Pulp Fiction discussion

From these wonderful comments I will dust off all my old Raymond Chandler books and re-read. which one has the line "He was as conspicuous as a tarantella on a piece of angel food cake." ?

Farewell, My Lovely.

Dan wrote: "Farewell, My Lovely."

thanks, Dan. thats the one I'll read first

I love Raymond Chandler, he is my all time favourite crime writer. Which is everyone's favourite novel of his? Mine is easierly The Long Goodbye. The semi auto-biographical scences gavee\ me an insight into the author I never expected to see.

It was a great book, and a recent group read

I'm sure there is more Chandler in the future

Question here for Chandler fans: Do you rank any of his books above The Big Sleep?

KL, I've also heard that The Long Goodbye is a great book. I own it, but just haven't had time to read it.

I read and liked The Big Sleep as part of the noir group, but have heard that Farewell, My Lovely is better. Thoughts?

The Big Sleep is the only Chandler I've read so far.

Of the 2 I've read, The Big Sleep and The Long Goodbye - Long Goodbye is my favorite - more depth, more complex plot, you see more of the characters and they are really well defined, and I think it's more noir. Marlowe has to dig deep to find answers.

I agree Flash, I think The Long Goodbye is a better book

Abby wrote: "From these wonderful comments I will dust off all my old Raymond Chandler books and re-read. which one has the line "He was as conspicuous as a tarantella on a piece of angel food cake." ?"

"Tarantella?" I mean, that wold be conspicuous, to be sure, but was it not a "tarantula"?

I love The Lady in the Lake, The Little Sister, High Window. The only one I like but don't love is Farewell My Lovely.

Franky wrote: "Question here for Chandler fans: Do you rank any of his books above The Big Sleep?

KL, I've also heard that The Long Goodbye is a great book. I own it, but just haven't had time to read it.

I r..."

I have read only those two novels of Chandler so far and i was more impressed with Farewell, My Lovely is the better crafted story. Big Sleep is good first start but the plot was crazy twists, flawed at times.

I actually haven't read The Long Goodbye yet. Looking forward to it! I do love the 70s Altman movie of LG with Elliott Gould as Marlowe. It's rather irreverent, and I'm sure not totally accurate to the novel.

Wasn't that movie just about a guy trying to buy cat food XD

Found this little tidbit in a book I'm currently reading about book titles.

Raymond Chadler apparently kept long lists of title possibilities in his notebooks. Among the ones that he never used:

The Corpse Came in Person
A Few May Remember
The Man With the Shredded Ear
Zone of Twilight
Parting Before Danger
The Is to Was Man
All Guns Are Loaded
Return From Ruin
Lament But No Tears
Too Late to Sleep
The Cool-Off

I wish he had written a few more books and been able to use some of these titles, although some sound more like Elmore leonard than Chandler.

I definitely find The Big Sleep to be a better read than Farewell, My Lovely. I liked it, but if I hadn't seen the movie I would have been very confused. I didn't think the hypnotism/drug scenes were all that clearly described.

Samantha wrote: "I definitely find The Big Sleep to be a better read than Farewell, My Lovely. I liked it, but if I hadn't seen the movie I would have been very confused. I didn't think the hypnotism/drug scenes we..."
I thought Farewell, My Lovely had better plot,story than Big Sleep. Big Sleep i enjoyed but i was surprised that the Farewell, My Lovely was crisper,better to me.

I think the Big Sleep film overshadow the book to me.