mint Posted September 15, 2017 Share Posted September 15, 2017 Any fans out there?Have forgotten what a fine writer he was. If anyone has a particular favourite of his, can you please share your choice with me, svp? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cendrillon Posted September 15, 2017 Share Posted September 15, 2017 "Travels with my aunt" was one of his books I really enjoyed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mint Posted September 15, 2017 Author Share Posted September 15, 2017 Yes, I did enjoy that one and may well read it again as it was a VERY long time ago! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NormanH Posted September 15, 2017 Share Posted September 15, 2017 I thought he did a fine job of ou- le Carré-ing John le Carré in The Human Factor Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mint Posted September 15, 2017 Author Share Posted September 15, 2017 I have started "The Heart of the Matter" and find it quite "dense" with multiple themes and also fascinating where it touches on the value systems of people living in that time.A period piece certainly and told in a very different language from that of today's. But it is timeless at the same time because after all, we as humans are this unique thinking, feeling, imagining species after all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cendrillon Posted September 16, 2017 Share Posted September 16, 2017 I too read Travels with my Aunt years ago. His details about West London Air terminal and the luggage trailers at Heathrow were absolutely spot on. I once worked at West London and knew the ropes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pommier Posted September 16, 2017 Share Posted September 16, 2017 I also loved Travels with my Aunt, plus I enjoyed Our Man in Havana. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Patf Posted September 17, 2017 Share Posted September 17, 2017 I don't think I've read any of Graham Greene's books, only seen the films. I saw Brighton Rock on TV, and remember the creepy scene with Attenborough in the phone box. Here's a scene from the film - I'd forgotten some of it was filmed at Southend sea front, near where we lived for a few years:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xZ1NNoIbF5EI don't know why, but I've been unable to sit and enjoy a novel for years. I prefer short stories, or non-fiction.I've just bought the first Inspector Montalbano book, (in english) so I'll see how I get on with that. It's very short, 244 pages very widely spaced. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NormanH Posted September 17, 2017 Share Posted September 17, 2017 Greene did write some short stories too. I remember 'The Destructors" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Patf Posted September 17, 2017 Share Posted September 17, 2017 Thanks Norman - I've ordered a book of his short stories- second hand - from amazon.uk- cost one penny! Plus postage to France. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mint Posted September 17, 2017 Author Share Posted September 17, 2017 Pat, I believe that Somerset Maugham was THE acknowledged master of the short story.You'd love his stories, Pat. There is one where the story takes place in the Raffles Hotel in Singapore (or at least the hotel was a prominent location in the story). There, I KNEW that would pique your interest[:)] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
idun Posted September 17, 2017 Share Posted September 17, 2017 To date, I can only remember reading two Graham Greene books, Our Man in Havana and The Quiet American. I have a copy of Brighton Rock brooding on my bookshelf.......... I started it, but cannot remember reading anything which starts with such menace and tension, I found it quite disturbing and have not picked it up again in an age. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Patf Posted September 18, 2017 Share Posted September 18, 2017 Oh dear I hope his short stories aren't scarey. I have an idea they will be all doom and gloom Catholic. I like to be cheered up when I read - that's why my favourite short stories are by Damon Runyon. And maybe the Jeeves ones, though I don't like Wodehouse's politics. And I like Chekov's short stories too, some are funny, but they're not to everyone's taste.I read some of Somerset Maugham's books and stories before and after we went to Singapore - very true to life. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NormanH Posted September 19, 2017 Share Posted September 19, 2017 I enjoy Saki (a pen-name). The stories are very short and extremely sardonic...https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SakiHere is an on line example.https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Chronicles_of_Clovis/Sredni_Vashtarand if you enjoy that one you can find others on that site by using the arrows on the top bar. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mint Posted September 19, 2017 Author Share Posted September 19, 2017 [quote user="Patf"]Oh dear I hope his short stories aren't scarey. I have an idea they will be all doom and gloom Catholic. I like to be cheered up when I read - that's why my favourite short stories are by Damon Runyon. And maybe the Jeeves ones, though I don't like Wodehouse's politics. And I like Chekov's short stories too, some are funny, but they're not to everyone's taste.I read some of Somerset Maugham's books and stories before and after we went to Singapore - very true to life.[/quote]Your spot-on remark has made me smile. I understand completely what you mean, having finished The Heart of the Matter in the middle of the night.Catholic guilt, yes, instilled in childhood, nurtured in school and brought to fruition in adulthood[+o(] As Greene was a convert, it was unsurprising that he had it so badly![:)] Near the end of the story, the Catholic priest said,"I'm sorry for anyone happy and ignorant who gets mixed up in that way with one of us.". He meant up mixed up emotionally and "one of us" of course refers to Catholics.Greene understood though it is one of those things you live with and, try as you might, you are never truly rid of that early indoctrination (though Greene himself was 22 years old when he converted). I should know, having all my life tried to forget all that baggage and it still comes back to haunt me every so often!PS apologies for the extra "e" in Graham: it should have been GRAHAM GREENE Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gardengirl Posted September 19, 2017 Share Posted September 19, 2017 Norman, the Saki, HH Munro, short stories are amongst my favourites, dating back to my schooldays. Sredni Vashtar is my seconf favourite, but my favourite is The Open Window. He was a superb storyteller. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mint Posted September 19, 2017 Author Share Posted September 19, 2017 Short stories are such a special form of story telling. Because you do not have the space to develop your characters, you need to be able to give them readily identifiable traits, you need to put them in a setting sufficiently distinguished (or humdrum too) to explain the subsequent events that unfold.You have but a few lines to do all this and then you need to tell the story AND provide a conclusion within a very few thousand words. I think you need to be a wordsmith of a tall order to write enjoyable short stories.Norman, I know you don't like him, but are there any fans out there of de Maupassant? I enjoy his stories a lot, his disdain of "pretense" and the airs and graces of "society" and his undoubted vein of cruelty and cynicism.Somerset Maugham often expressed admiration of de Maupassant and said he drew inspiration from his stories for writing his own. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NormanH Posted September 20, 2017 Share Posted September 20, 2017 I don't dislike Maupassant at all. I consider him to be one of the great masters of the short story.Perhaps my favorite for its wisdom generosity and simplicity ishttp://maupassant.free.fr/textes/ferme.htmlHere are some others on-line:http://maupassant.free.fr/contes3.htmIndex:http://www.etudes-francaises.net/nefbase/maupas_contes.htmThere is even one (not his best) that takes place not 300 metres from Chez moi [:)]http://maupassant.free.fr/textes/tombe.htmlMy only objection was in another thread where someone was looking for 'modern' writing, and I felt that Maupassant didn't tick the box ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Patf Posted September 20, 2017 Share Posted September 20, 2017 My husband is an admirer of Maupassant. He's not a big reader of this kind of literature but somehow found these stories and told me about them.I enjoy short stories more than novels, being an impatient restless kind of person, who likes neat, succint summaries rather than long-draw-out sagas.I also have some kind of affinity with Russian literature. They have quite a tradition in short stories starting from Pushkin and Gogol, through Dostoevsky up to Chekov. Then others afterwards. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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