The story is about and agent in MI6 named Ed near the end of his career. I'm not going to say much more about the plot other than Britain's relationship to the US during Trump's presidency are themes. I found the novel entertaining, but not very tense. I also found it less bleak than what I've read from le Carre earlier.
The story is about and agent in MI6 named Ed near the end of his career. I'm not going to say much more about the plot other than Britain's relationship to the US during Trump's presidency are themes. I found the novel entertaining, but not very tense. I also found it less bleak than what I've read from le Carre earlier.
I found Agent Running in the Field a pretty enjoyable novel. One aspect that interested me from a Bond perspective was Nat's sojourn in Karlovy Vary which was the shooting location for Montenegro in Casino Royale. The hotel that doubled as the Hotel Splendide (Granhotel Pupp) even gets a mention in Le Carre's novel. I wonder if Nat had dinner at Bond and Vesper's table?
I forgot to mention that part. Le Carre mentions the town is partly owned by and often frequented by rich Russian gangsters.
I also think I can guess le Carre's position on Brexit and Trump, and I bet you can too.
More Le Carré...this time Single & Single from 1999.
This novel never gets much discussion among his other works, but it was excellent. Those of you who know the author's story well will remember that his father Ronnie Cornwell was an inveterate con man, moving from one scam to another, with prison terms often in between. Le Carré's 1986 classic A Perfect Spy is semi-autobiographical in this regard, as the main character's father is modeled on Le Carré's own. In Single & Single, he poses an interesting question: what if, contrary to what actually happened, his father had gotten away with his schemes and landed himself in the upper crust of society that he so craved? The scammer here is Tiger Single, proprietor of the House of Single, banker and fixer and launderer to an assortment of shady characters. His son, recently graduated from law school, has recently been named a co-partner, but when he discovers the crooked business his father is involved in, he sours on things -- considerably -- and ends up working for Her Majesty's government to root out the corruption.
I won't say too much more, except that it was nice to read a Le Carré novel that had all the familiar structural elements but for once did not include British Intelligence among the players. I found the main character (the son) to be very appealing, something not always the case in Le Carré's work. As always, the quality of his writing is just amazing.
Those of you who know [Le Carré's] story well will remember that his father Ronnie Cornwell was an inveterate con man, moving from one scam to another, with prison terms often in between..
now this is interesting.
Yes I too am in the middle of a le Carré, which I'll tell yall about shortly. Still got about 300gs to go, and I wanna let le Carré tell the story at his own leisurely pace.
Anyway, the protagonist claims when she was a child her father was imprisoned for swindling investors, and that shame is what turned her to radical leftist politics (until that too turns out to be a lie. The fact she she believes her own lies is one reason she is of value to the spymaster).
if you recognise which story I'm reading from that clue, shh, don't tell. but I would not have guessed this detail is actually autobiographical, so thanks Hillary. adds yet another layer to the multiple layers of deceit in this particular tale.
thanks 24.
I've been tempted to read the new one, but didnt want to break the sequence if there still is one after Smiley's people.
At my present rate of reading (4 pages over morning coffee before starting work) I should have my next book report ready in, oh, about two and a half months.
this is getting to be the le Carre and/or Deighton thread! which is OK by me.
Well then, allow me to provide some variety. I'm currently a third of the way through Frederick Forsyth's The Odessa File. I'm enjoying it so far, I'll report back when I'm done.
this is getting to be the le Carre and/or Deighton thread! which is OK by me.
Well then, allow me to provide some variety. I'm currently a third of the way through Frederick Forsyth's The Odessa File. I'm enjoying it so far, I'll report back when I'm done.
There was a pretty good Jon Voight film of that in the 70's.
Im starting Ivanhoe by Sir Walter Scott.
“The scent and smoke and sweat of a casino are nauseating at three in the morning. "
-Casino Royale, Ian Fleming
Given how we all have some time on our hands, I've just started When Eight Bells Toll by Alistair MacLean. I've seen the film many
times ( It's a favourite of mine ) but never read the book. So today
I downloaded the kindle version and am up to chapter three, so far
very enjoyable and interesting to see what didn't make it in to the
movie.
"I've been informed that there ARE a couple of QAnon supporters who are fairly regular posters in AJB."
I'm re-reading " Dear Mom: A Sniper's Vietnam " by Joseph T. Ward.
Sir MilesThe Wrong Side Of The WardrobePosts: 27,750Chief of Staff
Breakout at Stalingrad by Heinrich Gerlach.
Gerlach was a lieutenant in the 14th Panzer Division at Stalingrad. He wrote this novel whilst in captivity in the USSR but it was confiscated by the Russians. Gerlach wrote a ‘remembered’ version in 1957 called The Forsaken Army and 55 years later this original was found in a Moscow archive...
one good outcome of "working from home": I've been able to improve upon my normal average of reading four pages a day over morning coffee!
________________________________________ The Little Drummer Girl
le Carre
this is le Carre's first book not to feature Smiley or the Circus lurking in the background (except for A Small Town in Germany, and the Naive and Sentimental Lover, which were both over a decade ago). He's gotta move on to new characters.
This time we're following the adventures of the Israeli spymaster "Kurtz", and his latest recruit, the fashionably leftwing radical English stage actress Charlie. She starts off favouring the Palestinian cause, but once she is abducted by our heroes, is motivated by the challenge to her acting abilities to work secretly for the Israelis and infiltrate the refugee camps in Lebanon.
(I don't think the words MOSSAD or PLO are ever mentioned once?)
At least I think that's her motivation. We quickly learn Charlie is a habitual liar who believes her own lies, that why she's such a good actress, and she seems to have some void at the core of her identity that acting fulfills. And she already has been persuaded that Radical Action is the Theatre of the Real.
There is a lot of philosphising about the parallels between acting and spying, and as usual there are layers upon layers of deceit.
There is also a lot of globetrotting. Similar to the final 200pgs of the Honourable SchoolBoy. We see a lot of Greece and Germany and the English countryside, and most vivid of all, the lengthy journey through the refugee camps of Lebanon. Despite the heroes of the adventure being Israeli intelligence, it is the plight of the Palestinians le Carre wants us to remember.
This one has a happier ending than most le Carre's, which is a relief because I liked Charlie. At least she wasn't shot down in a hail of bullets on the last page like most le Carre heroes.
But she seems to be psychologically shattered. She has a nervous breakdown while back on stage in smalltown England, then wanders off into the night.
Does she even really see Joseph on the final page, or is that her overactive imagination finally leaving reality behind?
The library is opening up again, sort of. It has bugged me that I didn't get to the library before so much closed, but it seems all hope isn't lost. Now I can order library books online. The library sends a meesage when the book is ready and tells me when to come and get it. A librarian comes out and hands me a plastic net with the book in it. Complicated, but I think it'll work.
Given how we all have some time on our hands, I've just started When Eight Bells Toll by Alistair MacLean. I've seen the film many
times ( It's a favourite of mine ) but never read the book. So today
I downloaded the kindle version and am up to chapter three, so far
very enjoyable and interesting to see what didn't make it in to the
movie.
I love the 60’s Alistair MacLean books they are brilliant!
I’m reading Time For The Stars by Robert Heinlein for the time since I was about 12! It’s classified as a juvenile book but it plays out very well for adult reading and I’m enjoying it immensely.
Yeah, well, sometimes nothin' can be a real cool hand.
My reading over the last few weeks has been unusually eclectic - including Frederick Forsyth, Tennessee Williams and P.G. Wodehouse - but now I'm getting back into one of my favourite series of spy novels with London Rules by Mick Herron. I've read the first four books in this series and they've got better with each novel. Halfway through London Rules it seems that this trend continues because so far I'm enjoying this one even more than the previous four. I highly recommend this series to any spy fan. The first novel is Slow Horses, which introduces the ensemble cast of characters who inhabit Slough House, a department of MI5 where failed spooks are sent.
I just finished reading Roger Moore's "007 Diaries" about the filming of LALD. I thoroughly enjoyed it. It's humourous and provides great insights into the filming of the first Bond film I ever saw. A great light reading and makes me appreciate the film even more.
I finished re-reading "Doctor No" this weekend. DN is simply one of the best Bond novels, a really great book :007)
Now spring has finally kicked in and I'm re-reading the Quantum of Solace short story collection on the porch. If memory serves I prefer Octopussy and LTK. Life is good
Just finished reading "For Your eyes only". I liked it more this time than the first time. In some ways it's an unusual James Bond story. Much of it is about Bond hiking in the woods on the border of Canada and the US, in many ways a hunting story. In fact I think Fleming handled this aspect of the story very well. The rest of the story is more typical Bond, and that's well written too.
Currently reading Munich by Robert Harris. Fiction intertwined with historical facts of Chamberlain's negotiations with Hitler in 1938, hoping to prevent war.
Sir MilesThe Wrong Side Of The WardrobePosts: 27,750Chief of Staff
Currently reading Munich by Robert Harris. Fiction intertwined with historical facts of Chamberlain's negotiations with Hitler in 1938, hoping to prevent war.
I enjoyed that book - I really like Robert Harris and his ‘war themed’ novels...I’m looking forward to his new one V2.
Currently reading Munich by Robert Harris. Fiction intertwined with historical facts of Chamberlain's negotiations with Hitler in 1938, hoping to prevent war.
I enjoyed that book - I really like Robert Harris and his ‘war themed’ novels...I’m looking forward to his new one V2.
Munich has been on my 'to-read' list for quite a while. The only Harris novel I've read so far is Enigma, which I thoroughly enjoyed.
Right now I'm busy reading Dashiel Hammet's The Maltese Falcon. I've been watching a bit of film noir recently, and thought I'd finally get round to reading The Maltese Falcon before rewatching the classic John Huston film.
Right now I'm busy reading Dashiel Hammet's The Maltese Falcon. I've been watching a bit of film noir recently, and thought I'd finally get round to reading The Maltese Falcon before rewatching the classic John Huston film.
You won't be disappointed. Hammett is one of the best noir writers, second only to Raymond Chandler IMHO. If you like it, try Red Harvest next- the influence for Yojimbo and therefore Fistful Of Dollars.
Huston filled The Maltese Falcon with shots of Bogart simply walking across a room, feeling that this told you what kind of a man Sam Spade was- much as Terence Young filled Thunderball with shots of Sean Connery walking across a room, for the same reason.
Currently reading Munich by Robert Harris. Fiction intertwined with historical facts of Chamberlain's negotiations with Hitler in 1938, hoping to prevent war.
I enjoyed that book - I really like Robert Harris and his ‘war themed’ novels...I’m looking forward to his new one V2.
Munich has been on my 'to-read' list for quite a while. The only Harris novel I've read so far is Enigma, which I thoroughly enjoyed.
Right now I'm busy reading Dashiel Hammet's The Maltese Falcon. I've been watching a bit of film noir recently, and thought I'd finally get round to reading The Maltese Falcon before rewatching the classic John Huston film.
Archangel is another book by Robert Harris (I haven't read it). It was made into a tv film for BBC, I think, in 2005 and starred Daniel Craig. I think I watched it on YouTube.
Sir MilesThe Wrong Side Of The WardrobePosts: 27,750Chief of Staff
I enjoyed that book - I really like Robert Harris and his ‘war themed’ novels...I’m looking forward to his new one V2.
Munich has been on my 'to-read' list for quite a while. The only Harris novel I've read so far is Enigma, which I thoroughly enjoyed.
Right now I'm busy reading Dashiel Hammet's The Maltese Falcon. I've been watching a bit of film noir recently, and thought I'd finally get round to reading The Maltese Falcon before rewatching the classic John Huston film.
Archangel is another book by Robert Harris (I haven't read it). It was made into a tv film for BBC, I think, in 2005 and starred Daniel Craig. I think I watched it on YouTube.
Archangel is another good read from him...stick it on your list too -{
I just finished Le Carré's latest, Agent Running in the Field. Like his previous novel, the excellent A Legacy of Spies, and unlike so many Le Carré novels--which can be long and bloated by minutiae--this is a speedy novel filled with snappy dialogue. It's also gotten a lot of attention as a novel that attacks both Brexit and Trump--but, to my mind, this is its problem. There's no depth or bite to the attack: Le Carré seems to simply take it as a given that the two are unmitigated evils and lets things go. In his Cold War novels, Le Carré dissects both East and West, showing they are petty powers fighting over nothing; in The Constant Gardener he magnifies the sins of "Big Pharma" to illustrate the international threat it poses. ARITF's politics seem to have come from bumper stickers and angry tweets.
I've just read "Devil may care" by Sebastian Faulks. I read it when it was published, but this time I think I like it better. I think the part of the novel that takes place in France and Persia/Iran are the best. It seems like Faulks knows France really well and Iran is a new location in a Bond novel and I think the story benefits from this. I think Bond is well described. M, Leiter and Moneypenny are present and correct and Mathis is perhaps espcially impactful because the author writes France well. Scarlett Papava is a good enough Bond girl and and MI6's man in Teheran reminds me of other Bond allies in a good way. Julius Gormer, a man with a monkey's paw and a burning hatred for England, works well as a villan even though he isn't among the most memorable villans. I think his plan goes from dumping heroin in Britian to something much more dramatic happens too quickly and isn't explained well enough. I also feel some event are too close to events in Fleming's novels. The author should have been more inventive - something as simple as a knife fight in a plane instead of a gun fight could have worked wonders. I still count "Devil may care" as one of the best continuation novels. The title is also one of the best Bond titles ever, including Fleming's own. I think EON should use it, with or without using elements from the book.
Chagrin is also an inspired henchman name.
Comments
The story is about and agent in MI6 named Ed near the end of his career. I'm not going to say much more about the plot other than Britain's relationship to the US during Trump's presidency are themes. I found the novel entertaining, but not very tense. I also found it less bleak than what I've read from le Carre earlier.
I found Agent Running in the Field a pretty enjoyable novel. One aspect that interested me from a Bond perspective was Nat's sojourn in Karlovy Vary which was the shooting location for Montenegro in Casino Royale. The hotel that doubled as the Hotel Splendide (Granhotel Pupp) even gets a mention in Le Carre's novel. I wonder if Nat had dinner at Bond and Vesper's table?
I also think I can guess le Carre's position on Brexit and Trump, and I bet you can too.
This novel never gets much discussion among his other works, but it was excellent. Those of you who know the author's story well will remember that his father Ronnie Cornwell was an inveterate con man, moving from one scam to another, with prison terms often in between. Le Carré's 1986 classic A Perfect Spy is semi-autobiographical in this regard, as the main character's father is modeled on Le Carré's own. In Single & Single, he poses an interesting question: what if, contrary to what actually happened, his father had gotten away with his schemes and landed himself in the upper crust of society that he so craved? The scammer here is Tiger Single, proprietor of the House of Single, banker and fixer and launderer to an assortment of shady characters. His son, recently graduated from law school, has recently been named a co-partner, but when he discovers the crooked business his father is involved in, he sours on things -- considerably -- and ends up working for Her Majesty's government to root out the corruption.
I won't say too much more, except that it was nice to read a Le Carré novel that had all the familiar structural elements but for once did not include British Intelligence among the players. I found the main character (the son) to be very appealing, something not always the case in Le Carré's work. As always, the quality of his writing is just amazing.
Next up...The Constant Gardener.
Yes I too am in the middle of a le Carré, which I'll tell yall about shortly. Still got about 300gs to go, and I wanna let le Carré tell the story at his own leisurely pace.
Anyway, the protagonist claims when she was a child her father was imprisoned for swindling investors, and that shame is what turned her to radical leftist politics (until that too turns out to be a lie. The fact she she believes her own lies is one reason she is of value to the spymaster).
if you recognise which story I'm reading from that clue, shh, don't tell. but I would not have guessed this detail is actually autobiographical, so thanks Hillary. adds yet another layer to the multiple layers of deceit in this particular tale.
I've only read a few le Carre novels so I can't speak about the characters, but the plot seems self-contained.
I've been tempted to read the new one, but didnt want to break the sequence if there still is one after Smiley's people.
At my present rate of reading (4 pages over morning coffee before starting work) I should have my next book report ready in, oh, about two and a half months.
Well then, allow me to provide some variety. I'm currently a third of the way through Frederick Forsyth's The Odessa File. I'm enjoying it so far, I'll report back when I'm done.
There was a pretty good Jon Voight film of that in the 70's.
Im starting Ivanhoe by Sir Walter Scott.
-Casino Royale, Ian Fleming
When Eight Bells Toll by Alistair MacLean. I've seen the film many
times ( It's a favourite of mine ) but never read the book. So today
I downloaded the kindle version and am up to chapter three, so far
very enjoyable and interesting to see what didn't make it in to the
movie.
Gerlach was a lieutenant in the 14th Panzer Division at Stalingrad. He wrote this novel whilst in captivity in the USSR but it was confiscated by the Russians. Gerlach wrote a ‘remembered’ version in 1957 called The Forsaken Army and 55 years later this original was found in a Moscow archive...
________________________________________
The Little Drummer Girl
le Carre
this is le Carre's first book not to feature Smiley or the Circus lurking in the background (except for A Small Town in Germany, and the Naive and Sentimental Lover, which were both over a decade ago). He's gotta move on to new characters.
This time we're following the adventures of the Israeli spymaster "Kurtz", and his latest recruit, the fashionably leftwing radical English stage actress Charlie. She starts off favouring the Palestinian cause, but once she is abducted by our heroes, is motivated by the challenge to her acting abilities to work secretly for the Israelis and infiltrate the refugee camps in Lebanon.
(I don't think the words MOSSAD or PLO are ever mentioned once?)
At least I think that's her motivation. We quickly learn Charlie is a habitual liar who believes her own lies, that why she's such a good actress, and she seems to have some void at the core of her identity that acting fulfills. And she already has been persuaded that Radical Action is the Theatre of the Real.
There is a lot of philosphising about the parallels between acting and spying, and as usual there are layers upon layers of deceit.
There is also a lot of globetrotting. Similar to the final 200pgs of the Honourable SchoolBoy. We see a lot of Greece and Germany and the English countryside, and most vivid of all, the lengthy journey through the refugee camps of Lebanon. Despite the heroes of the adventure being Israeli intelligence, it is the plight of the Palestinians le Carre wants us to remember.
But she seems to be psychologically shattered. She has a nervous breakdown while back on stage in smalltown England, then wanders off into the night.
Does she even really see Joseph on the final page, or is that her overactive imagination finally leaving reality behind?
I love the 60’s Alistair MacLean books they are brilliant!
I’m reading Time For The Stars by Robert Heinlein for the time since I was about 12! It’s classified as a juvenile book but it plays out very well for adult reading and I’m enjoying it immensely.
Now spring has finally kicked in and I'm re-reading the Quantum of Solace short story collection on the porch. If memory serves I prefer Octopussy and LTK. Life is good
I enjoyed that book - I really like Robert Harris and his ‘war themed’ novels...I’m looking forward to his new one V2.
Munich has been on my 'to-read' list for quite a while. The only Harris novel I've read so far is Enigma, which I thoroughly enjoyed.
Right now I'm busy reading Dashiel Hammet's The Maltese Falcon. I've been watching a bit of film noir recently, and thought I'd finally get round to reading The Maltese Falcon before rewatching the classic John Huston film.
You won't be disappointed. Hammett is one of the best noir writers, second only to Raymond Chandler IMHO. If you like it, try Red Harvest next- the influence for Yojimbo and therefore Fistful Of Dollars.
Huston filled The Maltese Falcon with shots of Bogart simply walking across a room, feeling that this told you what kind of a man Sam Spade was- much as Terence Young filled Thunderball with shots of Sean Connery walking across a room, for the same reason.
Archangel is another book by Robert Harris (I haven't read it). It was made into a tv film for BBC, I think, in 2005 and starred Daniel Craig. I think I watched it on YouTube.
Archangel is another good read from him...stick it on your list too -{
Chagrin is also an inspired henchman name.