Saturday Review of Books: July 23, 2011

“If my books had been any worse, I should not have been invited to Hollywood, and if they had been any better, I should not have come.” ~Raymond Chandler

Novelist and screenwriter Raymond Chandler was born on July 23, 1888. He wrote the screenplay for the film Double Indemnity, a movie I wrote about here. His most famous novels were The Big Sleep, The Long Goodbye, and Farewell, My Lovely. Have you read anything by Mr. Chandler? What did you think?

SatReviewbuttonIf you’re not familiar with and linking to and perusing the Saturday Review of Books here at Semicolon, you’re missing out. Here’s how it usually works. Find a book review on your blog posted sometime during the previous week. The review doesn’t have to be a formal sort of thing. You can just write your thoughts on a particular book, a few ideas inspired by reading the book, your evaluation, quotations, whatever.

Then on Saturday, you post a link here at Semicolon in Mr. Linky to the specific post where you’ve written your book review. Don’t link to your main blog page because this kind of link makes it hard to find the book review, especially when people drop in later after you’ve added new content to your blog. In parentheses after your name, add the title of the book you’re reviewing. This addition will help people to find the reviews they’re most interested in reading.

After linking to your own reviews, you can spend as long as you want reading the reviews of other bloggers for the week and adding to your wishlist of books to read. That’s how my own TBR list has become completely unmanageable and the reason I can’t join any reading challenges. I have my own personal challenge that never ends.

1. Hope (Cape Cod Stories by J.C. Lincoln)
2. the Ink Slinger (Think)
3. Collateral Bloggage (The Language of Science and Faith)
4. Collateral Bloggage (The Hidden Reality)
5. SuziQoregon @ Whimpulsive (Buried by Mark Billingham)
6. SuziQoregon @ Whimpulsive (84, Charing Cross Road)
7. Laura (Free books and free books)
8. Laura (The Gentle Art of Knitting)
9. Mental multivitamin (The Opera Fanatic)
10. Mental multivitamin (The Winter’s Tale and more Shakespearean goodness)
11. Carina @ Reading Through Life (The Unlikely Disciple)
12. Carina @ Reading Through Life (Cinder & Ella)
13. Lucybird’s Book Blog (Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets)
14. Janet (Adam of the Road)
15. Lazygal (My Name is Mary Sutter)
16. Lazygal (Vanished)
17. Lazygal (The Burning)
18. Lazygal (The Hand that Trembles)
19. The Worm Hole (The Iron King)
20. Nicole @ Linus’s Blanket (The Psychopath Test)
21. Nicole @ Linus’s Blanket (Silver Sparrow)
22. Nicole @ Linus’s Blanket (Before I Go To Sleep)
23. Nicole @ Linus’s Blanket (The Cypress House)
24. Glynn (Nick of Time)
25. Sarah Reads Too Much (The Book of Lies)
26. Sarah Reads Too Much (Romeo and Juliet))
27. Bluerose’s Heart(The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe)
28. Barbara H. (The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe)
29. Barbara H. (Prince Caspian)
30. SmallWorld Reads (A Room with a View)
31. A Foodie Bibliophile in Wanderlust (Bad Taste in Boys)
32. S. Krishna (American Gods)
33. S. Krishna (Sisterhood Everlasting)
34. S. Krishna (When We Were Orphans)
35. S. Krishna (The October Killings)
36. S. Krishna (The Mango Season)
37. S. Krishna (The Twisted Thread)
38. S. Krishna (Saved By Beauty)
39. Amber Stults (Ascension)
40. Book Gal (Then Came You)
41. Janet (The Wild Trees)
42. Becky (Trumpeter of Krakow)
43. Becky (Swift Rivers)
44. Becky (Light Princess)
45. Becky (Heidi)
46. Becky (Heidi Grows Up)
47. Becky (Heidi’s Children)
48. Becky (Hidden Gallery)
49. JHS (Expiation GIVEAWAY)
50. JHS (Stiltsville GIVEAWAY)
51. JHS (Ellis Island GIVEAWAY)
52. JHS (When Stars Align GIVEAWAY)
53. JHS (Money Can’t Buy Love GIVEAWAY)
54. Cindy Swanson (Wedding Season by Katie Fforde)
55. Becky (Bookends)
56. Chaff in the Wind (Library Hospital)
57. Amy Reads (Lysistrata)
58. Amy Reads (The Dew Breaker by Edwidge Danticat)
59. Amy Reads (Efuru by Flora Nwapa)
60. Reading World (The Paris Wife)
61. ChristineMM @ The Thinking Mother (Small Acts of Amazing Courage)
62. Donovan @ Where Pen Meets Paper (A Paradise Built in Hell)
63. Donovan @ Where Pen Meets Paper (Moloka’i)
64. Diary of an Eccentric (The Book of Lies)
65. Diary of an Eccentric (A Weekend With Mr. Darcy)
66. Diary of an Eccentric (The History of England)

Powered by… Mister Linky’s Magical Widgets.

6 thoughts on “Saturday Review of Books: July 23, 2011

  1. I like listening to old detective shows from the 40’s and 50’s and remember reading that Philip Marlowe was more “cerebral” than Sam Spade. That’s why I read The Big Sleep, but to me it didn’t live up to the hype.

  2. I’m holding a Harry Potter week on my blog this week, hence the Harry Potter review. Do come over and have a look around 🙂

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *