The Big Sleep

The Big Sleep
by Raymond Chandler
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This was my Classics Club spin book and I finished it in mid-October. I enjoyed the book, though I was surprised by how risque it was and by the homosexual slurs in it. Philip Marlowe is an appealing character, despite his very rough edges.
I also watched the movie with Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall. Reading the book I couldn't figure out who Bacall would play or how some of the storylines could have made it past the Hays Code. The screenplay is by William Faulkner and he left out all the awkward bits (homosexuals, nymphomaniacs, and smut peddlers). This made for a "cleaner" story, but it also makes the plot almost incomprehensible. The Bacall part is a combination of 2 characters from the book, both of them cleaned up considerably.
Overall I would recommend the book but not the movie.

Crime Read-Along

Books on the Nightstand--a great podcast about books--recently interviewed Soho Press editor Juliet Grames who talked about the Crime Fiction Read-Along she is launching for 2012. The plan is to read 10 books over the year that Grames is selecting and which illuminate the development of crime fiction. The read-along discussion will take place on the fourth Tuesday of each month (on the Soho Press site, but it isn't linked as of this writing) and on the second Tuesday each month they plan to post info about the book and it's context in the world of crime fiction. The day of the read-along the next book to read will be announced. The first reading is actually a story, Edgar Allan Poe’s The Murders in the Rue Morgue, and it is scheduled for March 20, 2012 (not the 4th Tuesday, but that's what was said)


From the interview I learned that The Big Lebowski is an homage to The Big Sleep. With this in mind I'm going to have to go back and watch the movie again.


I love mysteries and can't wait to learn more about how they developed, and the signposts of the genre.