Re-reading the novels of John le Carré
the-tls.co.uk
Re-reading the novels of John le Carré
1–10 of 21 posts
Re: Re-reading the novels of John le Carré
#2I would also highly recommend the Travis McGee novels by John D MacDonald.
Re: Re-reading the novels of John le Carré
#3I always considered Sir Alec Guiness's role in "Tinker Tailor ..." and "Smiley's People" to be the pinnacle of acting in a short run series - he really became George Smiley. Since viewing the recent series "Chernobyl" I for the first time haved added Jared Harris to that pile of excellence for his portrayal of Vaverly Legasov. As troubling as some days seem to be in the world I find comfort that people like Guiness and Harris can still make me lose myself in a complicated character and a great story.
Re: Re-reading the novels of John le Carré
#4Cold War Espionage is endlessly fascinating. I recommend looking into the story of the Cambridge Five, some of the most notorious Soviet spies in British History: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cambridge_Five
Re: Re-reading the novels of John le Carré
#5Mick Herron's "Slow Horses" series is fantastic, highly recommended. Slough House (from which the title) is where agents go when they fuck up. So everyone is flawed, and know they have failed. They're the ones who get a whiff of something going on, and their sorting of it is a redemption quest made difficult by the fact that they are fuckups. My memory is that it gets the tech right and the banter is A+ hilarious. (Herron is the author of this TLS piece, hence this recommendation)
Re: Re-reading the novels of John le Carré
#6Of all characters in Tinker Taylor Soldier Spy, it is Connie Sachs that is most likely to be replaced by AI.
Re: Re-reading the novels of John le Carré
#7Mick Herron's "Slow Horses" series is fantastic, highly recommended. Slough House (from which the title) is where agents go when they fuck up. So everyone is flawed, and know they have failed. They're the ones who get a whiff of something going on, and their sorting of it is a redemption quest made difficult by the fact that they are fuckups. My memory is that it gets the tech right and the banter is A+ hilarious. (H…
This is now also being made into an Apple TV+ original series, starring Gary Oldman.
Re: Re-reading the novels of John le Carré
#8I wish if Honourable school boy could be adapted for the screen, perhaps as a miniseries, it covers lot of ground, the Hong Kong chapters are a good description of the years under British rule, and the chapter on the fall of Vientiane is also very notable.
Re: Re-reading the novels of John le Carré
#9The writer calls 'A Perfect Spy' a masterpiece and rightly so. I highly recommend it. The audio version by Michael Jayston is brilliant. Years after reading it, scenes from the book regularly surface from the backwash of my daydreams.
https://www.newyorker.com/culture/cultural-comment/best-le-c...
Re: Re-reading the novels of John le Carré
#10Wow, I had no idea John le Carré was still alive. I loved the movie version of "The Spy Who Came In From The Cold," and the novel's been waiting for me on my Kindle for a while now. I may have to bump that to the top of my reading list...