Shandygaff;: A number of most agreeable inquirendoes upon life and letters, interspersed with short stories and skitts, the whole most diverting to ... in class-room or for private improvement,

by Christopher Morley

Christopher Morley (1890-1957) was an American journalist, novelist, essayist and poet. He went to New College, Oxford University for three years on a Rhodes Scholarship, studying modern history. He moved to Philadelphia where he got his start as a newspaper reporter and then columnist for various publications. In 1920, he returned to New York City and took a job writing the column The Bowling Green for the New York Evening Post. He was one of the founders and long-time contributing editor of the Saturday Review of Literature. Out of enthusiasm for the Sherlock Holmes stories, he became the founder of the Baker Street Irregulars and wrote the introduction to the standard omnibus edition of The Complete Sherlock Holmes. Author of more than 100 books of essays, poetry, and novels, he is probably best known as the author of Kitty Foyle (1939), which was made into an Academy Award-winning movie. His works include Parnassus on Wheels (1917), Shandygaff (1918), The Haunted Bookshop (1919), Where the Blue Begins (1922), Thunder on the Left (1925), The Trojan Horse (1937), and The Old Mandarin (1947).

Genres: Essays, Fiction

326 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1918

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.

American writer Christopher Darlington Morley founded the Saturday Review, from 1924 to 1940 edited it, and prolifically, most notably authored popular novels.

Christopher Morley, a journalist, essayist, and poet, also produced on stage for a few years and gave college lectures.

Reviews

[laurel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Shandygaff contains a mixture of editorials and fictional essays about the early years and authors of the 20th century. Full of humor and now obsolete language, Morley's tales of personal adventures and discussions of authors and journalists of whom I'd not yet heard kept me fascinated. The only reason I'd give it a 3 instead of 4 is due to my absolute adoration of his first and second novels, Parnassus on Wheels and The Haunted Bookshop, with which this cannot compare.

[Gary Allen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Morley’s books have everything I hope to find in a book: they’re informative but amusing, deeply literate, and written in a style that can be effortlessly austere and elegant, only to segue into a torrential cascade of side-splitting verbal virtuosity.

The man could write!

[Thomas · Rating 5 out of 5]

Whimsical

A good read for pipe smokers and non smokers. Some areas seem to ramble but not to tough to get through.

[Ryan Reed · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a fantastic collection of writings from Morley. Obviously not every selection is equal, but the overall work is delightful.

[Judy · Rating 3 out of 5]

A collection of essays about various topics -- some more interesting than others -- worth reading once but probably not again.