MobileRead August 2010 Mobile Read Book Club Vote

[pilotbob]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

So why did so many people vote for a book in the middle of a series? Thing is, it never should have been nominated being in the middle of a series. I rather dislike reading a series out of order.

How many who voted knew this was part of a series and not the first book?

Jon, relax... it is not a series. Just as the dozens of Christie novels that all have Poirot in them are not a series.

BOb

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by pilotbob

Jon, relax... it is not a series. Just as the dozens of Christie novels that all have Poirot in them are not a series.

BOb

This is about the winning book that is a book in the middle of a series.

[kennyc]

I only voted for it cause everyone else did.

[Ea]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

This is about the winning book that is a book in the middle of a series.

The winning book is a "solo" work. It is not a part of any series. At all.

[pilotbob]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

This is about the winning book that is a book in the middle of a series.

Yes, I know that.

Originally Posted by Ea

The winning book is a "solo" work. It is not a part of any series. At all.

What she said. Why do you think it is a series... because they both have Marloe in them?

BOb

[Ea]

Originally Posted by thinkpadx

Should I read "The big sleep" before I decide about reading The long Goodbye? I've not read anything by Raymond Chandler from before.

I wouldn't worry about it all. All Chandler's books are complete works and I wouldn't say one should be considered over another.

[beppe]

The long good bye is his last novel and it is widely considered his best, with the highest literature value among his other work. Which it has, i am definitively convinced of. Not extremely high, but quite above mediocrity. It is maybe the genre that casts a shadow of marginality. He has also very nice stories.

[Quake1028]

I'm going to start this today .

[thinkpad]

Just bought it from Amazon so it's waiting to be read.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by pilotbob

Jon, relax... it is not a series. Just as the dozens of Christie novels that all have Poirot in them are not a series.

BOb

I agree with you about the Marlowe novels - they are all totally independent books. That's not actually true with the Poirot novels; if you plan to read them all, it's best to read them in the right order, because in many of the later ones, Poirot refers to his earlier cases, and gives away the solution to them! Eg, in "Cards on the Table", Poirot describes his solution to "Murder on the Orient Express", so you really don't want to read the former book before the latter.

There are also recurring characters in Christie's books. Eg, the wealthy financier Mr. Robinson is introduced to us in the Poirot book "Cat Among the Pigeons", and then shows up again in the Miss Marple book "At Bertram's Hotel".

There are all sorts of good reasons to read Christie's books in the order she wrote them .

[pilotbob]

Originally Posted by HarryT

There are also recurring characters in Christie's books. Eg, the wealthy financier Mr. Robinson is introduced to us in the Poirot book "Cat Among the Pigeons", and then shows up again in the Miss Marple book "At Bertram's Hotel".

There are all sorts of good reasons to read Christie's books in the order she wrote them .

Hmm... I don't remember some of those aspects. It's been a long time since I read her books. That said... it's still not a series. To me a series is a single story that last throughout more than one book.

BOb

[JSWolf]

Discworld is a series. But, each book is a separate story. However, there are recurring characters, and things mentioned in later books that you might not understand all that well if you didn't read the earlier books. So while yes, you could read Discworld books out of order, you'll find much more enjoyment overall reading them in published order.

Now as to the Marlowe books, do they have any sort of references to earlier books? Do they build upon information in earlier books? Are there recurring characters from earlier books (other than Marlowe)? Do we get to know Marlowe better as the books go along in order? if yes, is answered to even one of those questions, then they are definitely books in a series.

[CharlieBird]

After abandoning an attempt to read The Big Sleep (not realizing it was part of a series), I would never had read this month's selection if it had not won.

I don't know what the year span was between them but is not possible he honed his skills over time? How many Marlowe books are there by the way?
d

[jgaiser]

Come on folks... The Chandler books are *not* a series. There's nothing except Philip Marlowe that's common between them. If his writing skills progressed through the years, that doesn't make them series.

[beppe]

Originally Posted by CharlieBird

After abandoning an attempt to read The Big Sleep (not realizing it was part of a series), I would never had read this month's selection if it had not won.

I don't know what the year span was between them but is not possible he honed his skills over time? How many Marlowe books are there by the way?
d

is not possible he honed his skills over time?

Oh no, great writers come to this world just ready to go and the stork makes sure that all their talent are already set and primed. Otherwise she delays the delivery.

Novels

The Big Sleep (1939). Based on the short stories "Killer in the Rain" (1935) and "The Curtain" (1936).[1]
Farewell, My Lovely (1940). Based on the short stories "The Man Who Liked Dogs" (1936), "Try The Girl" (1937) and "Mandarin's Jade" (1937).[1]
The High Window (1942). Based on the short stories "Bay City Blues" (1938) and "The Lady In The Lake" (1939).[1]
The Lady in the Lake (1943). Based on the short stories "Bay City Blues" (1938), "The Lady In The Lake" (1939), "No Crime In The Mountains" (1941).[1]
The Little Sister (1949). Scenes based on the short story "Bay City Blues" (1938).[1]
The Long Goodbye (1953 UK; Sept 1954 USA; Edgar Award for Best Novel, 1955).
Playback (1958).
Poodle Springs (1959). (incomplete; completed by Robert B. Parker in 1989).
These are the criminal cases of Philip Marlowe, a Los Angeles private investigator. Their plots follow a pattern in which the men and women who hire him reveal themselves to be as corrupt, corrupting, and criminally complicit as those against whom he is hired to protect them.
[edit]Short stories

Typically, the short stories chronicle the cases of Philip Marlowe and other down-on-their-luck private detectives (e.g. John Dalmas, Steve Grayce) or good samaritans (e.g. Mr. Carmody). The exceptions are the macabre "The Bronze Door" the fantastical "Professor Bingo's Snuff" and "English Summer," a Gothic romance set in the English countryside. On several occasions, Chandler borrowed (or to use his term, cannibalized) from his pulp fiction for his novels; incidences of this borrowing are noted in the list below.[2]
Interestingly, in the old radio series The Adventures of Philip Marlowe, which included adaptations of the short stories, the Philip Marlowe name was replaced with the names of other detectives, e.g. Steve Grayce, in "The King in Yellow"[citation needed]. In fact, such changes restored the stories to their originally published versions. It was later, when they were republished as Philip Marlowe stories, that the Philip Marlowe name was used, with the exception being "The Pencil."
The first two named stories, featuring a detective named Mallory, are exceptions in a different way, in that were not turned into Marlowe cases in print.
[edit]Crime short stories
"Blackmailers Don't Shoot" (Black Mask, December 1933; Mallory)
"Smart-Aleck Kill" (Black Mask, July 1934; originally Mallory, changed to John Dalmas in Simple Art of Murder)
"Finger Man" (Black Mask, October 1934; unnamed originally, changed to Marlowe in Simple Art of Murder)
"Killer in the Rain" (Black Mask, January 1935; unnamed)
"Nevada Gas" (Black Mask, June 1935; Johnny DeRuse)
"Spanish Blood" (Black Mask, November1935; Sam Delaguerra)
"Guns at Cyrano's" (Black Mask, January 1936; Ted Malvern originally, changed to Ted Carmody in Simple Art of Murder)
"The Man Who Liked Dogs" (Black Mask, March 1936; Ted Carmody; cannibalized for Farewell My Lovely)
"Noon Street Nemesis" (Detective Fiction Weekly, May 1936; Pete Agstich; title changed to "Pick Up on Noon Street" for publication in Simple Art of Murder)
"Goldfish" (Black Mask, June 1936; Ted Carmody originally, changed to Marlowe in Simple Art of Murder)
"The Curtain" (Black Mask, September 1936; Ted Carmody; cannibalized for The Big Sleep and the opening of The Long Goodbye)
Try the Girl (Black Mask, January 1937; Ted Carmody; cannibalized for Farewell, My Lovely)
"Mandarin's Jade" (Dime Detective, 1937; John Dalmas; cannibalized for Farewell, My Lovely)
"Red Wind" (Dime Detective, January 1938; John Dalmas originally, changed to Marlowe in Simple Art of Murder)
"The King in Yellow" (Dime Detective, March 1938; Steve Grayce)[3]
"Bay City Blues" (Dime Detective, June 1938; John Dalmas, cannibalized for The Lady in the Lake, The High Window, and The Little Sister)
"The Lady in the Lake" (Dime Detective, January 1939; John Dalmas, cannibalized for The Lady in the Lake and The High Window)
"Pearls Are a Nuisance" (Dime Detective, April 1939; Walter Gage)
"Trouble is My Business" (Dime Detective, August 1939; John Dalmas originally, changed to Marlowe in Simple Art of Murder)
"I'll Be Waiting" (Saturday Evening Post, October 14, 1939; Tony Reseck)
"No Crime in the Mountains" (Detective Story, September 1941; John Evans, cannibalized for The Lady in the Lake)
"Marlowe Takes on the Syndicate" (London Daily Mail, April 6-10, 1959; published posthumously; first published in the United States as "The Wrong Pigeon" in Manhunt (February 1960; also appeared as "The Pencil", Argosy, September 1965; and "Philip Marlowe's Last Case", Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine, January 1962)