I just finished my first book of 2009, Raymond Chandler's "The Little Sister." It's my sixth Chandler book, which leaves just three to go, all of the waiting their turn on my bookcase.

I liked "The Little Sister" less than his other books. You read Chandler for his amazing turns of phrase. He seemed to be off his game in this book. But toward the end, PI Philip Marlowe enters a courthouse and describes the woman at the information desk this way:

"..one of those ageless women you see around municipal offices everywhere in the world. They were never young and will never be old. They have no beauty, no charm, no style. They don't have to please anybody. They are safe. They are civil without ever quite being polite and intelligent and knowledgeable without any real interest in anything. They are what human beings turn into when they trade life for existence and ambition for security."

Isn't that amazing writing?

The book was published in 1949. Unlike private eyes in contemporary books, Philip Marlowe got through all 250 pages without having sex with anybody.