20th Century
2019: Reading Highlights
These are in no particular order and I’ve picked them out as the ones I gave 5* to on my Goodreads page – you can
17th December 2019
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John Le Carré
My Ko-fi button
Will you support my work? You can simply BUY me a COFFEE!
21st Century
Just when you thought it was safe to go back to spying… Charles Cumming’s A Colder War
It hardly needs saying, but spying did not stop with the collapse of Communism. But if spying continued, it naturally follows that so did betrayal. The
12th May 2014
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20th Century
Q Conversations 3: Spy novelist Charles Cumming
He ate my toast and drank my beer. But that seemed sufficient to put him at his ease and get him talking (good cop routine).
25th April 2013
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21st Century
Giving voice to the whistleblower: Le Carré on cracking form in A Delicate Truth
There’s a key moment when the oleaginous Foreign Office chameleon, Giles Oakley, goads his protegé and A Delicate Truth‘s protagonist, Toby Bell, about what he should
24th April 2013
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20th Century
Q’s Espionage Festival: 2. A review of Tomas Alfredson’s Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy
I was in fear and trembling before watching this movie. Not because of any potential hide-behind-the-sofa moments – but because I so wanted the film
14th October 2011
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20th Century
Q’s Espionage Festival: 1. Gordon Corera’s The Art of Betrayal
BBC Security Correspondent, Gordon Corera‘s new book, The Art of Betrayal – Life and Death in the British Secret Service covers ground that will be familiar to
11th October 2011
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20th Century
In the company of spies: Charles Cumming’s Trinity Six
I’ve just found this in my drafts box having obviously never posted it. So better late than never… It wasn’t particularly by design, but over
6th May 2011
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ARTS
Le Carré on writing: a narrative masterclass
Having quoted a rather light-hearted bit from this excellent compilation of interviews, I’ve been reflecting on some of the things John Le Carré has said over
14th April 2011
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A nursery for crime: John Le Carré on teaching at Eton!
As part of my ongoing trawl into the literature and culture of the Cold War, I came across this classic description from John Le Carré (nom
30th March 2011
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