Book Beginnings on Friday & The Friday 56: Of Human Bondage by W Somerset Maugham

Every Friday Book Beginnings on Friday is hosted by Gillion at Rose City Reader where you can share the first sentence (or so) of the book you are reading. You can also share from a book you want to highlight just because it caught your fancy.

I’m featuring Of Human Bondage by W Somerset Maugham one of the Chunksters I wrote about in this post. I bought this book in 2008 and I still haven’t read it – probably because it is such a big thick book of 700 pages that it is really unwieldy, hard to hold and so tightly bound I can hardly open it. And the print is quite small!

Book Beginning:

The day broke grey and dull. The clouds hung heavily, and there was a rawness in the air that suggested snow.

Also every Friday there is The Friday 56, hosted by Freda at Freda’s Voice, where you grab a book and turn to page 56 (or 56% of an eBook), find one or more interesting sentences (no spoilers), and post them.

Page 56:

And tonight he sank on his knees, buried his face in his hands, and prayed to God with all his might that He would make his clubfoot whole. It was a very small thing beside the moving of mountains. He knew that God could do it if he wished, and his own faith was complete. Next morning, finishing his prayers with the same request, he fixed a date for the miracle.

Description from Goodreads:

Of Human Bondage is the first and most autobiographical of Maugham’s masterpieces. It is the story of Philip Carey, an orphan eager for life, love and adventure. After a few months studying in Heidelberg, and a brief spell in Paris as would-be artist, Philip settles in London to train as a doctor.

And that is where he meets Mildred, the loud but irresistible waitress with whom he plunges into a formative, tortured and masochistic affair which very nearly ruins him.

~~~

What do you think, does it appeal to you? What are you currently reading?

5 thoughts on “Book Beginnings on Friday & The Friday 56: Of Human Bondage by W Somerset Maugham

  1. I loved Human Bondage and it’s one I think of often, well worth reading all 700 pages. I’m sorry for the unwieldyness and small print though, difficult to read in bed!

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  2. Thanks, Jane – I noticed your comment on my previous post that you think Of Human Bondage is absolutely brilliant, which made me have a look at it first. It certainly promises to be good.

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  3. So, that’s what Of Human Bondage is about! I’ve heard of the book but have never been tempted to read it. I’m spotlighting The Cater Street Hangman which is the first in a series I’ve been meaning to read for a while. Happy reading!

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