Recently finished: Farewell, My Lovely by Raymond Chandler.
Currently reading: Selected Short Stories of Guy de Maupassant, initially because I wanted to compare what is probably Maupassant's most famous story – his first work published under his own name, Boule de Suif – to one of my favorite films, John Ford's Stagecoach, which it fairly faithfully inspired (in a somewhat transliterated sense).
But Maupassant has a delicacy of tone, a very subtle and surprising wit, and masterful sense of people, all of which render most of his stories superb. Boule de Suif and Madame Tellier's Establishment (also adapted to film, as the middle of the triptych which forms Max Ophüls' Le Plaisir, and which features a key performance by the inimitable Jean Gabin) are the lengthier standouts of those stories I've read so far (I'm about halfway through the collection); however, Rust and The Conservatory are both delightfully wry interrogations of connubial conventions and stagnating relations, Two Friends is a bittersweet tale of simple pleasures amongst the plights of Prussian (and, by extension, any belligerent) occupation, while The Graveyard Sisterhood may be my favorite of his stories, modest and brief as it is.
Maupassant is really a master of the final paragraph (or paragraphs, in some cases), and owns a cutting but compassionate eye. I'd highly recommend at least checking out Boule de Suif, if nothing else — especially if you're a fan of Stagecoach, or any of the ilk of "captive group" films that Ford's first talkie western influenced.
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