Can we talk about the genius of Raymond Chandler? Or why you think he’s not a genius?
“He finished his call and hung up. He leaned back and sat there brooding, staring down at his desk, but not forgetting to look out of the window every half minute. He was waiting, and I waited with him, for no reason at all. Doctors make many phone calls, talk to many people. Doctors look out of their front windows, doctors frown, doctors show nervousness, doctors have things on their mind and show the strain. Doctors are just people, born to sorrow, fighting the long grim fight like the rest of us.”
-The Lady in the Lake
>>7862406
Then at last I looked at Eileen. She sat leaning forward, her hands clasped tightly. The downward tilt of her face hid her expression if she had any. And when she spoke her voice had the lucid emptiness of that mechanical voice on the telephone that tells you the time and if you keep on listening, which people don't because they have no reason to, it will keep on telling you the passing seconds forever, without the slightest change of inflection.
I love Chandler, OP. Have you read any Ross MacDonald? He's extremely derivative of Chandler, but very good. His prose isn't quite as good, but almost, and his mysteries are better. That's the only gripe I have with Chandler is that the mystery element of his stories is never very satisfying. But the atmosphere and the prose are the real reasons to read Chandler.
>>7862446
You nailed it. The plots are sometimes convoluted, but DAMN if he's not a master at prose.
I'm in the middle of The Long Goodbye. The dialogue is great. I'll be sad when I've finished his works.
I'll check out Ross MacDonald. Someone else suggested Dashiell Hammett. Is he any good?
Chandlers books are one of a few that I can pick up and read again an again at any time. Such great atmosphere, you don't even mind a few inconsistencies here and there. Btw, you should listen to Bohren & der Club of Gore while reading them.
https://youtu.be/L33XI7ZnNjQ
I never see this guy's books at the used book stores in Toronto. it's driving me crazy.
>>7862547
Why don't you try Amazon in that case?
>>7862553
it's getting to that point anon. I usually like to wait it out and search around. I can usually find books for dirt cheap, cheaper than amazon. this store bmv with put out a bunch for 1$ or 2$. I'm cheap as fuck.
>>7862563
if you don't mind reading online...
http://bookzz.org/s/?q=raymond+chandler&yearFrom=&yearTo=&language=&extension=&t=0
>>7862406
I've read some Dashiell Hammett, is he similar?
>>7862468
Dashiell hammet is great. Definitely read The Maltese Falcon and Red Harvest. His work was hugely influential to cinema.
>>7862468
dashiell hammett is like the inventor of the hardboiled genre really. Red Harvest is his best. A lot of his work is rooted in interwar and marxist politics, and a general distrust of authority figures which influenced the hardboiled genre
