James observes that, "I puzzle it out to-day that my parents had simply said to themselves, in serious concern, that I read too many novels, or at least read them too attentively..."