The Content Reader

It is some time since I posted here on two of my favourite memes or challenges, but now it is time. I recently read W. Somerset Maugham's The Moon and Sixpence  which I found wonderful. These memes are hosted by Rose City Reader and Freda's Voice. Book Beginnings on Fridays hosted by Rose City Reader I confess that when First I made acquaintance with Charles Strickland I never for a moment discerned that there was in him anything out of the ordinary. The Friday 56 hosted by Freda's Voice I had said all I had to say on the subject that had brought me to Paris, and though I felt it din a manner treacherous to Mrs. Strickland not to pursue it, I could not struggle against his indifference. It requires the feminine temperament to repeat the same thing three times with unabated zest.   Do we discern a little bit of sexism in the last sentence? A wonderful book, my review under link above. 

  I found this book on a flee market or second hand shop. I always wanted to read something by Maugham and I had heard a lot of good things about this one.  Based on the life of Paul Gauguin, The Moon and Sixpence is W. Somerset Maugham's ode to the powerful forces behind creative genius. Charles Strickland is a staid banker, a man of wealth and privilege. He is also a man possessed of an unquenchable desire to create art. As Strickland pursues his artistic vision, he leaves London for Paris and Tahiti, and in his quest makes sacrifices that leave the lives of those closest to him in tatters. Through Maugham's sympathetic eye, Strickland's tortured and cruel soul becomes a symbol of the blessing and the curse of transcendent artistic genius, and the cost in humans' lives it sometimes demands. This novel caught me from page one. Maybe it is the times in which it is written, or just the wonderful writing of Maugham. I have another book by him,  A Writer's Notebook  wh...