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Reading List
11 January 2018 16:03So as the start of the year I decided that I was going to read more this year. Last year I read a lot of fanfiction and listened to a lot of podcasts, but I didn't read any books. Well, it turns out that this year will be little different. I get distracted too easily to read a 50,000+ word novel. I start a novel and I find myself getting distracted by this or that shiny. I can manage fanfiction because it's in a serialized format and I know that I'm expected to read that in chunks. And I think that reading the works electronically helps out too. I love paper books but the older I get the more I find that the words on paper tend to swim for me. The words stay still on the screen and I can highlight a particular passage when I find my eyes wandering. I've also thrown myself into audio books. Having someone read to me while I work or just sit there in the dark of my room as I try to get my mind to quiet and let me sleep.
So that leads me to my first book of the year. I just finished listening to The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler as read my Ray Porter (Audible.ca). This is such a product of its time and I can see why people have issues with it. It's racist and homophobic, though surprisingly not too terribly sexist. Yes, the women aren't really fleshed out, they are nothing more than cardboard cutouts that move through the story and get in Philip Marlowe's way, but the same can be said of the men. It ends up being a perfect example of a noire detective story - we are presented with a job, a dame, a string of dead bodies, and private dick who sticks his nose where it doesn't belong. We are not presented with the clues we need to solve the mystery ourselves, though I will give Chandler credit; he does not introduce a new character in the last chapter like so many of his contemporaries did (I'm looking at you Agatha Christie).
I did enjoy it, but I accept that it hasn't aged well. At all. Homophobic and racist slurs are everywhere and it's written in a style that makes you wonder if Chandler was being paid by the word. Yes, it is beautifully descriptive and he takes the time to tell us about every stick of furniture in a room, but at some point you need to remember Chekhov's Gun and leave out all of the unnecessary detail. And speaking of tropes, there are some beautiful examples of Chandler's Law in this book.
Anyway, if you like the Hardboiled Private Detective noire-style story, then I suggest it. It's dark, it's gritty, it's dated, but all in all it's not bad when taken for what it is.
So that leads me to my first book of the year. I just finished listening to The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler as read my Ray Porter (Audible.ca). This is such a product of its time and I can see why people have issues with it. It's racist and homophobic, though surprisingly not too terribly sexist. Yes, the women aren't really fleshed out, they are nothing more than cardboard cutouts that move through the story and get in Philip Marlowe's way, but the same can be said of the men. It ends up being a perfect example of a noire detective story - we are presented with a job, a dame, a string of dead bodies, and private dick who sticks his nose where it doesn't belong. We are not presented with the clues we need to solve the mystery ourselves, though I will give Chandler credit; he does not introduce a new character in the last chapter like so many of his contemporaries did (I'm looking at you Agatha Christie).
I did enjoy it, but I accept that it hasn't aged well. At all. Homophobic and racist slurs are everywhere and it's written in a style that makes you wonder if Chandler was being paid by the word. Yes, it is beautifully descriptive and he takes the time to tell us about every stick of furniture in a room, but at some point you need to remember Chekhov's Gun and leave out all of the unnecessary detail. And speaking of tropes, there are some beautiful examples of Chandler's Law in this book.
Anyway, if you like the Hardboiled Private Detective noire-style story, then I suggest it. It's dark, it's gritty, it's dated, but all in all it's not bad when taken for what it is.
