That's it for Maugham.

[MsAmerica]

I read my first Maugham, Of Human Bondage, when my father pushed it on me when I was probably in my early 20s. I liked it well enough but not sufficiently to look for more.

Then I recently picked up a cheap copy of The Razor's Edge, and while I enjoyed the reading, felt annoyed and cheated by the ending, and doubted I'd want to keep it to re-read. But I felt I was on a roll, so got The Moon and Sixpence from the library, and was so annoyed by the Strickland character that I ended up disliking the whole book.

So that's it for me. But can anyone tell me what's so wonderful that I'm missing? And is "moon and sixpence" a quote or expression?

Try his short stories. They are absolute gems.

I second the short stories.

I think you're meant to dislike the Strickland character. The point of the novel is that a genius often hurts those around him because his priority is his art.

The general verdict on Maugham seems to be 'second rate'. Of that era, the big names – Evelyn Waugh, Aldous Huxley, Graham Greene, Virginia Woolf, D. H. Lawrence, etc – are better. It's also kind of sad the way Ford Madox Ford and Henry Green have been forgotten, while Maugham (their contemporary) is still well known. Green and Ford are far superior writers.

Maugham's stories of the far east are some of my favourites. The isolation, the struggle to make life meaningful, the boredom, the loneliness...

Oh, yes, Dappy, I'm sure I'm meant to dislike Strickland, but I'm also sure that I've run across despicable characters in books who were nevertheless fun to read about.

I've never gotten around to the other two. Do you have a recommendation?

If you don't like his writing don't read his books. There are millions of books published every year, don't waste your time on something you don't enjoy, there's plenty other options.

Sorry, are you saying you object to people posting that they don't like a book?

As it happens, I'm a believer in sometimes reading books that are have some cultural or historical weight, whether I enjoy them or not. On top of that, I've often discovered that I may not like a first book, but might like others.

He is one of my favourite writers. But then, I take the same stance as @JaninaDuszejko. unless you are a professional reviewer, you don’t NEED to keep on with reading anything. I sometimes think of books like perfume, I often love them or I loathe them, and I don’t keep reading the books I don’t like.

If I need to force myself to read something, for whatever reason, I’ll buy the audible version and listen while I’m doing other things. Like cleaning. Or walking.

there simply isn’t enough time to read all the great writers or famous books. We all have our preferences. Though good for you op, if your stance is to read in part to enrich your knowledge base.

The short stories really are good and worth a read.

This thread inspired me to check the library ... but the only short stories they have is a big fat book, and I was hoping for a small paperback to carry around with me. So I'm still looking.

Try The Painted Veil-it's super!

The Razor's Edge is my favourite Maugham novel and I also love his short stories. He may not have been the best writer of his generation but he knew how to tell a story, sadly lacking in some other (literary) novelists!

If you can get any of the short stories in the old smaller paperback versions (second hand on eBay, maybe) then you can read the best of WSM. He was a master of the form. P&O, The Three Fat Women of Antibes (don’t be put off by the title, it remains funny and relevant today) Footprints in the Jungle - they all remain in the memory long after you’ve read them.

Ford Maddox Ford is definitely not forgotten — there’s been a resurgence in scholarship on his work over the last ten years or so, though as a poet, an editor of key journals, collaborator with Conrad, war writer, networker etc as well as a novelist. Max Saunders has reissued some of the novels.

I took out his short stories volume 4 from the library last week.

Loving it.

They used to do the short stories in 4 paperback volumes by Penguin. They still come up in second hand and charity shops now and then. Alternatively, Kindle may have a cheap copy.

Just started re-reading the Moon and Sixpence myself - I found a copy in a second hand book shop. I love his short stories and to this day have a bit of a crush on Larry in The Razor's edge. But not all the novels (or short stories) age well. I agree though you are meant to dislike Strickland.

As for the title,
ROBERT Lorin Calder, in W Somerset Maugham and the Quest for Freedom (1972), gives the following explanation. The Times Literary Supplement, in reviewing Of Human Bondage, had written: 'Like so many young men he [Philip] was so busy yearning for the moon that he never saw the sixpence at his feet.' Somerset Maugham adopted the phrase as the title of his next novel. The author explained its meaning in a note which was intended to precede the text, but which did not appear, ' ... In his childhood he was urged to make merry over the man who, looking for the moon, missed the sixpence at his feet, but having reached years of maturity he is not so sure that this was so great an absurdity as he was bidden to believe. Let him who will pick up the sixpence; to pursue the moon seems the most amusing diversion.'

I just felt it was frustratingly unresolved.
😕

I actually LOVE that title. The title alone is enough to make me want to read it. I guess it seems wildly transgressive today.

Or try ' Up at the villa', his finest imho.

You have to admit it's a bit of an odd one OP. You seem annoyed that you don't love a writer that you think you should!

I think a lot of his characters are unlikeable (as he was!) and a lot of his stories are based on real people who had messy lives and got into situations that didn't always resolve cleanly and obviously. If you just don't like them I'm not sure you can acquire the taste, just put it down to experience I guess.

Agree that the short stories are good, I liked the Ashenden stories, based on his experiences in the secret service.