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Post by Deleted on Oct 29, 2021 12:25:46 GMT
One of the greats!
I was just delving on amazon last night for Somerset Maugham short stories – there are loads of them and I definitely haven’t read them all. I like the look of Far Eastern Tales and More Far Eastern Tales as I tend to prefer the stories in exotic settings. He’s a reactionary old duffer but he's much more interesting than e.g. Kipling. Although one of my favourite SM stories is the one about the author who is famed and feted in salons all across London for her skilled deployment of the semi-colon, and then her husband leaves her for a detective story writer in Streatham. Or maybe the author is a man and it’s his wife who moves out - I can't remember. But it always reminds me of Play with Fire by the Rolling Stones, and vice versa – that “now she gets her kicks in Stepney not in Knightsbridge any more” line.
I too went through quite a Somerset Maugham phase. 'Of Human Bondage' is like the ultimate 'young's man's novel' with its alienated young protagonist. A big novel for me when I was younger. I also really liked ' The Magician' ( based on Crowley). I agree the short stories are great. Btw I seem to recall you're a Patrick Hamilton fan?
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Post by Deleted on Oct 29, 2021 12:35:46 GMT
Should also say The Razor's Edge' is excellent, perhaps his best.
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Post by oleandermedian on Oct 29, 2021 13:18:10 GMT
I too went through quite a Somerset Maugham phase. 'Of Human Bondage' is like the ultimate 'young's man's novel' with its alienated young protagonist. A big novel for me when I was younger. I also really liked ' The Magician' ( based on Crowley). I agree the short stories are great. Btw I seem to recall you're a Patrick Hamilton fan? I haven't read any of his novels! I think the time is ripe for that, in fact. I noticed The Magician last night and maybe I'll start with that.
I'm a massive Patrick Hamilton fan yes. The West Pier and the Twenty Thousand Streets Under the Sky trilogy especially. The way he breaks her heart in the West Pier - it's horrifying. But they're all great with the exception of Unknown Assailant and Twopence Coloured.
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Post by sloopjohnc on Oct 29, 2021 15:18:58 GMT
Speaking of authors, the NY Times Book Review last Sunday, published a special edition on their 125th anniversary of the review where they published their reviews of cherry picked authors and books like their original review of James Joyce's Ulysses.
The reviewer wrote that it should come with a Berlitz Guide companion.
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