Book review: Tinker, tailor, Soldier, Spy by John Le Carre

January 14, 2009 Review 3 Comments

Why I chose it

This book is on the - 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die (amazon) List, which I am sort of obsessed with.

The Buzz

1001 books:

Through the character of Smiley, Le Carre deftly proposes searching questions about the state of Britain. In many ways, Smiley is the logical sucessor to Sherlock Holmes… The novel wonderfully captures a dark, brooding environment where human warmth appears as a rare commodity

What I reckon

The British secret service is in trouble and they pull expert spy, George Smiley, out of retirement to sort it out. Smiley is a little hobbit of a man with thinly veiled personal life catastrophes, and professional enigma. He uses his contacts to unravel the twist of politics and subterfuge to identify a highly placed soviet mole at the height of the cold war.

I had never read any John Le Carre before, as I put them in the “books for my Dad” basket. I’m not sure I’ll read anymore. This is perhaps one of the first spy novels I have read. I enjoyed how workplace political tensions were tangled up with the effects of inaccurate information and double crossing by the mole. In other genres, spies are cut and dried, but these were as feeble as the rest of us in some ways, but with better hand to hand combat skills.

I’m not sure how this is one of the 1001 I must read. I guess it is a fine example of a classic spy novel, and may be worth it for that value alone.

The copy of Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy I read was registered with Bookcrossing. It is currently still with me, but I will soon get it traveling again.

What else to read?

The Librarything Suggester top 10 recommendations are:

Book Review: Neuromancer by William Gibson

January 9, 2009 Review, What to Read No Comments

Why I chose it

This book is on my two favourite lists - 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die (amazon), and 501 Must Read Books (amazon).

The Buzz

1001 books:

Neuromancer is an enduring work because it combines the pace and urgency of the best fiction, with the scope, invention and intellectual rigour of Orwell or Huxley. Perhaps its most compelling and disquieting feature, however, is Gibson’s refusal to make any clear-cut moral distinctions between virtual and organic life, between program and reality.

501 books:

Neuromancer is known as the first book of the Cyberpunk genre, the book that introduced the concept of Cyberspace. … The concept of cyberspace as a habitable place, far prefereable to reality was so perfectly thought out and worked so well it inspired a whole new generation of sci-fi writers.

What I reckon

This is reputed to be the first of the cyberpunk genre, and is always a genre I suspected I would enjoy (sci-fi computer geek). And I did.

Neuromancer is the story of a clapped out drug addicted loser who becomes a maestro when he is jacked in to cyberspace. He travels that world of non-physics and hyperreality with ease. However, the real world controls him as his body is manipulated by corporates and financiers who aim to use his skills for their benefit.

The book is more like an experience than a story. There is a plot, characters and a conspiracy, but it is much more about the ride.

I spent the whole time reading this book unable to believe it was written in 1984. It truely reads as a creative take on what the world be like in the near future, when cyberspace interactions are virtual. Unbelievable.

The copy of Neuromancer I read was registered with Bookcrossing and came to me via a bookring. I sent it on to the next ring participant.

What else to read?

When I raved about this book, a friend, tqd, suggested some other titles with mini reviews.

  • Any
    other William Gibson, especially earlier ones eg. The Virtual Light trilogy (LibraryThing, Amazon
    ), Pattern Recognition (LibraryThing, Amazon
    )

  • Neal
    Stephenson (Snowcrash (LibraryThing, Amazon
    ) is a great read, but overall I like The Diamond Age
    better (Libarything, Amazon
    );

  • and Cryptomonicon (LibraryThing, Amazon
    ) is AWESOME, but a very weak ending, but still
    recommended, if you have time for a 900+ page novel :)

    • The Librarything Suggester top 10 recommendations are:

  • William Gibson: Mona Lisa Overdrive (LibraryThing, Amazon
    ), Count Zero (LibraryThing, Amazon
    ), All tomorrow’s Parties (LibraryThing, Amazon
    , Burning Chrome (LibraryThing, Amazon
    )

  • Bruce Sterling: Islands in the net (LibraryThing, Amazon
    ) or Globalhead (LibraryThing, Amazon
    )

  • Neal Stephenson: Snow Crash (LibraryThing, Amazon
    )

  • Pat Cadigan: Synners (LibraryThing, Amazon
    )

  • Rudy Rucker: Software (LibraryThing, Amazon
    )

    • What kind of Reader am I?

    January 5, 2009 Uncategorized 2 Comments
    What Kind of Reader Are You?
    Your Result: Obsessive-Compulsive Bookworm
     

    You’re probably in the final stages of a Ph.D. or otherwise finding a way to make your living out of reading. You are one of the literati. Other people’s grammatical mistakes make you insane.
    Dedicated Reader
     
    Literate Good Citizen
     
    Book Snob
     
    Fad Reader
     
    Non-Reader
     
    What Kind of Reader Are You?
    Quiz Created on GoToQuiz

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