What are you reading now?

[George K]

Yeah #4 was quite the page turner. Lots of false leads, dead ends, intra-departmental intrigue...

Should I do #5 or take a break...

Harry...."C'mere. George!"

[George K]

[bachophile]

@george-k is that the posthumous one? I’m waiting for a relaxed vacation to read that. The last le carre ever. Maybe this summer

[George K]

@bachophile said in What are you reading now?:

@george-k is that the posthumous one?

Don't think so. "Silverview" is listed as his last book, published in 2021.

https://www.bookseriesinorder.com/john-le-carre/

[George K]

@bachophile said in What are you reading now?:

@george-k is that the posthumous one? I’m waiting for a relaxed vacation to read that. The last le carre ever. Maybe this summer

Not a bad story. THere's a lot of "building the foundation" stuff for the first ¾ of the book. In typical Le Carre fashion, you don't know who's important, and who's not.

The last ¼ is absolutely riveting, with great descriptions of an interrogation discussion with one of the principals and depiction of really interesting spy craft.

Up next: More Bosch (#5 - "Trunk Music")

[George K]

I love, LOVE, Ben MacIntyre's books ("Operation Mincemeat").

Started this today...

[George K]

@george-k said in What are you reading now?:

I love, LOVE, Ben MacIntyre's books ("Operation Mincemeat").

Started this today...

Bumping this for @Renauda who might find it interesting.

[George K]

Finished this this morning. Probably one of MacIntyre's best. It's up there with "Mincemeat" and the Gordoyevsky story. The afterword is written by John Le Carre. Le Carre had occasion to meet the guy who confronted Philby in Beirut in 1963, and had several interviews with him.

Le Carre also received an invitation to meet Philby in Moscow.

He declined.

So, as long as I'm doing spies, I thought I'd give this another shot. I started it when it first came out, but lost interest.

So far, it's VERY James Bond-like. Interesting, perhaps unrelated opening, flashback to past missions, etc.

Oh, and it was written by someone I knew, back in another life.

[George K]

@george-k said in What are you reading now?:

So far, it's VERY James Bond-like. Interesting, perhaps unrelated opening, flashback to past missions, etc.
Oh, and it was written by someone I knew, back in another life.

Yeah, it was okay.

Not "blow me away I want MOAR" away, but a pleasant-enough waste of a few hours where you don't feel like you wasted a few hours.

Nice twists in the last ¼ of the book.

I was going to start this (and got about 10% of the way through it), but got, well, not bored, but "I'm not ready for this again," so I gave up - for now.

I think I'll do some more Bosch instead.

[George K]

@george-k said in What are you reading now?:

I'll do some more Bosch instead.

Halfway done. Another good tale. Eleanor Wish returns, and Lt. Billetts is introduced.

[kluurs]

Haven't posted in here in a while - currently reading The Education of Henry Adams - a memoir that could be written by Aqua if he were living back in the 19th century.

Read recently

[George K]

[George K]

Almost finished with "Endurance."

A very well-told tale which never, ever gets boring.

It reminds me of "Unbroken," the story of survival of the airmen of a downed B-24 in WWII.

[George K]

[George K]

Loved this book. It's, perhaps, one of the more "obscure" LeCarre books. It has all the players you've loved in the past. Guillam, Smiley, Control...

And yes, the back story of Mundt, Leamas, and Liz.

Full of flashbacks, flash forwards, etc. Gotta pay attention.

Gonna re-read "From the Cold" just to enjoy the basis of this story.

[George K]

But...before I jump into more LeCarre...a short story to keep me engaged.

Ben Patton is a genuis, a mathematician and a man on the verge of a scientific discovery that could change the world -- if the math he's invented for it works. Ben's secret to his success: A muse, Hestia, who helps him, cares for him and in many ways is the love of his life, as muses so often are for those they inspire.

Hestia is Ben's secret -- but Hestia has secrets of her own. As the two of them race toward the completion of their work, Ben discovers the price of having a muse, and learns that the world can change, in ways he does not expect.

A tale of science and fantasy, from New York Times best-selling author John Scalzi.

I love Scalzi.

[George K]

Short novella. Very not-Scalzi in terms of content (not Sci-fi); very Scalzi in terms of humor and snark.

[George K]

OK that was fun, and very, very different. Nice twist at the end.

Started this today. Several people on FB have commented that "Consider Phlebas" is not Banks' strongest work. If you recall, I gave up about 75% of the way through, having gotten bored with it.

So, to give Banks another shot I started this today (about 40% of the way through it).

The Culture — a human/machine symbiotic society — has thrown up many great Game Players, and one of the greatest is Gurgeh Jernau Morat Gurgeh. The Player of Games. Master of every board, computer and strategy.

Bored with success, Gurgeh travels to the Empire of Azad, cruel and incredibly wealthy, to try their fabulous game. . . a game so complex, so like life itself, that the winner becomes emperor. Mocked, blackmailed, almost murdered, Gurgeh accepts the game, and with it the challenge of his life — and very possibly his death.

Yeah, in the same "universe" as "Phlebas," but a much, MUCH, better story.

[George K]

More Bosch

[George K]

Oh, between that and the Banks book, I did LeCarre's "Spy Who Came in From the Cold." I enjoyed "A Legacy of Spies" so I thought it might be fun to revisit the premise of LeCarre's penultimate book.