Now reading...

[Michael]

Probably just as interesting as the Robert Johnson book is the back story between several competing 'biographers' who researched his life story for years.   I think Steve Levere, Mack McCormack and Gayle Dean Wardlow all did years of research and possibly even sued each other to keep the others story from coming to publication.   

[Dub Modal]

2 hours ago, Michael said:

Probably just as interesting as the Robert Johnson book is the back story between several competing 'biographers' who researched his life story for years.   I think Steve Levere, Mack McCormack and Gayle Dean Wardlow all did years of research and possibly even sued each other to keep the others story from coming to publication.   

I had no idea about that drama 

[BillF]

[Brad]

On 6/14/2022 at 4:13 PM, Bluesnik said:

I have Legacy of Spies, but haven't read it still. And I didn't know it had something to do with the other book. I thought it was just his closing of the whole spy world.

No, in the story, Alec Leamas’s son is suing the government over the death of his father and the government calls in a now retired Peter Guillam to find out what happened.  Smiley makes an appearance.

In addition, the spy world is never closed or ended. Even though the Cold War is over, it still continues. See Agent Running in the Field and his last book, published posthumously, Silverview. 

Edited June 16, 2022 by Brad

[Bluesnik]

9 hours ago, Brad said:

See Agent Running in the Field and his last book, published posthumously, Silverview.

I have Silverview too. Unread. But I never knew about the connection to earlier books.

[Brad]

On 6/16/2022 at 5:15 PM, Bluesnik said:

I have Silverview too. Unread. But I never knew about the connection to earlier books.

Several of his books are considered the Smiley books in that they include George Smiley. There are the two I first mentioned. The others are 

Call for the Dead

A Murder of Quality

The Looking Glass War (one of LeCarre’s best)

The Secret Pilgrim and

The Karla Trilogy — Tinker Tailor, The Honorable Schoolboy, and Smiley’s People.

If you should decide to watch Tinker, Tailor, do not watch the movie but the six part series with Alec Guinness.  It and Smiley’s People are available on YouTube. 

[Milestones]

I was pleasantly surprised by Agent Running in the Field--a rather fine work for so late in his career.

I heard that Silverview was written a few years back and Le Carre felt it wasn't good enough to be published.  Yet here it is.

 

 

[Brad]

1 hour ago, Milestones said:

I was pleasantly surprised by Agent Running in the Field--a rather fine work for so late in his career.

I heard that Silverview was written a few years back and Le Carre felt it wasn't good enough to be published.  Yet here it is.

 

 

I thought Silverview was pretty good. Perhaps not among his best but still good nonetheless. 

[Brad]

A look at Paris in the 1920s, the writing of The Sun Also Rises and the actual people who made up the novel, most of whom remained unhappy to the day they died with the way they were portrayed in the novel. Fascinating book. 

[Milestones]

Great writers usually piss off the people who are their raw material.

 

[Bluesnik]

19 hours ago, Brad said:

If you should decide to watch Tinker, Tailor, do not watch the movie but the six part series with Alec Guinness.

Thanks Brad, I've read Tinker, Tailor but haven't seen any movie.

[Brad]

1 minute ago, Bluesnik said:

Thanks Brad, I've read Tinker, Tailor but haven't seen any movie.

I saw the series before I read Tinker Tailor. It was what got me interested in reading Tinker, Tailor as well as his other books. 

[Brad]

On 5/25/2022 at 3:13 PM, BillF said:

You know, I've read just about everything he wrote, but I haven't read that. Do you recommend it?

I’m about halfway through it and I can’t say that I do. It’s his attempt to do something different, to explore the dissatisfaction with bourgeois, ho hum middle class life and explore life with a rabelasian bohemian acquaintance; walk on the wild side, so to speak. The book, so far, seems aimless but I’m going on a trip so I will see if I can finish it. 

[ghost of miles]

On 6/18/2022 at 9:45 PM, Brad said:

If you should decide to watch Tinker, Tailor, do not watch the movie but the six part series with Alec Guinness.  It and Smiley’s People are available on YouTube. 

Both amazingly well-done productions.  I actually ordered the British versions on DVD several years ago because they're complete, as opposed to the slightly-truncated episodes that aired on America's PBS.  

[BillF]

On 18/06/2022 at 2:45 AM, Brad said:

 

If you should decide to watch Tinker, Tailor, do not watch the movie but the six part series with Alec Guinness.  

Agreed.

Now reading:

[ghost of miles]

Bill and other UK posters would find this one of interest, methinks. Rob Young has also written an excellent book about 1960s/70s English folk music (Electric Eden) as well as a biography of the group Can; I have yet to read the latter, but given the quality of his other work, I’m sure it would be a worthy read as well. The Magic Box explores the strange and fascinating realm of 1950s-80s British television:

Edited July 3, 2022 by ghost of miles

[BillF]

[jlhoots]

William Kent Krueger: This Tender Land

[Brad]

[Jason Bivins]

Shameless self-promotion, but my fourth book was published last week. I've returned to writing about religion and politics, and I'm pretty proud of this one.

 

https://global.oup.com/academic/product/embattled-america-9780197623503?cc=us&lang=en&

[sidewinder]

Just finished this really excellent book. Attended a gripping talk by the two authors a few weeks ago - very important that these events are recorded and passed on. Shocking how these crimes were ‘glossed over’ after WW2 but at least this character eventually got his comeuppance.

Almost certainly, he will have checked my train ticket back in the 70s/early 80s at London Bridge. A chilling thought.

Edited July 20, 2022 by sidewinder

[Michael]

Finished Joni Mitchell bio "Reckless Daughter" by David Jaffe.  Recommended.  Now reading "we Tell Ourselves Stoes In Order to Live."   Non-Fiction Collection of Joan Didion's writings. 

[jlhoots]

Adrian McKinty: The Island

[BillF]

[ghost of miles]

Got this as part of a recent University of Chicago Press sale—really looking forward to the diverse array of albums and artists he covers: