The Maltese Falcon

Just finished it this morning. Thank you grandma and grandpa for giving us such an interesting book to read! I liked the novel because it was unlike anything I had read before. Pretty sure the only detective novels I'd read in the past were Nancy Drew.  And after you've read 3 of those you  can pretty much predict the rest of them.
Now The Maltese Falcon was anything but predictable.  I read the first part of the book at the beginning of the month and had to go back to have little reminders of who Miles and Thursby were.  All I remembered was that there had been murders unsolved.

Typically female characters come off strongly as "good" or "bad" but Brigid was one all on her own.  At first I completely believed that she was in danger and some crap story about her sister was true.  And then she just gets crazy.  All of her lying easily twisted her into someone that should not be trusted (trust, a big theme of the novel) but just because Spade couldn't trust her was that a reason not to work with her?  Apparently he didn't think it was that important and continued on with the case.

What I'd be most interested to know is if Sam Spade really did have ulterior motives for finding the falcon.  Would he have done the "right thing" and turned it in to be on display in a museum? Or would he have been part of the deal and sent it along the black market like it had been for centuries?  We'll never know but I'd like to think that he had a scheme that included a little interest for himself.  The shady detective is an interesting character, and much more human.

In all I really enjoyed this book and I'd be interested in reading more of Hammet's work in the future.

The Maltese Falcon

Elle, thank you for choosing this book and also explaining why you chose it. I think that having a personal story to go along with your choice really added to it.

I don't know that I have ever read a book from this time period before, and I really enjoyed it. Like Elle said, it was a little slow-going at first. But things pick up and you just have to keep reading to find out what happens. I liked that fact that it kept you guessing until the very end. Everyone was so secretive and deceptive that you really had no idea who were the "good guys" or the "bad guys".

I was a little disappointed with the ending because Miss I-don't-know-how-to-pronounce-her-name-O'Shaughnessy ended up being one of the murderers and was turned in by her -(should I say lover?)- just so he could save his own skin. I guess I see Mr. Spade as a shallow man. I also had a hard time imagining what he would actually look like. What does it look like when your face is made up of a bunch of V's?? Aside from that, I did appreciate the vivid descriptions of all the characters in the book. What a diverse group of people the author imagined up!

Here is my favorite quote from the book:

Effie Perine: "What about Miss O'Shaghnessy?"
Sam Spade: "I missed her too, but she had been there."
Effie Perine: "On the La Paloma?"
Sam Spade: "The La is a lousy combination."
Effie Perine: "Stop it. Be nice, Sam. Tell me."

. . . Maybe you didn't think it was that funny, but I laughed!


My plan is to now watch the classic movie starring Humphrey Bogart and see what I think of it. Maybe they have it at the library . . .

P.S. I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas!!

To Get You Excited

Here is a little introduction to December's book and why I chose it

My grandparents are my librarians. They make suggestions to me of what I should read and tell me about what they are reading for their two book clubs every month.  In fact it is because of their love of reading that I was most interested in joining this book club.  

When I was home in August they gave me a copy of this book (in fact, this is the cover on my copy) and they highly recommended it. I've had a little struggle getting into it but I'm 60 pages in now and the story is really picking up. It's one of those books that you just have to keep reading to understand what is going on.

Here is some praise for The Maltese Falcon 

 "The Maltese Falcon is not only probably the best detective story we have ever read, it is an exceedingly well written novel" -The Time Literary Supplement London

"Hammett's prose is clean and entirely unique.  His characters are as sharply and economically defined as any in American Fiction" -The New York Times

Enjoy!

The Last Lecture

Confession time. I didn't want to read this book. In fact I heard about Randy Pausch and thought, well that's really cool that he's making a difference but I'm really not that interested.  So I put it off. And then I thought to myself, Bekah really wanted to read this book and we've committed to read the books that the others want to read and I'll be sad if no one wants to read The Maltese Falcon with me. So I got a copy. And started reading it. And put it down. Then on Sunday I thought, you know, I'd really like to do it. Just sit down and give this book a fair chance. And I read half of it in one sitting. 

I like the way the book is written in small chapters about good memories and accomplishments. Life goals, and struggles with the future for his family.  Its just like snapshots into a human and it is wonderful.  I get sick of Mitch Albom because I think he has realized that he can write inspiring bestsellers and they seem forced. Randy knew that he wasn't doing this for the money, he wanted a way to preserve himself for his children and I think he really succeeded. 

I have appreciated reading this book because it makes me want to work harder at journaling and I have made an effort of that. I've been writing more on my blog about personal things and small stories of my day that I want to look back on and smile and laugh at.  

I think that we can learn a lot from people who know that they are preparing to leave the Earth.  They have a different perspective on living than anyone else and it can't be faked. Live life today. Enjoy the moment. Read books with your friends and share your feelings on them! Great choice Bekah.