Maugham's style is perfectly suited for short story writing. His facility of communicating all kinds of ideas is truly amazing. Thus his stories feel like a light read, but they also often give you pause--Maugham is trying to pry deep into what makes people think and act the way they do. He wrote his stories a century ago, and the mark of the time lies firmly upon some of them. It is clear that he was influenced by psychological insgihts and ideas that have penetrated intellectual circles of his time. Read these stories for their ease of communication, ideas about human nature, and vivid images, such as those of the South Pacific and the industrial landscape of the rising American giant.

As a master of the short story, W. Somerset Maugham (1874-1965) was the highest paid author in the 1930's. He was born in the British Embassy in Paris, on January 25, 1874.

He wrote with a sense of irony and wit. Often, he would express a cynical attitude towards life and his love of traveling found its way into his writing. He didn't confine himself to one genre, but also wrote novels, essays and plays.

His purpose was to entertain his readers, although you do learn the subtleties of human nature from many of his stories. His keen eye for the minute details of life is combined with his writing style in such away as to capture and keep your attention. It is said that due to becoming an orphan at the age of 10, he was shy and tended to be more of a passive observer rather than an active participant. This explains some of the detachment that you feel in various stories.

"I have never pretended to be anything but a story teller. It has amused me to tell stories and I have told a great many. It is a misfortune for me that the telling of a story just for the sake of the story is not an activity that is in favor with the intelligentsia. In endeavor to bear my misfortunes with fortitude." (from Creatures of Circumstance, 1947)

In this collection you will find stories that are filled with tales of the South Seas, Europe and America. They are concise and persuasive and evoke a time and place where you completely are absorbed into a story that often has a nice unforeseen twist right at the end. Either you are surprised, laughing, sad life took a certain turn, or very amused.

My Favorite Stories in this Collection :

The Vessel of Wrath: A tale of love between a missionary and a drunken reprobate that has a most surprising ending. It deals with how humans draw foregone conclusions and how people can change for the better.

The Force of Circumstance: Story of almost unavoidable circumstances and deals with the emotions a woman feels when she finds out her husband has had children with a native woman in the village and seems to have neglected to inform her.

The Colonel's Lady: A wife publishes her poetry without her husband's knowledge. He can't understand her or why everyone loves her writing. The reader might not understand him, but might understand his wife's need to express her creativity in her own way as obviously, he is not aware of that part of her life.

The Round Dozen: Amusing and almost unavoidable ending.

These are stories you can read when you have an hour here or there to read a few stories at a time. Some are short enough to be read in 15 minutes or less and are only a few pages long. I enjoyed the slightly longer ones as the character development intensifies and Maugham's powers of observation have time to play out to the full extent.

An escape to another time and place.

I've only just discovered the wonders of W. Somerset Maugham. This was the first of his works that I have ever read, and it was an absolute pleasure. There are other reviewers on these pages who are more knowledgeable and better critics than I, so I am just going to tell you how much I enjoyed this particular compilation. Every story was a treasure. Every single character was so well drawn, that for the first time in a long time I found myself empathising with these people, loving them, hating them, lamenting for them and genuinely caring about what happened to them.

Every story started off in a fairly prosaic, nondescript fashion. But every story had me hooked by at least the first page. Sometimes they unfolded as funny stories, other were tales about how an individual's world had changed catastrophically. I never got bored, and the writing was never predictable, Maugham always had a surprisingly poetical observation to make that would send me into raptures. This is truly a writer of sensitivity and talent. I can honestly say that I have been searching for a writer of this calibre for a long time. If you care anything at all about the amazing stories that ordinary, little people have, then read this book and Maugham's other works. He truly is a master.

This is a simply marvelous book, good for all ages. (After all, I am a single adult with no children!) DK publishes a lot of "children's" books which I, as a mature, educated adult, find very useful and fascinating. This one, though, is probably the best of the lot.

DK Publishing never ceases to hold my interest with colorful and imagiantive formats, and this book is a perfect example. The full color pictures combined with intesting facts make this a great tool for any student of history. As a future teacher and history major, I highly recommend this book to students of all ages!

DK has mastered the art of presenting facts in a way that mesmerizes both young and old. This book is a resource you will return to time and again. This book goes beyond most school texts by giving a side by side timeline of the entire globe on one page. Not just for kids; this book would be valuable to anyone wanting an easy to read timeline of world history. The illustrations and photographs are perfect compliments to the text. It could easily double as a coffee table book, and would make a great gift for youth and teens.

Somerset Maugham was a veteran of British intelligence during World War I, an experience that was to influence his views of the world in subsequent years as well as his writing. The Trembling of a Leaf is a compilation of six short stories and two sketches by Maugham, including his famous story "Rain," an ironic look at the dark consequences and of being too fixated on the object of your affections, -- which is perhaps better known by its film and theater adaptation as "Sadie Thompson." Romance, the cruel forces of reality, and a keen attention to the unforeseen color this classic anthology showcasing Somerset Maugham's literary genius.

It's great news that they'll soon be issuing a new edition of this collection. The stories are timeless and beautifully rendered. Maugham explores everything from the evils of colonialism to the rigid social expectations of turn of the century Chicago aristocrats -- and in each case he transports us to the South Pacific. He's one of the great practitioners of the short story and this collection provides us with a concise glimpse at his handiwork.

This book consists of 8 short stories, many of them playing in the South Sea Islands. After reading this book you will want to go there and enjoy the beauty of life. Beautifully written, a pure pleasure to read!

Maugham claimed that he was "in the very first row of the second-raters". Maybe, but maybe not.

While his style may not elevate his work to the status of "great literature," you owe it to yourself to read Maugham. This collection is a fine place to start. The Moon and Sixpence is based on the life of Paul Gaugin and The Magician is based more than loosely on Aleistar Crowley's exploits. Fascinating people who Maugham used to craft page-turning stories around.

Maugham is greatly underappreciated. This is a great collection to begin exploring his work.

The ability of this man to put insight within insight into the innermost knooks and crannies of the human condition and then palce you, the reader, almost, but not quite, clautrophobically close to the action (or often a lack of) is literally mesmerizing! He was not a man easily fooled by anyone. He then endows the reader with this insight from which I, for one, leaned a great deal.

Every one of his characters is keenly observed and fully fleshed into often tragic believability but always alive with their human-ness, warts and all.

I miss his stories more than any others when I'm finished. This collection is a global tour de force, rich in colour, intrigue and the dust that setles on the crooked paths his characters tread.

Get it, read it (several times), you won't be sorry!

Castles of Britain and Ireland by Plantagenet Somerset Fry is the most important and most used book in my library. Not only is it a great read front to back but is invaluable as a reference when reading any history book about Britain and Ireland. It covers every aspect of Castles; The History, the people, the construction, the defenses, and even the art of attacking a castle, including seige engines. When I travel to Britain this book will be in my backpack.

A very good book, Castles of Britain and Ireland: The Ultimate Reference Book contains exelent quality photographs, and contains information of almost every known castle on Britain and Ireland. It talks about their evolution through the years and about the people involved on their construction. I greatly recommend it to anyone interested on knowing more about british castles, its information is very clear and easy to understand. If you are a castle fan, this is a must-have book.

An amazing fictional account of Maugham's real life adventures as a spy for Great Britain during WW I. Written in Maughm's usual concise and elogant prose, these stories make the reader root for Ashenden who is nothing short of a literary James Bond. This account, written as a collection of short independent stories, shows that, when in the hands of an author with a command of the English language, suspense and intrigue can be create in a book in other ways besides stringing together one action scene after another. Simply Maugham at his best

The kernel of this novel dates back to 1895 when Maugham was twenty years old and stayed in Florence to learn Italian. He came across a story in which a "husband suspecting his wife of adultery and afraid on account of her family to put her to death, took her down to his castle in the Maremma the noxious vapours of which he was confident would do the trick; but she took so long to die that he grew impatient and had her thrown out of the window." It is around this core (which is not exactly the plot line of the novel, don't worry) that Maugham developed the story of Kitty Fane, a woman who is vain, superficial and in need of appreciation. It is a story that plays in Hong Kong and China in the 1920s. Maugham knew both places from his extensive travels in the South East but, characteristically for him, he does not spill much ink on descriptions of the landscape or the natives, which is a pity. He is much more interested in his fictitious characters.

As always, Maugham is a master of drawing characters who possess all the self-importance, weakness, and suffering that underlie human existence. His characterizations are so sardonically true that he was sued two times over the book by people in Hong Kong, and had to change the name of Hong Kong into Tching-Yen, and the name of one of the characters from Lane (innocent enough, one would think) to Fane.

I was wondering why this rather obscure novel by Maugham has received nothing but glowing five-star reviews by almost exclusively female readers. The reason is that this novel is about marriage and the restraints that marriage imposes upon passion. Also, it is a classic story of a woman's spiritual awakening. Two themes that appeal to female readers to such an extent that they tolerate Maugham's biting sarcasm and his rather unromantic view of life (he is quoted as saying that "habits in writing as in life are only useful if they are broken as soon as they cease to be advantageous"). If there is an author who is not touchy-feely, it is W. Somerset Maugham. Marriage, he soberly concludes, is a matter of convenience. Passion, on the other hand, is a matter of inconvenience: it lurks untamed behind "the painted veil which those who live call life". What is left? Faith? Maybe, I think Maugham would say, but most people are not humble enough to be truly religious ("no egoism is so insufferable as that of the Christian with regard to his soul" is another quote by the master).

"The Painted Veil" is well worth reading. However, it suffers a bit from Maugham's self-assured way of portraying people and constructing a plot. It is a well-told story, but it is not a first rate novel. I think the problem is that Maugham's characters in this book are too one-dimensional which works well in a comedy of manners, but not in a book that wants to discuss matters like love, passion, marriage, life and spiritual growth in a serious way.

I agree with the many reviewers here who enjoy this as a gripping literary read. But it is also the first of three fine novels about Hong Kong - along with Timothy Mo's The Monkey King and Paul Theroux's Kowloon Tong, this book for me contained insights into certain Hong Kong personalities I encountered during my residence there in the 90's. In the case of the Painted Veil, a novel from the 1920's (!), certain actions and attitudes of western expatriates were still visible in my day (before and after the end of British rule). A little bit of playing at being "gentlemen" by people who could not afford the pose back home. This book, like Mo's and Theroux's, caused no end of upset in certain quarters of Hong Kong when released. Though it was not banned in China, like Kowloon Tong, in Hong Kong "writs were served!" (Parts of Hong Kong can react a little bit like a small town when its described by someone who's left it for better things - the other parts read these books with pleasure.) The detached reader need not worry about any of this - it's a great read. Enjoy.

An unusual read, I was engrossed after the first page! And as avid readers, we know what a delight it is to find a book that can enchant us in the first chapter and hold our interest until the end, and even beyond. The story follows a married British couple,Walter and Kitty Fane. Walter Fane is a bacteriologist that is working for the British government while stationed in Hong Kong. Kitty, a young and bored wife, soon succumbs to her passions with another man. Charles, another British government official. This affair comes to an end when they suspect Walter has found out about their liaisons. This is where the real excitement begins, and maybe the first form of "biological punishment" witnessed in a classic novel. What does this mean? Buy the book, and I promise that you will not be disappointed!

This is a neat, fun, informative book for everyone, young and old alike. Facts, information, interesting anecdotes, and superb pictures and graphics. The handy size makes it perfect for kids working on reports for school as well. A super book for a number of reasons, and a great one to have on your shelf, especially if you have kids in school or simply want to know more about British Royalty.

I bought this book a couple of years ago. I read it and found it quite easy and enjoyable to read. Now I use it mainly for quick reference and usually find myself spending more time just browsing through its pages and enjoying it over and over. It has a lot of interesting historical facts! I wish there were similar books on other europpean royal houses!

Kings & Queens of England & Scotland is a great book! I use this on a regular basis and is a good source for reports. I would suggest this book. The individual biographies are great, and the events during the reign are really helpful. This book follows each dynasty and shows a family tree for each. I highly suggest this book for anyone.

As a woman you can identify yourself very well with Bertha, but there is a big difference between the social situations. That's exactly what makes this book so special, you see yourself even if the reactions of Bertha are often stupid and wrong you understand what she feels and why she's doing it. You see that maybe in her situation you would have reacted the same way and that makes you thinking About it. There are many little things which tell so much about people's emotions and the situations.

It's a very interesting book. It shows our feelings very well. It's simple to read. But I think it's more a book for women than for men. Mrs Craddock is an intelligent person and she has married a simple man. In the beginning she is very in love with him. And they are lucky. But later she notices that he is not Mr Right and her life gets boring. She leaves him and meets someone else in Italy.... I can recommend this book to everyone which is interested in love stories. But it's not a simple love story with a happy ending!

W. Somerset Maugham has long existed somewhat on the periphery of literary and critical respectability: "a first-rate second-rater," someone once called him. But the more I read Maugham the more I become convinced that this is a snobbish appraisal, derived perhaps from his extraordinary popular success (if it's popular, it can't be good) and, later, from revelations regarding his homosexuality along with some unpleasant personal details related by various biographers. But none of this should get in the way of a reader seeking out Maugham's best work---"Of Human Bondage," certainly, and the much-less-known "Mrs. Craddock."

"Mrs. Craddock" is a stunningly powerful novel of one woman's compromises with the realities of love. Reminiscent on the one hand of Flaubert's "Madame Bovary," and on the other of Kate Chopin's "The Awakening," this novel has a vitality and brilliance of characterization all its own. Bertha, the heroine, is superbly rendered: a woman who is unable to understand until too late the nature of her emotional folly, a victim of her own self-imposed romantic delusions. Edward, her husband, is equally compelling: a fundamentally good man who has simply, in essence, married the wrong woman. Watching these two mismatched souls attempting to co-exist is engrossing, painful, and exhilarating. The story is solidly written in the usual Maugham plain style, and is just as relevant today as it must have been the year it was published.

This "lost" Maugham novel---ignored even by many Maugham admirers---deserves a wider readership. Those interested in Maugham's fiction of this period, or in turn-of-the-century novels centered on women, owe it to themselves to try this unjustly neglected masterwork.

Spruill-Redford's book paints a beautifully accurate picture of North Eastern North Carolina. Her dedication to discovering the truth about her ancestors is admirable and thorough. The only caveat is Spruill-Redford's sweeping statements about the history of Somerset. She is inclined to believe that the reason behind all of the Collins' actions is to further their control over their slaves. Their conscious effort to keep families together, in example, is just one more way for the Collins' men to keep their slaves from running away. While this may have been, even probably was, the case, presenting that opinion as a definite is bad historical practice. Several examples of similar conclusions could be cited. The book must be understood as one woman's journey to uncover the lives of a people whose story desperately needed to be told, but not as an inherently fair historical document. Bias marred an otherwise admirable venture. It is reasonable to expect a reader, however, to pick up on these statements and analyze them accordingly. Somerset Homecoming is nonetheless a must-read, especially for locals.

In this book, Dorothy Redford shows the power of tenacity and courage. She had a dream--to uncover the past, to discover the story of her enslaved ancestors--and she sacrificed and toiled until she found out the truth, bit by bit. The inspiration is that she did not stop there. Now she lives that dream by educating others, both by her book and at the plantation where she is executive director, about the reality of slavery life. I recommend this book highly to anyone who admires or hopes to immulate someone who has realized a dream.

I read this the first time because it was a new genealogy book at my local library. More than just an engaging story about a woman's search for a heritage to pass down to her daughter, it also qualifies itself as the best "How To" on African-American Genealogy, because in the course of telling her story, Ms. Redford explains how she found her information. I recommend it all the time to friends researching African American family history.