Somerset Maugham

A recent addition to Merrick Library's Biography section is "The Secret Lives of Somerset Maugham" by Selma Hastings (Random House). Spotlighted in the July 25 New York Times Book Review, this volume is the first biography in over twenty years and by far the most intimate about one of the most prolific authors in English literature history. W. Somerset Maugham (1874-1965) produced novels, short stories and plays during parts of eight consecutive decades beginning in the 1890s. By the 1930s Maugham was by all accounts the highest paid writer in the world.
"Being Julia," the 2004 motion picture for which Annette Bening won a Golden Globe for Best Actress, was based on Maugham's 1937 novella "Theatre." "The Painted Veil," a 2007 film drama starring Naomi Watts and Edward Norton, was adapted from Maugham's 1925 novel of the same name. Both films are in Merrick's DVD collection.

Merrick Library also has the following fiction by W. Somerset Maugham:

The Causarina Tree: Six Stories
Liza of Lambeth/Cakes and Ale/Theatre (in one volume)
The Moon and Sixpence
Of Human Bondage
The Painted Veil (in Paperback section)
The Razor's Edge

And these volumes about Maugham:

W. Somerset Maugham and His World - Frederic Raphael (biography)
W. Someset Maugham: A Study of the Short Fiction - Stanley Archer (criticism)

Story of the Week.

Every Monday The Library of America features a new Story of the Week. It could be anything: a short work of fiction, a character sketch, an essay, a journalist's dispatch, a poem. It could be Stephen Crane's "The Black Dog" or George Jean Nathan's "Baiting the Umpire." What is certain is that it will be memorable, because every story is from one of the hundreds of classic works of American literature published by The Library of America.

Books to Movies.

The Switch
Cast: Jennifer Aniston, Jason Bateman, Jeff Goldblum, Patrick Wilson,
Juliette Lewis

Release Date: August 20th
Based on: The short story “Baster” by Jeffrey Eugenides

Kassie is a smart, fun-loving single woman who, despite her neurotic
best friend Wally’s objections, decides it’s time to have a baby ---
even if it means doing it by herself…with a little help from a
charming sperm donor. But, unknownst to her, Kassie’s plans go awry
because of a last-minute switch that isn’t discovered until seven
years later when Wally finally gets acquainted with Kassie’s cute ---
though slightly neurotic --- son.

Daniel Schorr

Longtime broadcast journalist and commentator Daniel Schorr died July 23 at age 93. A native of the Bronx, Schorr began his 23-year career with CBS News as a foreign correspondent landing the first televised interview with then-Soviet Union Premier Nikita Khrushchev in 1957. Later Schorr wound up on the "enemies list" of President Richard Nixon for his coverage of the Watergate scandal. In 1979 Schorr began the first chief Washington correspondent of the newly formed Cable News Network. From 1985 until July 10 of this year he provided analysis on current events for many National Public Radio news programs including a regular stint on the Saturday "Weekend Edition" anchored by Scott Simon. Daniel Schorr wrote a number of books in his later years including "Come to Think of It: Notes on the End of the Millenium" (Viking, 2008) which can be found at the Merrick Library.

New Summer Audiobook Arrivals!

Three women--Holly, Nicola, and Lexi--learn the path to true contentment and save each other in this humorous story about old rivalries, deep secrets, and the three things all women wish they were.




Two generations of women come together off the coast of Nantucket as they spend the summer in the family beach cottage. They're all there for different reasons: Chess is trying to mend her broken heart after her ex-fianc dies in a tragic accident; her sister, Tate, is eager to escape boredom and figure out what she really wants from life; their mother, Birdie, is still coming to terms with her divorce; and Birdie's sister, India, is trying to help them all—while dealing with her own secret pain.





Longtime politician's wife Sylvie is recovering from public humiliation, daughter Kate escaped a loveless marriage by having an unsuitable affair that's just burned her, and Kate's wild daughter Lizzie has just walked out on an abusive boyfriend.







Lily Fox, the baby of her family, sends her sister Abbie urgent emails begging her to return home to Nantucket. Their middle sister, Emma, has taken to her bed, emotionally devastated after the loss of her high-powered stockbroker's job and a shockingly unexpected break-up with her fiancé. Also, Lily is deeply worried that Marina, the beautiful, enigmatic woman renting their guesthouse, has set her sights on the sisters' widowed father, Jim.

"Faithful Place" by Tana French

New Fiction Title

Back in 1985, Frank Mackey was nineteen, growing up poor in Dublin's inner city, and living crammed into a small flat with his family on Faithful Place. But he had his sights set on a lot more. He and Rosie Daly were all ready to run away to London together, get married, get good jobs, break away from factory work and poverty and their old lives.

But on the winter night when they were supposed to leave, Rosie didn't show. Frank took it for granted that she'd dumped him-probably because of his alcoholic father, nutcase mother, and generally dysfunctional family. He never went home again.

Neither did Rosie. Everyone thought she had gone to England on her own and was over there living a shiny new life. Then, twenty-two years later, Rosie's suitcase shows up behind a fireplace in a derelict house on Faithful Place, and Frank is going home whether he likes it or not.

Getting sucked in is a lot easier than getting out again. Frank finds himself straight back in the dark tangle of relationships he left behind. The cops working the case want him out of the way, in case loyalty to his family and community makes him a liability. Faithful Place wants him out because he's a detective now, and the Place has never liked cops. Frank just wants to find out what happened to Rosie Daly-and he's willing to do whatever it takes, to himself or anyone else, to get the job done.

New York Times Literary Treat of the Week.....

Goodman, Allegra. The Cookbook Collection.

Are you looking for a pair of siblings to rival the Dashwood sisters in Austen’s “Sense and Sensibility?” Search no further than Emily and Jess Bach. The oldest, Emily is the CEO of a computer start-up company with longings for marriage and all that it traditionally entails. However, her beau Jonathan, a fellow computer executive, is proving someone not to be trusted with details about a breakthrough in Emily’s company. Meanwhile, Jess the perpetual graduate student is juggling attractions for a charismatic ecology crusader and George, an antiquarian book dealer who employs Jess part time. When a mystery woman’s enormous inheritance of cookbooks requires cataloging help, Microsoft stock retiree George sees a chance to seduce comely Jess with gourmet meals and the décor of his home. With numerous literary references and other equally compelling characters Goodman creates a journey to which Miss Austen herself would likely bestow approval.

Also by Allegra Goodman at Merrick Library:

The Family Markowitz
Intuition
Kaaterskill Falls
Paradise Park

Revieved by Librarian, Bob.