Max Beerbohm (1) (1872–1956)

Quitting at 18%. I find the strange writing style with constantly inverted word order annoying, the tone irritating and the 'plot' slow to develop.

He's an engaging, albeit dated prose stylist, and he can be very amusing. But this book proceeds to it's conclusion, and then kind of meanders around for several more chapters. There are odd bits of business, like the ghosts of George Sand and Chopin dropping in on a central character's piano recital. Actually ghosts abound in this book. If you like Wodehouse you'll find things to like here, but it's reputation as a timeless classic is a little much.

Maybe even 4½ stars... This satire of undergraduate behavior is still hilarious over 100 years after it was written! The basic story is about how the young men of Oxford react when Zuleika Dobson, the beautiful niece of the college Warden, arrives in their midst.

2.5*

These short Christmas stories are well written but not what I had been wanting to read. I was looking for holiday cheer and/or sentiment; these are essentially parodies of various authors' writing styles. For those authors that I was familiar with (Kipling & Galsworthy to name two), the parodies were extremely apt. I would consider rereading this sometime when I am in a different mood (& now that I know what to expect).