Book Review: The Big Sleep

For book club we recently read The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler. Published in 1939, It is considered one of the classic murder-mystery novels.

This book was my choice. I chose it mostly because I looooove Humphrey Bogart in the movie adaptation and I wanted an excuse to watch the movie again. If you haven't seen the movie, watch it. Watch it now. The Big Sleep isn't on Netflix (WTF, Netflix?!?) but it is available to "rent" on Amazon for $2.99. The link is here. And no, your tv/computer/iPad isn't broken---the movie is in black and white.

I liked the book. I thought it was well done. This is saying a lot because I typically don't like mysteries. I often find the plot too complicated and way over my head. Then I feel like a big dummy. I may be a big dummy, but authors, please don't make your readers feel like dummies.

Chandler was very descriptive, which I like. I like being able to picture the whole room, the developing scene, and the people within it. However, there was a tendency to be slightly too descriptive. Phillip Marlowe was looking through his mail---specifically, two pieces of junk mail. Is that pertinent to the story or case? No? Then leave out the junk mail part, please.

The book was good, but I actually liked the movie adaptation better (gasp!!!). Besides my love for Humphrey Bogart, I think the script pulled out the best parts of the plot, played up the love story, and let the weird parts slip away peacefully. Thank you, William Faulkner (famous American writer and the film's screenwriter)! You're the best!

There were a few lines in the book that I loved. Great writing, very intimate, and straight to the point.

Dead men are heavier than broken hearts.

So I got out my office bottle and took the drink and let my self respect ride its own race.

You can have a hangover from other things than alcohol. I had one from women.

Sexy and yet oh, so cool.

For next month's book club we're changing gears and reading What's the Matter with Kansas? by Thomas Frank.

Inspiration

From PhotoPreneur

I love motivational statements and quotes. I have a little binder of quotes that I started in high school. Although I haven't added to it in years, this is one thing I would grab if a fire raged through the house.


I recently found a short, motivational article online at Men's Health and loved it (thanks, Twitter). This gets my quote-book-stamp-of-approval. You'll have to read the whole article here, but these are my two favorite tips: 

6 Navy SEAL Tips to Achieve Mental Strength   

Control Your Emotions Physically 

"Ask a family member or friend to study your posture when you're happy or content. Then practice it, over and over. Your psyche will follow your body. You can literally control your emotions this way."   

Break Big Goals into Small Targets 

"How do you eat an elephant? One mouthful at a time. Don't wake up Monday morning and say, 'Four days and 16 hours till Friday.' Instead, wake up and say, 'Two hours till breakfast.' And then, 'Three hours till lunch.' Try to stay in the present."

***

I admit that I catch myself slouching. My physical actions can be disheartening and I can feel it everywhere.  

So, Claire, stand up straight! Take every day moment by moment! Smile! 

Smile...

"Date a Girl Who Reads"

I was pointed to this through Twitter, and subsequently adored it. It's from GoodReads.com, and it's perfect:

"Date a girl who reads. Date a girl who spends her money on books instead of clothes. She has problems with closet space because she has too many books. Date a girl who has a list of books she wants to read, who has had a library card since she was twelve.

Find a girl who reads. You’ll know that she does because she will always have an unread book in her bag.She’s the one lovingly looking over the shelves in the bookstore, the one who quietly cries out when she finds the book she wants. You see the weird chick sniffing the pages of an old book in a second hand book shop? That’s the reader. They can never resist smelling the pages, especially when they are yellow.

She’s the girl reading while waiting in that coffee shop down the street. If you take a peek at her mug, the non-dairy creamer is floating on top because she’s kind of engrossed already. Lost in a world of the author’s making. Sit down. She might give you a glare, as most girls who read do not like to be interrupted. Ask her if she likes the book.

Buy her another cup of coffee.

Let her know what you really think of Murakami. See if she got through the first chapter of Fellowship. Understand that if she says she understood James Joyce’s Ulysses she’s just saying that to sound intelligent. Ask her if she loves Alice or she would like to be Alice.

It’s easy to date a girl who reads. Give her books for her birthday, for Christmas and for anniversaries. Give her the gift of words, in poetry, in song. Give her Neruda, Pound, Sexton, Cummings. Let her know that you understand that words are love. Understand that she knows the difference between books and reality but by god, she’s going to try to make her life a little like her favorite book. It will never be your fault if she does.

She has to give it a shot somehow.

Lie to her. If she understands syntax, she will understand your need to lie. Behind words are other things: motivation, value, nuance, dialogue. It will not be the end of the world.

Fail her. Because a girl who reads knows that failure always leads up to the climax. Because girls who understand that all things will come to end. That you can always write a sequel. That you can begin again and again and still be the hero. That life is meant to have a villain or two.

Why be frightened of everything that you are not? Girls who read understand that people, like characters, develop. Except in the Twilight series.

If you find a girl who reads, keep her close. When you find her up at 2 AM clutching a book to her chest and weeping, make her a cup of tea and hold her. You may lose her for a couple of hours but she will always come back to you. She’ll talk as if the characters in the book are real, because for a while, they always are.

You will propose on a hot air balloon. Or during a rock concert. Or very casually next time she’s sick. Over Skype.

You will smile so hard you will wonder why your heart hasn’t burst and bled out all over your chest yet. You will write the story of your lives, have kids with strange names and even stranger tastes. She will introduce your children to the Cat in the Hat and Aslan, maybe in the same day. You will walk the winters of your old age together and she will recite Keats under her breath while you shake the snow off your boots.

Date a girl who reads because you deserve it. You deserve a girl who can give you the most colorful life imaginable. If you can only give her monotony, and stale hours and half-baked proposals, then you’re better off alone. If you want the world and the worlds beyond it, date a girl who reads.

Or better yet, date a girl who writes."

— Rosemary Urquico