The Gentleman In The Parlour
The Gentleman In The Parlour

Author: W. Somerset Maugham

Publisher: Random House

Published: 2010-04-01

Total Pages: 186

ISBN-13: 1409088022

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WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY PAUL THEROUX Somerset Maugham's success as a writer enabled him to indulge his adventurous love of travel, and he recorded the sights and sounds of his wide-ranging journeys with an urbane, wry style all his own. The Gentleman in the Parlour is an account of the author's trip through what was then Burma and Siam, ending in Haiphong, Vietnam. Whether by river to Mandalay, on horse through the mountains and forests of the Shan States to Bangkok, or onwards by sea, Maugham's vivid descriptions bring a lost world to life.

The Gentleman in the Parlour
The Gentleman in the Parlour

Author: W. Somerset Maugham

Publisher:

Published: 1995

Total Pages: 276

ISBN-13: 9789748299587

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The Gentleman in the Parlour is Maugham's tale of travel through Burma, Indochina and Siam in the 1920's, told with all of the empathy and sharp-eyed observation of human nature for which the author eventually became legendary. The idea of the journey had come on a voyage from Colombo, from a fellow passenger who had spent five years in Kengtung, and who "said he would sooner live there than anywhere else in the world." When Maugham asked him what it had offered him, he replied, "contentment." And Maugham captured, in his own inimitable style, the spirit of the people and places he chose to describe.

Bangkok Days
Bangkok Days

Author: Lawrence Osborne

Publisher: North Point Press

Published: 2009-05-26

Total Pages: 283

ISBN-13: 1429957328

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A PASSIONATE, AFFECTIONATE RECORD OF ADVENTURES AND MISADVENTURES IN THE WORLD'S HOTTEST METROPOLIS Tourists come to Bangkok for many reasons—a sex change operation, a night with two prostitutes dressed as nuns, a stay in a luxury hotel. Lawrence Osborne comes for the cheap dentistry. Broke (but no longer in pain), he finds that he can live in Bangkok on a few dollars a day. And so the restless exile stays. Osborne's is a visceral experience of Bangkok, whether he's wandering the canals that fill the old city; dining at the No Hands Restaurant, where his waitress feeds him like a baby; or launching his own notably unsuccessful career as a gigolo. A guide without inhibitions, Osborne takes us to a feverish place where a strange blend of ancient Buddhist practice and new sexual mores has created a version of modernity only superficially indebted to the West. Bangkok Days is a love letter to the city that revived Osborne's faith in adventure and the world.

Somerset Maugham
Somerset Maugham

Author: Jeffrey Meyers

Publisher: Vintage

Published: 2010-04-28

Total Pages: 434

ISBN-13: 0307491110

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An instinctive and magnificent storyteller, Somerset Maugham was one of the most popular and successful writers of his time. He published seventy-eight books -- including the undisputed classics Of Human Bondage and The Razor’s Edge -- which sold over 40 million copies in his lifetime. Born in Paris to sophisticated parents, Willie Maugham was orphaned at the age of ten and brought up in a small English coastal town by narrow-minded relatives. He was trained as a doctor, but never practiced medicine. His novel Ashenden, based on his own espionage for Britain in World War I, influenced writers from Eric Ambler to John le Carr?. After a failed affair with an actress, he married another man’s mistress, but reserved his greatest love for a man who shared his life for nearly thirty years. He traveled the world and spoke several languages. Despite a debilitating stutter, and an acerbic and formal manner, he entertained literary celebrities and royalty at his villa in the south of France. He made a fortune from his writing--the short story “Rain” alone earned him a million dollars–yet true critical recognition, and the esteem of his literary peers, eluded him. The life of Somerset Maugham, as told by acclaimed biographer Jeffrey Meyers, is an intriguing, glamorous, complex, and extraordinary account of one of the twentieth century’s most enduring writers. From the Trade Paperback edition.

Rainy Day Ramen and the Cosmic Pachinko
Rainy Day Ramen and the Cosmic Pachinko

Author: Gordon Vanstone

Publisher: Monsoon Books

Published: 2021-03-01

Total Pages: 313

ISBN-13: 191204983X

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Unemployed, broke and engaged in a telepathic turf war with a feral cat behind an Okinawa convenience store, 28-year-old Fred Buchanan is hopelessly lost in life. After a fortuitous bet on the island bullfights, he boards a ferry to Kobe then a slow train to Tokyo, chasing shadows of a halogen dream. Back in Tokyo, past and present collide as an empty orchestra croons a slow dance of people and place, memory and madness, loss and love. Charging through Tokyo's neon jungle, enveloped in a boozy, nicotine-stained haze, Fred is determined to be an agent of his destiny and not another ball bearing bouncing through the cosmic pachinko. Perhaps Fred's contentment, his rainy day ramen, lies in the warm embrace of Yukie, with strips of delicious thigh and mysterious powers imbued in the etched eye on her fingernail. If only he can exit her stop and resist the self-destructive inclination to journey to the end of the line to confront the truths or lies which lay there. Rainy Day Ramen and the Cosmic Pachinko is told in two distinct overlapping and interwoven formats. Join Fred's drunken, staggering, metaphysical odyssey from Okinawa to Tokyo, and his search for meaning beyond the physical path trodden. The novel blends Murakami-esque magical realism with a coming-of-age on-the-road story.

The Gentleman's House
The Gentleman's House

Author: Robert Kerr

Publisher: Andesite Press

Published: 2015-08-08

Total Pages: 578

ISBN-13: 9781297497964

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This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work was reproduced from the original artifact, and remains as true to the original work as possible. Therefore, you will see the original copyright references, library stamps (as most of these works have been housed in our most important libraries around the world), and other notations in the work. This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work.As a reproduction of a historical artifact, this work may contain missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.

A Gentleman of Fortune
A Gentleman of Fortune

Author: Anna Dean

Publisher: Macmillan + ORM

Published: 2011-03-29

Total Pages: 338

ISBN-13: 1429967838

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Second in the historical British mystery series featuring “a masterpiece of detection, a Miss Marple-esque character both razor sharp and kindly” (Louise Penny, #1 New York Times–bestselling author). With all the charm of a Georgette Heyer novel, the sequel to Bellfield Hall finds Miss Dido Kent vacationing at the home of her cousin. When a neighbor passes away quite suddenly, Dido feels she is ideally placed to observe the reaction of the community, but her suitor, Mr. William Lomax, feels otherwise. As Dido presses on, she learns more about the dirty dealings among the upper classes of Surrey than even she could have imagined. Anna Dean has crafted a delightful historical mystery series; the next best thing to reading Jane Austen. “Delightful. The clever puzzle and pitch-perfect Regency prose will charm readers.” —Kirkus Reviews (starred review) “The plight of a gentleman raised in luxury yet entirely dependent on the good will of elderly relatives will resonate with fans of Jane Austen’s Emma.” —Publishers Weekly

I Serve: A Novel of the Black Prince
I Serve: A Novel of the Black Prince

Author: Rosanne E. Lortz

Publisher: Rosanne Lortz

Published: 2009-06

Total Pages: 375

ISBN-13: 0979214548

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A Tale of ARMS, of DEATH, of LOVE, and of HONOR Set against the turbulent backdrop of the Hundred Years' War, I Serve chronicles the story of Sir John Potenhale. A young Englishman of lowly birth, Potenhale wins his way to knighthood on the fields of France. He enters the service of Edward, the Black Prince of Wales, and immerses himself in a stormy world of war, politics, and romantic intrigue. While campaigning in France, Potenhale develops an interest in Margery, a spirited lady-in-waiting with a close-kept secret. He soon learns that Sir Thomas Holland, a crass and calculating baron, holds the key to unlock Margery's mystery and possesses the power to overturn all of his hopes. When the Black Death strikes Europe, however, Potenhale realizes that the fiercest enemy does not always appear in human form. Seeing the pestilence as a punishment for the sins of his generation, he questions his calling as a knight and considers entering the cloister. Margery or the monastery? Torn between losing his soul and losing the love of his life, he finds friendship with a French knight who might-just possibly-help him save both.