W. Somerset Maugham

A little history first. William Somerset Maugham, born in 1874 and died in 1965, was a British playwright, novelist and short story writer.He lost both parents by the age of 10 and was raise by a paternal uncle who was emotionally cold. Not wanting to become a lawyer like other men in his family, he eventually trained and qualified as a doctor. The first run of his first novel, Liza of Lambeth, sold out so quickly that he gave up medicine to write full time.

During WWI he served with the Red Cross and in the ambulance corps before being recruited in 1916 into the British Secret Intelligence Service. During and after the war, he travelled in India and Southeast Asia. All of these experiences were reflected in later short stories and novels.

First of all, wow! I had no idea he led such a crazy and cool life. This fell out of a book of his, I assume it was pasted in the back of the book. Many older books do the paste in the author thing. Kind of odd, right? I mean, it's not like the author of this book will change. It will always be his novel. You'd think he'd get a permanent place in the book. Anyway, I read The Painted Veil and fell instantly in love with Maugham. I then rented the movie with Edward Norton and fell instantly in love with the movie. But now, whenever I see or hear Somerset Maugham's name, I see Edward Norton. And oddly enough, not his character in The Painted Veil, it's totally his character from The Illusionist. Oh, I can't not think of him in that long coat, sporting the goatee, my goodness. My goodness, indeed.