July 18, 2007
Favorite Lines from The Lady in the Lake
Here are a few of my favorite bits from Raymond Chandler’s The Lady in the Lake:
“… a voice you could have cracked a brazil nut on.”
“The roar of his laughter was like a tractor backfiring.”
“… I’ve got a hangover like seven Swedes.”
“I like to drink, but not when people are using me for a diary.”
“I breathed with my mouth open, as silent as a burglar behind a curtain.”
“[I left him there] moving his mind around with the ponderous energy of a homesteader digging up a stump.”
“I let the remark fall to the ground, eddying like a soiled feather.”
“He looked at us like a horse that has got into the wrong stable.”
“The nerve of the leg was jumping like an angry monkey.”
“Cooney’s little Irish nose … was spread over his face like syrup on a waffle.”
“Police business is a hell of a problem. It’s a good deal like politics. It asks for the highest type of men, and there’s nothing in it to attract the highest type of men. So we have to work with what we get.”
“… as wet as a bar towel.”
“… his eyes looked like the eyes of a sick animal.”
“[He had] evil eyes and a face like a gnawed bone….”
“I smelled like dead toads.”
“I got my knees under me and stayed on all fours for a while, sniffing like a dog who can’t finish his dinner, but hates to leave it.”
“They were talking about me as if I was a piece of wood.”
“[He] couldn’t find a moth in a shoe-box.”
July 18th, 2007 at 7:54 pm
Curious as to how you make a note of these lines?
Do you have a photographic memory? Or perhaps hi-light the relevant passages? or use a journal?
I use a journal for interesting quotes, but then find that they are spread out over many pages and hard to track down.
July 18th, 2007 at 8:46 pm
I would rather hear about Chairmans market impressions, seems a waste to have such a talent for the market and few specific trading observations from such an astute investor, this is a compliment, thanks
July 18th, 2007 at 9:08 pm
maybe having a well rounded personality and other interests is what gives him insights. besides, it’s his blog after all.
July 18th, 2007 at 9:13 pm
@Andrew: There’s no such thing as “photographic memory” — only nitwits claim to have such a thing. I make a little check in the margin with a pencil to mark bits I like.
@Jack: I would never make specific trading observations without getting paid a fortune upfront. ;-)
July 18th, 2007 at 9:44 pm
I think a blog with good trading ideas with a password could make someone a million per year; also, you go long or short your ideas, then the clients come in afterwards, self fulfilling success for a while anyway;
wish you would start one;
what type of investment platform do you have? hedge? or just for the Chairman?
thanks
Scoot, I agree, it is his blog, his thoughts, no more suggestions after this,
take care
July 18th, 2007 at 9:58 pm
Jack: So many people have tried to set up the subscriber-only trading idea sites, chat rooms, newsletters, etc. only to fail miserably, and in the worst cases slink off to Austria (this is an inside joke).
The only platform I have is the one off of which I pee on the back lawn. ;-)
July 18th, 2007 at 9:59 pm
scoot: I’m surprised you think I have a well-rounded personality; most people think I’m a square. ;-)
July 19th, 2007 at 12:47 am
did your xhb order get filled?
July 19th, 2007 at 1:52 am
Who was the überbearish Austrian analyst who posted regularly at Safehaven back in 2005/2006? His archive has been deleted at Safehaven, and I can’t remember his name (Paul?..)
July 19th, 2007 at 2:24 am
20 bucks to the one who deciphers the chairmans coded messages from the inside. You do realize his retroactive genius on market moves is only a cover right? ;)
July 19th, 2007 at 6:02 am
I like the favorite line sharing. I keep a journal with favorite lines. It’s a journal specifically for that purpose so the lines don’t get lost.
One day I’ll have to computerize it I guess.
-DT
July 19th, 2007 at 7:38 am
@Born2: I pulled that order awhile ago and bought a “Bancorp” instead, but I could buy the XHB soon.
@David: Paul Kasriel, the uber-bear from Northern Trust? (Been awhile since I’ve visited NutterHaven.
July 19th, 2007 at 7:48 am
i believe today was the first time xhb crossed $29 since your post… seeing it print $29 reminded me of it. though i am still of my original opinion that we are yet to see a bottom there.
July 19th, 2007 at 8:07 am
Born2: On July 11 it went as low as $29.19 but hasn’t hit $29.00 yet (including today when it went as low as $29.63). Doesn’t matter I don’t have an order sitting there, but I’m still very interested in this group and may pull the trigger at any time.
July 19th, 2007 at 10:54 am
What is it about XHB that you like so much, CM?
July 19th, 2007 at 11:02 am
Brian, he read this.
;-)
July 19th, 2007 at 12:22 pm
Brian: I hadn’t read Babak’s post but I’m interested in the Homebuilders because they’re so universally loathed … my best long-term investments have almost all been in “deep value” totally out of favor companies … this is also why I find many of the “Bancorps” compelling here.
July 20th, 2007 at 12:07 am
Hey, I started a “vocabulary” label on my blog today. Thought you might find it interesting. The word of the day is Gunkhole.
A little different from book quotes, but along the same lines.
-DT
July 30th, 2007 at 9:20 am
Hey Chairman, sorry to dredge up a 10 day old thread. I just saw on a “Miss Marple” episode that the protagonist (MM) was reading “The Lady in the Lake” whilst in bed.
July 30th, 2007 at 10:21 am
steve: The L in the L was written in 1943. Wasn’t Agatha Christie dead by then?
July 30th, 2007 at 7:05 pm
I believe that this was a device of the TV show’s producer; but still Agatha Christie lived into the 70’s.
July 30th, 2007 at 7:08 pm
steve: Her seventies or the seventies?
July 30th, 2007 at 8:46 pm
She died in 1976 at age 86. A long and productive life!
July 30th, 2007 at 9:08 pm
steve: Thanks, I’m so used to Wikipedia being blocked from China that I didn’t bother to look.
October 27th, 2007 at 3:26 pm
[…] The Lady in the Lake, by Raymond Chandler — a rare case where I figured out the mystery instantly (I’m usually pretty thick). My “Favorite Lines” post for The Lady in the Lake. […]