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Ben Macintyre: The spy and the traitor

Ben Macintyre's books are always informative and exciting, and this is probably one of his best. It's about Oleg Gordievsky, the KGB agent who secretly worked for the MI6 in the later part of the cold war. This may be the best non-fiction book in the spy genere I've ever read. The competition is "Spy/counterspy" by Dusko Popov and Max Manus' two biograpies abouut his exoeriences as a WWII SOE agent (A shortened version was published in English under the name "Underwater saboteur"), but today it feels like Macintyre beats them all.If you're atall interested in real life espionage thisis a must read.

All firsts I think,  though some in poor condition. Must ask CoolHandBond if they're worth anything.

"Black August" as you'll probably know isn't part of the chronology and stands apart. I think you'll enjoy filling in the gaps. 
(And of course spotting the influences on Fleming)

Reference Dennis Wheatley first editions, depending on condition certain titles can sell £1000 plus but low hundreds is probably the norm for very fine condition, fair/poor condition would be pretty low but the value is not monetary terms but the enjoyment of seeing them sat on your bookshelves 

Light Into Ink by S. M. Guariento. This is like a busman’s holiday for me, a critical analysis of the movie/tv paperback tie- in that was so popular back in the day. This book covers most genres including Bond. It is liberally dosed with hundreds of colour pictures of covers. It is also available in a cheaper b/w version which is pointless as the joy in this book is poring over those gorgeous covers.

It was reading the paperback tie-in of Goldfinger as a schoolboy which first alerted me to this particular form of collecting, little did I know that it would lead to a 40 year career as a used bookseller 

It’s a self published book and available from Amazon, I highly recommend this to those with an interest in the subject.

Bel Canto
Ann Patchett, 2001

At the Vice President's mansion in an anonymous South American country (clearly modeled on Peru), a world-famous opera soprano is finishing a private concert for guests at the birthday party of a Japanese business mogul who may be planning to invest in the country.  Suddenly, the proceedings are interrupted by the arrival of 18 armed guerrillas seeking to overthrow the government.  Suffice it to say that a looooong standoff ensues between the hostage-takers and the government forces arrayed outside.

It's obvious early on that the plot can only resolve itself in one way, so this is really about characters.  Patchett does a great job of vividly drawing many of them to life -- the Vice President, the soprano, the mogul, his translator, a local priest, a French diplomat, a Russian civil servant, an unlucky Red Cross negotiator, and many of the ragtag band of guerrillas.  As the situation drags on far longer than anyone had anticipated, unexpected alliances are formed, and unexpected talents are revealed.

As with so many novels, it feels like the author struggled with how to end it, and in this case, the postscript didn't quite ring true for me.  Still, this was an enjoyable and relatively quick read.  The writing is beautiful.

I sure am Barbel, He's good at getting me to turn the page, and there's a whole lotta "I can't believe I just read that!!" moments that give the books extra value.

May I just say, one reason I keep hanging round here is because of the recommendations:
it is posters in this forum who persuaded me to read the Modesty Blaise books, the Flashman books (I think that was the long-lost Willie Garvin in both cases), to watch the Avengers and Danger Man, you yourself encouraged me to read Deighton and watch the Harry Palmer films....
the Potts Library of Fine Films and Literature is soon going to need another wing because of all the books and movies that I find out about here!

Just finished The Beatles: All These Years. Vol.1 Tune In by Mark Lewisohn.

I only ‘discovered’ this book whilst trawling YouTube - there is always something Beatles related at the top of the ‘recommends’ list for me…

This first volume was published in 2013, with Vol.2 not due until 2021 at best   so Vol.3 could be quite awhile off 
I managed to secure a copy from eBay (the American hardback version) and then waited for it to arrive.

This is an absolute stunning read for anyone that is into The Beatles…although I’ll have to honest and confess I only managed to buy the abridged version (roughly 800 pages but with a further 160 pages of reference material)...oh, and that only covers them up to December 31st 1962 
The wealth of stories and detail is phenomenal...I’m quite disappointed with myself for not buying the extended edition, I guess I will do that in due time.

A truly magnificent read 

A Perfect Spy
le Carre, 1986

In the previous volume The Little Drummer Girl, our heroine Charlie told people her father was a wealthy respectable con-artist who was sent to prison, leaving his family penniless, that's why she turned to radical leftwing politics. That backstory turns out to be a lie that Charlie has come to believe herself, yet ironically the image of a con-artist father was a non-fictional detail.

In this volume, fully half the content (600pgs total) is the story of the protagonist's father, an upper-class-wanna-be con artist who is repeatedly sent to prison, and leaves his son struggling to get by due to "temporary problems of liquidity". Richard Pym is an associate of criminals, a big-spending charmer who rises to the heights of society. Pym gets his "liquidity" from such schemes as convincing widows to invest their inheritances in non-existent trust funds, which temporarily finance his lifestyle of fast cars, slow racehorses and ubiquitous "lovelies".

Son Magnus inherits his father's charm and psychopathic dishonesty, but follows a different career path which rewards this skill set. He becomes a spy, specialising in Czechoslovak defectors. Magnus is really into betrayal, he seems to fetishize the act, as it recalls his most vivid childhood memories and he needs to  betray to complete any relationship.

Non-linear story structure is told in highly unreliable flashbacks, as Magnus disappears after attending his father's funeral, and holes up in a seaside rooming house to set down his memoirs. The espionage content is basically a framing device for the story of the father-son relationship, though it becomes more important towards the end.

Essentially a fictionalised autobiography, except (hopefully) for the state treason part. Le Carre's real life father Ronnie Cornwell apparently was exactly like the character Richard Pym, and young le Carre followed a very similar career path to Magnus. I wonder if his erstwhile intelligence colleagues besieged his house after reading the final chapters of this book, in which all is revealed?

Has anyone read any Daniel Silva books about Gabriel Allon? If so, what's your opinion of them? I have The English Assassin and The English Spy but haven't read them yet or any others.

It’s certainly on my to buy list....