Thursday 10 November 2011

Wodehouse or Chandler?

There are no other contenders for the title (which I'm not even going to bother to identify).  To help you along, here are a couple of quotes, picked more or less at random:

There was a desk and a night clerk with one of those moustaches that get stuck under your fingernail.
Degarmo lunged past the desk towards an open elevator beside which a tired old man sat on a stool waiting for a customer.  The clerk snapped at Degarmo's back like a terrier.
'One moment, please.  Whom did you wish to see?'
Degarmo spun on his heel and looked at me wonderingly.  'Did he say "whom"?'
'Yeah, but don't hit him,' I said.  'There is such a word.'
Degarmo licked his lips.  'I knew there was,' he said.  'I often wondered where they kept it.'

And -

Women never know when to stop on these occasions.
I remember Mrs Bingo Little once telling me, shortly after their marriage, that Bingo said poetic things to her about sunsets - his best friends being perfectly aware, of course, that the odd egg never noticed a sunset in his life and that, if he did by a fluke ever happen to do so, the only thing he would say about it would be that it reminded him of a slice of roast beef, cooked just right.
However, you can't call a girl a liar; so, as I say, I said: 'Well, well!'

Difficult call, isn't it?

But I must say, I did enjoy typing that!

6 comments:

  1. Difficult, indeed. I've recently downloaded a nice little collection of Wodehouse for the Kindle and, currently, I've got 'My Man, Jeeves' as the perfect antidote to Stieg Larsson.

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  2. Must get an old Chandler out. Genius.

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  3. Hard boiled or soufflé, how to choose? Both.

    (although I've been in love with Philip Marlowe for about 45 years, so he's who I turn to most often)

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  4. Either will do nicely thank you.

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  5. I've never read Wodehouse but he's still popular with The Borrowers. Chandler, I love... thanks for prompting me to revisit him!

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  6. Just as an addendum and a tribute, the great Christopher Hitchens, I learn, apparently used to delight in exploring that same comparison.
    I'd say RIP, except that I'm sure that's the last thing he'd have wanted.

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