Things He Hated

Another press trip, a list by Raymond Chandler, gifting discourse

I’m writing to you from a hotel room in “the city of 100 spires,” on a press trip, obviously. Through “timeless” powder blue curtains, as the receptionist described them, past the baroque architecture on every side of me, wreaths and ribbons carved into each archway, a row of treetops slightly obscured by morning mist tells me the Vltava River, crossable via its variously striking bridges, is just ahead. I already miss New York, but I love Prague, especially near Christmastime, when its holiday markets are steaming with sausages and chimney cakes.

Last week, I attended a reading, by Alissa Bennett, Grace Byron, John Ganz, and Megan Nolan, of Raymond Chandler excerpts, presented as an introduction to an auction of the author’s personal items that opened on Friday at Doyle. I’m surprised that his silk scarf only went for $288. A list of things Chandler hates, typed up and edited by hand with pencil, went for $2,304. I took a photo of and have reproduced what I can make out from it below. The last two entries are a bit touching.