Saki

Although I have referred to on-line books I have never read one in its entirety. This may change. Fullbooks.com is one of many books on line sites but when I explored it I found Saki's "The Unbearable Bassington", a book I read and thoroughly enjoyed many years ago and have never been able to find since. Saki was the pen-name of H.H. Munro. I have started reading it on-line and we'll see how I get on with it.


Hector Hugh Munro was a British writer who was born in 1870 and died in WWI. At the start of the War, although 43 and officially over age, Munro joined the Royal Fusiliers regiment of the British Army as an ordinary soldier, refusing a commission. More than once he returned to the battlefield when officially still too sick or injured to fight. He was sheltering in a shell crater near Beaumont-Hamel, France in November 1916 when he was killed by a German sniper.

His witty and sometimes macabre stories satirized Edwardian society and culture. He is considered a master of the short story and is often compared to O. Henry and Dorothy Parker. His tales feature delicately drawn characters and finely judged narratives. In addition to his short stories (which were first published in newspapers, as was the custom of the time, and then collected into several volumes) he also wrote plays and "When William Came", subtitled A Story of London Under the Hohenzollerns, an early alternate history. He is noted for having influenced the writings of A. A. Milne, Noël Coward, and P. G. Wodehouse.

P.S. If you want to find more sites with books on line try the list at education-portal.com