I read a bit of Maugham in my teens and early twenties and this memoir had been on the shelf a while, nudged off after reading Tan Twan Eng's wonderful [The House of Doors] which has Maugham as a central character.

Maugham said of his writing that he had no imagination, he was just a storyteller, reshaping the stories of lives he knew or had heard about. And he did it very well. Writing was the most important thing in his life, it was where he didn't compromise. Three hours with the pen every morning. At the outset he was a playwright, then a short story writer, then a novelist. He also wrote essays and memoir. When he felt he ran out of steam in any of these he would simply stop doing them. He had stories backed up in his head, sometimes bubbling over years.

Because he was sometimes uninterested in disguising the source of his characters, he often got in hot water, although many people were flattered even to have some of their dirty linen aired in public.

He had an unhappy childhood, homosexual in an era it was not accepted, so happiness in itself was not something he expected to enjoy, although as long as he could write and travel, there was much happiness to be had, and becoming a successful creative he became a very wealthy man, and was very generous with that wealth.

Trapped into a marriage that lasted for many years, he was a father and grandfather. Although at the end of his life due to the interference of the man who for many years had been his secretary, the relations with his daughter had been strained, for quite a long period before that she and her family had been part of his life.

Maugham had a great capacity for friendship, and was a connoisseur of style and art. He died in his mid-80s in France, where he had a home. His ashes are buried in Cambridge, UK.

I have volume 1 of his collected short stories out of the library, and aim to read them through the winter. His most famous story 'Rain' is very fine. ( )

The Secret Lives of Somerset Maugham: A Biography by Selina Hastings is a compelling and comprehensive review of Maugham and his works. I learned to my surprise that Maugham first made it big as a dramatist. I never heard of his plays before and they aren't staged today but they are what made him very rich. They were often mounted in the West End and in Broadway. His was a very unhappy childhood as he lost his mother very young and was farmed out to a clerical uncle in remote England who was anything but fun. It was a lonely childhood, but his adulthood was in many ways not much better. He was unhappy, made a terrible marriage, began writing fiction and became a success at it.His fiction is best known for his short stories which are indeed wonderful. He reportedly made $1 million from his short story RAIN which is truly a masterpiece that I have read several times. He felt forced to conceal his homosexual life which only led to unhappiness. He lived to a ripe old age and his final years were awful. The book will incite you to read more of his extensive works. The book is definitely worth a detour. ( )

I am a big fan of Somerset Maugham's and enjoyed reading this comprehensive biography. He led a fascinating life and it was interesting to identify bits and pieces of his life that appear in his books. Maugham was raised in France so French became his first language. Orphaned at a young age, he moved back to England to be raised by his uncle, a vicar in a country parish. It was not a happy childhood and Maugham was teased for his stutter and never really fit in. After completing his formal education, Maugham traveled abroad for a year before enrolling in medical school in London. Maugham was a prolific reader and a natural writer. Although he finished medical school, he chose to write instead of practice medicine. It takes a few years for Maugham to have success writing but ultimately he enjoys a lucrative career as a playwright, then later as an author of short stories and novels. Maugham served as a spy in Russia during WWI and participated in propaganda efforts in the US during WWII. Maugham was immensely popular worldwide and many of his stories were turned into Hollywood movies. Homosexuality was a crime in England so Maugham spent most of his time at his villa in southern France and traveling. Although he was married for many years and had a daughter, Maugham preferred men and spent most of his life with live in boyfriends who worked fronted as his secretary. ( )

I am an enormous fan of Somerset Maugham; one of the happiest days in my life as a reader came when I was in London a few years ago, and I stumbled across the complete works in hardbook in a second-hand shop on the Charing Cross Road. I was supposed to be travelling light, but ended up putting all twenty-six volumes into my suitcase and carrying the rest of my holiday luggage home in Tesco bags.

I didn't know much of his life, however, until I read Hastings's account, and I am rather glad that this was my first exposure to the real Maugham, given the controversy that surrounds his other biographers.

Hastings gives everything that I would have asked in her book, including a detailed and intriguing life history, peppered with quotes from Maugham and his contemporaries, and analyses of his most major works. As an aspiring writer myself it was especially interesting to learn what had inspired Maugham to create his best works of fiction, and how he developed as a writer.

The close attention to detail did have one drawback, and by necessity. The last chapters are almost intolerably sad, as we see Maugham accelerate into old age, lose his lover, Gerald Haxton, and be betrayed by his closest friend, Alan Searle. I have not been this moved by a book since I finished Bolano's 2666, and had this biography been a work of fiction I imagine I might have enjoyed it - and been saddened - just as much. ( )

I have actually only read about 5 Somerset Maugham novels - (I have 2 more on tbr) - but I bought this large biography, as I had read 2 other brilliant literary biography's's by Selina Hastings. This is also excellent, Selina Hastings manages to bring her subject faithfully to life, and I came to really love Williie Maugham. Some of the people he was constantly surrounded by were not quite so lovable. Maugham's extreme loathing of his wife Syrie - often seems out of all proportion, and yet I found myself able to sympathise with him a bit even over his terrible failure as a husband and father. His activities with British intelligence during the two wars is fascinating as was his extensive travels. Maugham rubbed shoulders with many famous names over his long life, and included in this biography are fascinating anecdotes, and excerts from letters that well demonstrate the circles in which he moved and the affection with which he was held by most. Alongside Maugham and his friends we meet, Noel Coward, The Duke and Duchess of Windsor, Hugh Walpole, and Winson Churchill. The book comes to a rather sad conclusion however, as Maugham in his nineties, his mind somewhat gone, was dreadfully betrayed by someone who had been close to him for years, this betrayal ruined Maugham's last few years, and destroyed his relationship with his only daughter. ( )