The Flight of the Falcon -- BOOK BEGINNINGS

 

BOOK BEGINNINGS ON FRIDAYS

I've been reading one Daphne du Maurier book each month since last November as part of a du Maurier buddy read group on Instagram. I love the immersive reading experience and the lively chat of the group. 

This month we are reading The Flight of the Falcon, a murder mystery, campus novel, family drama set in a fictional Italian hill town contemporaneously when it was written in the early 1960s. There is a lot going on in this story and it has my full attention. I only have 50 pages left and can't wait to see how it ends. 

Thanks for joining me on Book Beginnings on Fridays to share the opening sentence (or so) from the book you are enjoying this week. It can be the book you are reading or just a book that caught your fancy. 

MY BOOK BEGINNING

We were right on time. Sunshine Tours informed its passengers on the printed itinerary that their coach was due at the Hotel Splendido, Rome, at approximately 1800 hours. 

-- from The Flight of the Falcon by Daphne du Maurier.  I usually only share the very first sentence, but this one sows nothing of the story. At least with the second sentence, we know a little more of what to expect. At least we know we are in Rome. 

YOUR BOOK BEGINNINGS

Please add the link to your Book Beginning post in the linky box below. If you share on social media, please use the #bookbeginnigns hashtag. 

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THE FRIDAY 56

The Friday 56 hosted by Freda's Voice is a natural tie in with this event and there is a lot of cross over, so many people combine the two. The idea is to post a teaser from page 56 of the book you are reading and share a link to your post. Find details and the Linky for your Friday 56 post on Freda’s Voice.

MY FRIDAY 56

From The Flight of the Falcon:

Mrs. Bloom glided towards me, a frigate in full sail. “Now, Mr. Fabio, you’ll not refuse champagne?”

Evelyn Waugh Bibliography -- BOOK LIST

 

EVELYN WAUGH

Evelyn Waugh (October 28, 1903 - April 10, 1966) was an English author who wrote novels, short stories, travel books, biographies, and other nonfiction. He is probably best known for his novel, Brideshead Revisited, in part because it was made into an extremely popular tv miniseries in the 1980s, starring Jeremy Irons and Anthony Andrews. 

I first read Brideshead in college and have reread it twice since. I came much later to Waugh's other books, starting with Scoop, a hilarious satire of newspaper life. Just thinking of the premise of sending the gardening columnist to be a war correspondent makes me laugh. I've since read several others, which are darkly funny and much different than Brideshead. I hope to read all his book eventually.

Below is a list of Waugh's published books, with notes about whether I've read them, they are on my TBR shelf, or if they are available as an audiobook from my library. Unless noted, the book is a novel. This list does not include juvenilia or short pieces not published in book form.

• 1980 The Letters of Evelyn Waugh: 1914-1966

• 1976 The Diaries of Evelyn Waugh: 1919-1965

• 1964 A Little Learning: the First Volume of an Autobiography (autobiography)

• 1961 Unconditional Surrender (aka End of the Battle; Sword of Honor trilogy, Book Three) TBR SHELF

• 1960 A Tourist in Africa (travel writing)

• 1959 The Life of the Right Reverend Ronald Knox (biography)

• 1957 The Ordeal of Gilbert Pinfold TBR SHELF

• 1955 Officers and Gentlemen (Sword of Honor trilogy, Book Two) TBR SHELF

• 1953 Love Among the Ruins (novella)

• 1952 The Holy Places (travel writing)

• 1952 Men at Arms (Sword of Honor trilogy, Book One) TBR SHELF

• 1950 Helena TBR SHELF

• 1949 Work Suspended and Other Stories (short stories) TBR SHELF (The Complete Stories)

• 1948 The Loved One TBR SHELF

• 1946 When the Going Was Good (an anthology from earlier books; travel writing) TBR SHELF

• 1945 Brideshead Revisited FINISHED

• 1942 Put Out More Flags TBR SHELF

• 1939 Robbery Under Law (aka Mexico: an Object-Lesson; travel writing)

• 1938 Scoop FINISHED

• 1936 Waugh in Abyssinia 

• 1935 Edmund Campion: Jesuit and Martyr (biography)

• 1934 Ninety-two Days: The Account of a Tropical Journey Through British Guiana and Part of Brazil (travel writing)

• 1934 A Handful of Dust FINISHED

• 1932 Black Mischief TBR SHELF

• 1931 Remote People (aka They Were Still Dancing; travel writing)

• 1930 Labels: A Mediterranean Journal (aka A Bachelor Abroad; travel writing) 

• 1930 Vile Bodies FINISHED

• 1928 Rossetti: His Life and Works (biography)

• 1928 Decline and Fall FINISHED

NOTES

Waugh's travel writing was published in a 2003 omnibus collection by Everyman's Library called 

Waugh Abroad: The Collected Travel Writing. Many of the individual volumes are out of print and hard to find, so I linked to this omnibus. 

There is a book of Complete Short Stories in Work Suspended; the hard to find novella, Love Among the Ruins; and other short fiction. 

There are several biographies of Evelyn Waugh. The one I have and intend to read is Evelyn Waugh: A Life Revisited by Philip Eade.