On the face of it, it seems like a fine concept – one of the best writers in the world writing a travelogue of his journey across South East Asia in the early 20th century. But once I got into it, I was a bit disappointed with what was actually written inside.Somerset Maugham is one of the finest...
Fair warning, this is going to be a long review for this is a book that is close to my heart written by an author whom I deeply admire.The Right TimeThere are some books that walk into your life at an opportune time. I'm talking about the books that send a pleasant shiver down your spine laden wi...
Non avevo letto mai niente prima di Maugham, avevo solo visto la riduzione cinematografica con Edward Norton e Naomi Watts di "Il velo dipinto", e sono tuttavia convinta di non aver letto "il vero" Maugham.A questo proposito, la scorsa domenica, mi ero portata in spiaggia "Schiavo d'amore", inten...
I enjoyed this a lot more than I expected to. An interesting departure from Maugham's usual fare in terms of content, but the style of writing remains as sharp as ever. Peppered with memorable quotes and his trademark sharp commentary on human nature, what makes this book interesting that instead...
One of the things I love most about Maugham is how well he portrays the human condition. Even the shallowest of characters are richly rounded. In my mind’s eye, The Painted Veil captures the human capacity to love what is not good for them, scoff at what is, and allows us readers to see first han...
I remember being in a café with a friend once when a guy walked in who obviously had some kind of mild disability to do with his legs – he hobbled over to a table and sat down heavily, and then looked around him at the greasy spoon with an air of deep depression. Amy stared at him and sighed and ...
I have to say it's pretty funny to me that they called these romance stories, because they don't end happily for anyone. In typical Maugham fashion, they are about the intricacies and slow destruction of relationships, and the effect on the people involved.I'd already read "Footprints in the Jung...
A definitive anthology of fiction by W. Somerset Maugham includes the complete texts of three novels--The Moon and Sixpence, The Painted Veil, and The Magician--as well as five short stories--Rain, The Letter, Alien Corn, The Pool, and Mackintosh. Original.
From http://confessionsofanenglishliteratu...The last time this blog looked at a book from W. Somerset Maugham, it turned this reader into a veritable superfan of the author, determined to one day complete his bibliography. That book was the sublime The Moon and Sixpence, and, by complete coincid...
The Summing Up by William Somerset MaughamThis is one of the best books I have read, written by one of the top five authors in my personal favorite list. It is after all The Summing Up- a conclusion penned at the end of a full life, an analysis of the most important books and authors, a look at r...
The Consul by Somerset MaughamA few days ago I had the exquisite pleasure to read The Point of Honor, where Maugham was describing the culture, magnificence of Spain.In The Consul, we are more than ten thousand miles away, in China.China represents both an irresistible attraction and an anxiety, ...
The coldness of the fresh water was grateful after the heavy stickiness of the salt Pacific, so warm, though it was only just after seven, that to bathe in it did not brace you but rather increased your languor; and when he had dried himself, slipping into a bath-gown, he called out to the Chines...
I was told this morning that Haddon Chambers was dead, and I said: “Poor chap, I’m sorry”; but it occurred to me immediately that I spoke according to a foolish convention. Haddon Chambers had made a successful job of life according to his own lights. He had enjoyed himself. His day was over and ...
It seemed hardly worth while to go to bed, and as I drove in my rickshaw to the hotel I asked myself why I should not spend the rest of the night on the river. It would do if I got back in time to change, bathe myself, and have a cup of coffee before starting. I explained to my rickshaw boy what ...
A portrait of him, painted by Maclise when he was twenty-seven, is in the National Portrait Gallery. He is seated in a handsome chair at a writing-table, with a small, elegant hand resting lightly on a manuscript. He is grandly dressed, and wears a vast satin neck-cloth. His brown hair is curled ...
X was the capital of an important belligerent state; but a state divided against itself; there was a large party antagonistic to the war and revolution was possible if not imminent. Ashenden was instructed to see what under the circumstances could best be done; he was to suggest a policy and, if ...
He was glad to read a connected account of the murder and the trial, for Lydia’s various narratives had left him somewhat confused. She had told him this and that, not in the order in which it had occurred, but as her emotion dictated. Simon’s three long articles were coherent, and though there w...
I wandered at random along a narrow and busy street. The Koreans in their long white gowns and their little white top-hats were amusing to look at and the open shops displayed wares that arrested my foreign eyes. Presently I came to a second-hand bookseller’s and catching sight of shelves filled ...
From the terrace in front of it you had a magnificent view of Florence; behind was an old garden, with few flowers, but with fine trees, hedges of cut box, grass walks and an artificial grotto in which water cascaded with a cool, silvery sound from a cornucopia. The house had been built in the si...
He did them proud. He took them for a week-end to a grand house in Sussex and for another week-end to an even grander one in Wiltshire. He took them to the royal box at the opera as guests of a minor princess of the House of Windsor. He took them to lunch and dine with the great. Isabel went to s...
It was lucky, because they were taking a good deal in with them, Alban’s suit-case and a hold-all, Anne’s dressing-case and her hat-box. They had two trunks in the van, containing what they wanted immediately, but all the rest of their luggage Alban had put in the care of an agent who was to take...
& O.♦Mrs Hamlyn lay on her long chair and lazily watched the passengers come along the gangway. The ship had reached Singapore in the night, and since dawn had been taking on cargo; the winches had been grinding away all day, but by now her ears were accustomed to their insistent clamour. She...
I tried from the impressions he had left upon me to construct the living man. For when we meet people we see them only in the flat, they offer us but one side of themselves, and they remain shadowy; we have to give them our flesh and our bones before they exist in the round. That is why the chara...
'You know, Algernon, in this world it's the good who do all the harm,' remarked Miss Ley, sitting down. 'The bad carry off their wrong-doing with a certain dash which lessens the iniquity, and common-sense robs their vice of sting; but there's no reasoning with a man conscious of his own rectitud...
Somerset Maugham BEFORE THE PARTY MRS SKINNER liked to be in good time. She was already dressed, in black silk as befitted her age and the mourning she wore for her son-in-law, and now she put on her toque. She was a little uncertain about it, since the egrets’ feathers which adorned it might v...