Books with title Merry-Go-Round

Excerpt from The Merry-Go-RoundWith one of her relations only, Miss Dwarris found it need ful to observe a certain restraint, for Miss Ley, perhaps the most distant of her cousins, was as plain-spoken as herself, and had, besides, a far keener wit whereby she could turn rash statements to the utter ridicule of the Speaker. Nor did Miss Dwarris precisely dislike this independent Spirit; she looked upon her in fact with a certain degree of affection and not a little fear. Miss Ley, seldom lacking a repartee, ap peared really to enjoy the verbal contests, from which, by her greater urbanity, readiness, and knowledge, she usually emerged victorious: it confounded, but at the same time almost amused, the elder lady that a woman so much poorer than herself, with no smaller claims than others to the cov eted inheritance, should venture not only to be facetious at her expense, but even to carry war into her very camp. Miss Ley, really not grieved to find some one to whom without prickings of conscience she could speak her whole mind, took a grim pleasure in pointing out to her cousin the poor logic of her observations or the foolish unreason of her acts. N o cherished Opinion of Miss Dwarris was safe from satire - even her evangelicism was laughed at, and the rich old woman, un used to argument, was easily driven into self-contradiction.About the PublisherForgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.comThis book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

Somerset Maugham was one of the world's most prolific and popular authors. He wrote with great facility and at one time had four plays running simultaneously in four different London theaters. He was trained as a doctor, and he must have been good: his observations are truthful and free of sentiment. His books are a tonic. The "merry-go-round" was his term for London at the turn of the century. His narrator, Miss Ley, is a shrewd and amusing elderly spinster, something like Maugham in drag. A born commentator, she acts like a Greek chorus. The world may be mad, she seems to say, but it is amusing.

Those defining moments in our lives - the ones that change us, even if we don't realize it at the time - become a part of our soundtrack. They play back in an infinite loop, sometimes to teach us, and sometimes to allow us to help others. Turn up the volume and let the music take you back. Find yourself on that memory-go-round on the coast, where the lights reflect on the water with a magical sparkle that makes you believe anything is possible. Remember how far you've come already.Memory-Go-Round is a collection of short stories featuring those defining moments. Every character is on a different journey, but each has a choice to make and a past to face. They've all been changed somehow by their experiences, and they've grown (or maybe they're still trying to). You may find one or two who feel like old friends. I won't say that's not intentional. Most of these characters are not as alone as they might believe themselves to be. I hope the same holds true for you.You'll also find a variety of genres in these pages - mystery, romance, a little taste of the paranormal, suspense, action adventure, drama, historical fiction, a few nonfiction pieces (because they're stranger than fiction, right?), and even a political satire. Thanks to several writing contests, I was able to explore beyond my comfort zone and try some new styles and voices. I would highly encourage all authors to participate in creative challenges - they're great writing workouts!If you've read my first two books, Can't Bring Me Down and Wherever I Find Myself, you'll recognize a few stories, as well. I included them in this collection because they're special to me, and they carry messages that I believe are important to share. It was my friendship with my beautiful little buddy Brianna that first inspired me to publish, and all of the wonderful friends we made since we met who have supported and encouraged me since, so stories promoting advocacy and inclusion for people with special needs will always be a part of my books. Round and round we go....

Leopold Classic Library is delighted to publish this classic book as part of our extensive collection. As part of our on-going commitment to delivering value to the reader, we have also provided you with a link to a website, where you may download a digital version of this work for free. Many of the books in our collection have been out of print for decades, and therefore have not been accessible to the general public. Whilst the books in this collection have not been hand curated, an aim of our publishing program is to facilitate rapid access to this vast reservoir of literature. As a result of this book being first published many decades ago, it may have occasional imperfections. These imperfections may include poor picture quality, blurred or missing text. While some of these imperfections may have appeared in the original work, others may have resulted from the scanning process that has been applied. However, our view is that this is a significant literary work, which deserves to be brought back into print after many decades. While some publishers have applied optical character recognition (OCR), this approach has its own drawbacks, which include formatting errors, misspelt words, or the presence of inappropriate characters. Our philosophy has been guided by a desire to provide the reader with an experience that is as close as possible to ownership of the original work. We hope that you will enjoy this wonderful classic book, and that the occasional imperfection that it might contain will not detract from the experience.