Saki Books

Hector Hugh Munro, who used the pen name Saki, is, along with Guy de Maupassant, O. Henry and Anton Chekhov, one of the most best writers of short stories in literature. This collection is well worth reading. I rate it at four stars because compared to the other aforementioned writers it has too narrow a focus. Saki's stories are almost unfailingly humorous and concerned with the foibles of upper middle class British society in the period from about 1890 until 1915. In this sense they lack the variety of O. Henry, the poignancy of Maupassant and the scope and harsh reality of Chekhov. The humor is also very, very British. This evaluation may be a bit unfair especially since all the other reviewers have given it 5 stars.

Having said all that, the stories are still very enjoyable and a delight to read. Many of the stories are about cynical young men, children behaving badly and often involve animals. Some are quite clever and funny in any culture. Most of them are quite short--three or four pages--and thus can be read in a brief period. One can read them while eating a meal, when riding on a bus or train, or in any situation where you have a few minutes to spare.

The book is divided into six parts, but this division is largely artificial and without real meaning. The first part (Reginald) deals with the affairs of a young man of that name. Reginald is a young man given to making sharp repartees to disrupt dinner parties. For example in the first story, which bears his name, he asks guests to their utter confusion, "What did the Caspian see?" In Reginald On Besetting Sins we find, "the cook was a good cook as cooks go; and as cooks go she went."

Part three, The Chronicles of Clovis, deals for the most part with another young man, the irrepressible Clovis, a seventeen-year-old scamp. Here we find perhaps Saki's most famous story, The Unrest Cure. Clovis is riding on a train when he overhears a man saying how boring his life is. Noting the man's address Clovis vows to make it less so. Upon arriving home the man receives a telegram saying that the bishop is coming to his house and his secretary will arrive shortly to make the arrangements. The secretary, Clovis of course, soon arrives and begins disrupting the life of the household. He informs the man that the bishop has arrived and is in the library and that the real purpose of the bishop's visit is to kill all the Jews in the town! The man is horrified and proposes to leave to get the police but Clovis tells him that the house is surrounded by people (including boy scouts!) with orders to kill anyone attempting to leave. Shortly thereafter local Jews began to show up in response to telegrams sent to them by Clovis. Chaos abounds and the man's boredom is definitely cured.

Saki's descriptions of people get right to the point: "He has delightful hair and a weak mouth. I shall take him with me to Homborg (sic) or Cairo." He describes a corpulent musician getting up from a nap thusly: "the musician's flabby redundant figure sat up in bewildered semi-consciousness like an ice cream that had been taught to beg." Then there is this description of the Salvation Army: " It was quite interesting to be at close quarters with them, they're so absolutely different to what they used to be when I first remembered them in the eighties. They used to go about unkempt and disheveled, in a sort of smiling rage with the world, and now they're spruce and jaunty and flamboyantly decorative, like a geranium bed with religious convictions."

Some of the better stories include The Lull about a politician who takes a respite from campaigning with the help of a precocious little girl; Dusk, a story about the dangers of believing people who ask you for money; The Story Teller, in which a man on a train tells a story to some children that they will never forget; Forewarned, in which a young woman who has been living isolated in a rural area all her life suddenly goes to visit in the city and finds the politics too much for her sensibilities; and Hyacinth, in which a small boy by that name disrupts an election.

The best story in my opinion is the one that isn't funny. The Image of the Lost Soul tells of a church statue (the Lost Soul) and a small bird who become friends. But there friendship proves fleeting and the church bell rings out the moral--"after joy comes sorrow." The last few stories are about war (Saki served in WW I and was killed by a sniper in 1916) and tend to be more reflective.

All in all these stories should not be missed.

For a perfect summer read try picking up an old favorite... this collection of the work of Saki (real name: Hector Hugh Munro) includes over 130 short stories, three novels and three plays and sports an introduction by Noel Coward. Though written 100 years ago, this vast body of work is amazingly fresh and contemporary. Many of the stories are under four pages long, but they manage to paint amusing pictures of the privileged class as seen through the eyes of an obviously gay, brilliant and somewhat bored young man who uses a sharp knife to pry up the upper crust and expose what's beneath. Sample the stories - his work is available on line - [.........]

Saki is the consummate stylist and chronicler of a stuffy Victorian England nearing the end of its reign and world dominance. He savors the comedy of manners with all its many class-based restrictions and inbred peculiarities and finds ways to highlight--through ironic twists of fate--the inherent and underlying pathos of a people so stuck on themselves they frequently are tripped up on their own vanities.Therein lies the "beauty" of a Saki short story: he fleshes out the quirks and peccadillos of human nature--its pomp and its farcical facets--and we come away the better (and ennobled) for it. If it's a Saki story--there's subtle mirth and magical missteps awaiting the reader.One wonders what great additions to his rather slim body of work there would've been had he not perished--fighting in the war that was supposed to end all war: World War I.... A man of "privilege" who purposely sought no special dispensation during the vicissitudes of warfare when mustard gas hung ominously in the air and men were often taken by disease sooner than they were by enemy fire. A short life it was for the "old boy," H.H. Munro...one that lives on in his brilliant body of work....Well-told tales that will live on as long as questing readers come calling at the "House of Saki."

Saki (H.H. Munro) writes with a facility and style that guides the reader unerringly to the surprise denouement in which propriety is set on its head. His bitingly clever turns of phrase are made bearable by his eagerness to challenge and thwart the norms of society.

If you like your reading to be effervescent with a bit of vinegar thrown in for effect, look no further. Saki is hilarious at his best--which is most of the time. His stories of the misadventures of his alter-ego Reginald are unsurpassed.

"The Open Window" is here-it is considered by Saki aficionados to be his best story and who am I to argue. On first reading, it has the same effect as a pail of ice water - a shock to the system, but bracing!

And for the perfect practical joke, described deliciously, do read, "Reginald's Christmas Revel." You will never look at a paper bag in quite the same way, thereafter.

Sadly, his life was cut short by the Great War. One of his own bon mots will say it all: "To die before being painted by Sargent is to go to heaven prematurely." Amen.

The book was unexpected as far as the "HEALING" process. i was glad it took in words of wisdom and analogies that pertained to all human problems in life. i was impressed by the book but have not read the whole thing yet. i have learned a lot about myself through the process.

This book provides an anecdotal overview of the impact of mindfulness in medicine by walking and talking the reader through the experience of a full course. It teaches about mindfulness in the context of healing, or living with disease, via the experiences of the participants and the course leaders. It's a great resource for anyone exploring the use of mindfulness exercises or programs as a healing aid. It also provides a lot of self help lessons for anyone who would like to try out the concepts without committing to a full class, or for someone without access to a mindfulness program.

I've read this little book several times, getting more and more from it with each rereading. I've also purchased several copies for friends. I've had the pleasure of attending a 7 day workshop with the author, and he is as sincere and charismatic as he is in this book. What a gift!!

I've read many books on healing. This book addresses healing in a deeply spiritual manner that is very easy to read, understand and implement.

I am just beginning graduate study in psychology, but I already consider this to be one of the truly indispensable books in the field. Saki is a brutally honest reporter of his own perceptions and feelings as he engages in the "healing relationship" as he teaches the MBSR program at UMassMed, and takes the reader deep into his view of what it means to "practice the healing arts", and invites us to consider the depth and meaning of our own journey into the field, as well as to begin our own journey into mindfulness.

See also "Full Catastrophe Living" by Jon Kabat-Zinn for a more practical, informational view of the MBSR program, and for the finest practical guide to mindfulness meditation yet written.

Probably the only sane response, as a writer, to Edwardian England was to skewer it mercilessly. And nobody serves up a finer kebab than Saki. These stories are clever and hilariously funny. I think part of their appeal is that, although Munro can be merciless, one always senses an underlying affection for his targets. It's also pretty clear that Saki's sympathies are with those who lack clout in the established power structure of Edwardian society (children, for example), which makes me like him all the more.

A very funny book.

This is one of my favorite and most admired books, ever. An ideal collection of ideal short stories - witty, brief yet complete, and not a word wasted in creating tone and point. Funny and satisfying. Unsettling and creepy. Deliberate use of language and vocabulary that cuts and exposes. All of the above. Unforgettable: The charging stag. The baby playing with buttercups. Schartz-Metterklume.

Recommended without reservation, for a single sitting or a one-a-night from the bedside table.

Saki's writing style is unique. His stories are mostly bleak and tragic. Some of his writing seems to have been influenced by his background and childhood experiences. However, they are amusing, interesting and tinged with humour.

Picador edition has wonderful, nicely written introduction that gives marvelous details of Saki's remarkable and short life, explaining well why his stories are usually so dark, and why he liked to take aim at stuffy old bats.

Nearly all of Saki's short stories are about some character exacting revenge upon cruel or shallow members of the British upper class. His writing sometimes feels labored and overwrought, with overlong sentences or ungainly descriptions. But his consistant style, sense of justice, and biting wit are the gems to be discovered within.

The earliest stories seemed to have a lack of balance between darkness and wit, but he did find his equilibrium and most of the later tales are deliciously satisfying.

Absolutely delightful reading if you liked Robert Altman's recent film Gosford Park, or if you are fed up with stuffy, mean upper class types.

If P.G.Wodehouse in "literature's performing flea" of light, easy, beautifully-turned literature of the quintessentially English house party, Saki's stories are the dark side: Wodehouse with acid. "The Unrest-Cure" probably one of the finest short stories ever written in the English language. If you like your humour astringent and your use of language tight then read these stories.

This fun little graphic novel is a collection of some twelve short stories and poems that were all written by the greats of modern horror literature - H.P. Lovecraft, Edgar Allan Poe, Saki (pen name of Hector Hugh Munro), Jack London, and others. Just as heterogeneous as the authors are the illustrators. Each of the stories was illustrated by a different artist, who drew the story as he or she saw fit, each different from the others and each excellent.

Overall, I thought that this was an excellent book, with great stories and wonderful illustration work. I think that my favorites were Lovecraft's The Thing on the Doorstep, W.W. Jacobs' Monkey's Paw, and Clark Ashton Smith's The Beast of Averoigne, with Bret Harte's Selina Sedilia being too funny to miss. Yep, this is a great book, one that my fourteen-year-old daughter and I both enjoyed and both highly recommend!

Horror Classics is a graphic novel anthology that brings to vivid life those great tales of terror by Edgar Allan Poe, H. P. Lovecraft, Clark Ashton Smith, and others. Each individual story is skillfully rendered into comic book format by a different artist, who uses black-and-white imagery to perfectly capture moments of terror. An engrossing introduction to the classics of horror for those new to the literary experience, and an exciting fresh take on great stories for those who have read them a hundred times before.

Horror has done well for the modern incarnation of the Graphic Classics, whose series has seen such luminaries as Bram Stoker, Edgar Allan Poe and HP Lovecraft brought to life by some extremely talented cartoonists. Whether it is the short-story nature, or the ready-made visually splendid imagery, there is something in the classic horror tales thats makes them well suited to the Graphic Classics treatment. Here, in the 10th volume, they have wisely continued this tradition, and assembled an anthology of classic horror stories to chill and delight.

"Horror Classics" brings together 12 authors, some of which, like HP Lovecraft , Jack London and Ambrose Bierce, have been previously honored with their own Graphic Classics collections. Others, like Clark Ashton Smith and Honre de Balzac, appear for the first time. All of the stories are well-chosen, and the artists's styles are well-matched.

This collection contains:

"The Mummy" - Ambrose Bierce - A short and witty poem, with a sharp illustration to match it.

"The Thing at the Doorstep" - HP Lovecraft - A brilliant take on one of my favorite Lovecraft stories. The artist manages to capture the "Innsmouth look" perfectly, and uses the author's original text combined with illustrations to great effect. "glub..glub...glub-glub..." You know what I mean.

"Some Words with a Mummy" - Edgar Allan Poe - A clever and light adaptation of a resurrected mummy bantering with a few scientists over which has the superior society.

"In a Far Off World" - Oliver Schreiner - An excellent, melancholy tale. One I have never read before, but am glad to be introduced to.

"The Thing at Ghent" - Honre de Balzac - Entirely dialog free, I am at a bit of a loss as to the actual story. Unfortunately, it is not such a familiar tale as to be able to divine the story from illustrations alone. The only disappointment in the lot.

"The Monkey's Paw" - WW Jacobs - Any fan of "The Simpsons" will recognize this one, although they may have never seen the original. The artist JW Pierard maintains the full weight of the original cautionary tale. Be careful what you wish for, and don't mess with unfamiliar magiks.

"The Open Window" - Saki - Another familiar tale, one that I have heard told but never knew the origin of. A clever almost-ghost story, well adapted in a simple Victorian style.

"A Day Dream" - Fitz-James O-Brien - Cartoonish musings on murder, and the high class going slumming in the Five Points.

"Keesh Son of Keesh" - Jack London - A dark and powerful tale of barbarian culture and blood-rights amongst the Native American tribes. Ryan Inzana's heavy woodblock illustrations perfectly compliment this heavy story.

"Professor Jonkin's Cannibal Plant" - Howard R. Garis - "Feed me, Seymour!" Another comedic adaptation, featuring a foolish professor and his frightening child.

"The Beast of Averoigne" - Clark Ashton Smith - A contemporary of Lovecraft, this tale of a wild comet, a haunted abbey, and the Ring of Eibon, is adapted with appropriate style.

"Selina Sedilia" - Bret Harte - A humorous look at love ever-after between two base villains. And of course, there is only one way to achieve love "ever-after."

Hector Hugh Munro, alias "Saki", exposes with sharp wit all the absurdities and hypocrisies found in the country houses and clubs of the upper classes in the 1910s. Some stories are witty, others macabre and acid because the author drives a knife into the upper crust of the English Edwardian society. And the characters of the self-possessed Clovis or the vain and stylish Reginald are simply unforgettable.

I remember finding this book in my mom's collection back when I was about 7 or 8 yrs old, and it's probably the reason I became a horror reader. The stories are all well-known classics (The Monkey's Paw being my favorite of the bunch), but it's the artwork that makes this a must-have. Each story is beautifully/grossly illustrated, and if they wouldnt scare guests, I'd frame the pages themselves! (Ya I'm sick!) If you can find it, get it!

Throughout the two decades from 1964 to 1984, Fontana published a remarkable skein of ghost story collections, piloted by R. Aikman and later by R. Chetwynd-Hayes, no mean supernatural authors themselves. Some of the paperbacks in this series, which winds its way up to the "20th Fontana Book of Great Ghost Stories" are now collectors' items and worth over a hundred dollars apiece.

For this fourth book in the series, Robert Aickman selected eleven supernatural tales, including Alexander Pushkin's "The Queen of Spades" which was also made into an opera--an unusual fate for a ghost story!

These are the tales in the 4th Fontana Book of Great Ghost Stories:

"The Accident" by Ann Bridge--Many great ghost stories are set in the Alps and this is one of them. A pair of climbers, brother and sister, come across a set of tracks that begin in an open snowfield, near the place where two other climbers had fallen to their deaths a month earlier. Then the sister begins to receive postcards from one of the dead climbers.

"Not on the Passenger List" by Barry Pain--A young widow takes passage on a ship to England, where she is to remarry. Her late husband appears in her cabin and tries to persuade her to drown herself.

"The Sphinx without a Secret" by Oscar Wilde--Aikman cheated by including this story, which has no ghost. A mysterious young woman is confronted by her fiancé, who breaks off their engagement.

"When I was Dead" by Vincent O'Sullivan--A young man witnesses his own funeral.

"The Queen of Spades" by Alexander Pushkin--An 87-year-old Countess dies before revealing her supposed secret for winning at cards. Her ghost appears to the man who frightened her to death, revealing the cards he needed to play in order to win a fortune. Would you trust the ghost of the woman you frightened to death?

"Pargiton and Harby" by Desmond MacCarthy-- Harby meets his old friend, Pargiton who seems to be making amends for an ill-spent life. Pargiton begs Harby to visit him, because he seems to bring out the best in the reformed evil-doer. Harby comes, but so does something else.

"The Snow" by Hugh Walpole--The two Mrs. Ryders, one of them dead, battle over their meek, inoffensive husband.

"Carlton's Father" by Eric Ambrose--I would classify this story as science fiction, since it involves a time warp, disguised as a room in Carlton's house, where no-one ages.

"A School Story" by M.R. James--Two men reminisce over the ghost stories that were told about their public schools. One of them concerns a master with a homicidal past.

"The Wolves of Cernogratz" by Saki--Wolves howl around the castle when one of the Cernogratz family dies.

"Mad Monkton" by William Wilkie Collins--Generations of the reclusive Monkton family suffered from hereditary insanity. Alfred, last of the Monkton line falls in love with the beautiful young Ada, but before he can propose to her, he must travel to Italy to recover the body of his Uncle Stephen, the black sheep of the Monkton family, who was killed in a duel. Everyone thinks Alfred is crazy for trying to recover the body, but an old family prophecy and the ghost of Uncle Stephen urge him onward.

Nearly fifty years ago, in the mid-sized Midwestern town where I spent many of my formative years, with some windfall paper route money, I purchased the Modern Library edition of "Great Tales of Terror and the Supernatural" (published by Random House, edited by Herbert A Wise and Phyllis Fraser). That particular edition was eventually worn out from extensive reading and re-reading and had long since disappeared from my possession; but several months ago, at a Montgomery County Public Library sale in Troy, North Carolina, thanks the alertness of my sharp-eyed wife, I purchased, for a mere pittance, the *original* edition of this book, published in 1944; it was like encountering a long-lost friend! The dedication page consists of an Old Scotch Invocation: "FROM GHOULIES AND GHOSTIES AND LONG-LEGGED BEASTIES AND THINGS THAT GO BUMP IN THE NIGHT, GOOD LORD DELIVER US!". Of interest also is that on the publication page the following appears: "THIS IS A WARTIME BOOK - The Text is complete and unabridged, but every effort has been made to comply with the Government's request to conserve essential materials." It was in my Modern Library edition that, as a teen-ager, I first read classic supernatural stories by Algernon Blackwood (the well-known "Ancient Sorceries" and the lesser-known "Confession" [but not "The Willows" or "The Wendigo"]), F(rancis) Marion Crawford ("The Screaming Skull" [but not "The Upper Berth"]), M(ontague) R(hodes) James ("Casting the Runes" [my favorite of all of his 30 stories] and "Oh Whistle and I'll Come to You My Lad"; both stories, incidentally, illustrate James's adroit and effective handling of understatement), H(oward) P(hilips) Lovecraft ("The Rats in the Walls" and "The Dunwich Horror"), Arthur Machen ("The Great God Pan" [but not "The Inmost Light"]), Oliver Onions ("The Beckoning Fair One"), Edgar Allan Poe (the well-known story "The Black Cat" and the lesser-known but even more disturbing "The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar"), and Edgar Lukas White (the eerie "Lunkundoo"). Also among the 52 stories in this collection are some powerfully-effective adventure stories: Richard Connell's "The Most Dangerous Game", Geoffrey Household's "Taboo", Carl Stephenson's "Leiningen versus the Ants", and H.G. Wells's "Pollock and the Porroh Man". (Undoubtedly because of the publication date, there is nothing here by Robert Aickman [e.g., "The Inner Room"], Clive Barker [e.g., "In the Hills, The Cities"], Stephen King [e.g., "Dolan's Cadillac" {terror} or "The Mist" {supernatural/preternatural], or Joyce Carol Oates [e.g., "Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?"]). The editors provide an Introduction, an Introduction to the Notes, and interesting and comprehensive biographical sketches of each of the authors. Over the past few months, I have enjoyed becoming re-acquainted with these stories. Although there now exist more modern collections of these types of stories (e.g. David Hartwell's "The Dark Descent", "The Oxford Book of English Ghost Stories", and "Roald Dahl's Book of Ghost Stories"), this out-of-print book is well worth acquiring, if you should be fortunate enough to happen upon it in an estate collection auction, at a library sale, in a thrift store, or at a used-book seller's.

I saw the six episode OAV for Please Save My Earth long ago, fan subs and all. The series immediately captured my heart, and has been one of my all-time favorites for years. It's truly masterful storytelling, and the first volume is too hilarious for words ^^

Since I find the synopsis provided by the site unstatysfying, I'll help you out. Alice is a really shy, passive girl that just moved to Tokyo from far-off Hokkaido. She has an odd gift for communicating with plants and animals, so the urban setting doesn't thrill her much. To top things off, she's not fitting in at school, and her bratty (and cruel!) seven year old neighbor, Kobayashi Rin, torments her constantly. She ends up overhearing an (coughcough) *odd* conversation between classmate Ogura Jinpachi and his (coughcough) *friend* Nishikiori Issei. Alice, embarrassed to no end, runs off, but not before she steps on a leaf, notifying them of her presence. Later, Alice takes Rin to the zoo, where she runs into these two again. In an effort to clear up the misunderstanding, Jinpachi takes Alice and co. to a nearby coffee shop and begins to explain their situation. Turns out, he and his buddy Issei have been having dreams in a common setting since middle school, involving the same people and times. In this dream life, they are alien scentists living on a moon base, studying the Earth they adore from afar. Alice, fascinated by their story, is swept up in the magic of it all. But when an accident occurs, and feelings are running amok (as should happen in the shoujo manga world), Alice finds herself wrapped up in this "story" far more than she could have ever guessed...

Saki Hiwatari is truly a master of crafting a story and it's characters. Issei is my favorite because I'm in a situation so similar to his, I can truly relate to it. Her characters are so real, and the story is so magical and compelling. It takes some practice remembering all the names (Shion Mokuren Gyokuran Enju Shushuran Hiiragi Shukaido, say THAT 5 times fast!), but it's really easy to get into once you get the hang of it. PLEASE don't let the old school art deter you (PSME is from the 80's, after all...), it's really charming in it's own way, and it improves as Hiwatari-san gets closer to her characters.

For fans of the old OAVs- READ THIS. It has more comedy and more filler, and it actually FINISHES THE STORY!! The 6 OAVs could not possibly convey all that happens in this manga (spanning 20 plus volumes!!). This is a must-read, you heard it straight from the Otaku's mouth.

I think that this book sums up the series very well. It ends it quite nicely with a 'Four years later' recap of what every one is up to. There's nothing else to say about it exept: THIS BOOK ROCKS!!!!!!! I wonderful ending for a wonderful series.