What are you reading now?

[Conchis]

I do think the episode of Merdle's death is quite brilliantly done...

.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Fixed_Period

Yes, I remember being very impressed by that part when i read the book in 1988. Some years later it was widely quoted when Robert Maxwell took his infamous moonlight swim...

The last Dickens I read was Barnaby Rudge in 2003. I can remember barely anything about it. I prefer Balzac nowadays - I think of him as Dickens for grown-ups.

[Don Basilio]

Barnby Rudge is the one with the Gordon riots and the storming of Newgate Prison. And the raven.

[Conchis]

Barnby Rudge is the one with the Gordon riots and the storming of Newgate Prison. And the raven.

...and Dolly Varden!

Those are the only things I remember about it. Can't recall the plot-line at all. I do remember it being an easier read than Dickens' other historical novel (Tale Of Two Cities) which is less than half the length of B.R. but took me about twice as long to get through.

[Pianorak]

John le Carre: A Perfect Spy. Densely written, irritating yet fascinating, difficult to put down.

[Richard Tarleton]

John le Carre: A Perfect Spy. Densely written, irritating yet fascinating, difficult to put down.

Chpater 33 (Son of the author's father) of his recently published memoir The Pigeon Tunnel deals with his real-life relationship with his appalling father - A Perfect Spy is remarkably (uncomfortably) autobiographical.

The prospect of this new book was discussed when Adam Sisman's outstanding biography came out last year - critics wondered if JLeC was holding things back for his forthcoming book, whether there would be further revelations, etc. In fact there are no real surprises, though a lot of episodes and real-life encounters are fleshed out more than before, and are of course told in the first person. Many episodes are familiar But it is in no way an autobiography, rather a series of elegant vignettes, memoirs, pen-portraits. There is more about his brief career in intelligence, which had to end when he became a successful author, and some fascinating accounts of the originals for some of his fictional characters - the real-life Smiley, Jerry Westerby, Tessa, Issa and many more. There are the encounters with people ranging from Richard Burton to Yasser Arafat.

Chapter 10 is entitled Going out in the field - after writing a Hong Kong scene in Tinker Tailor in Cornwall, with the help of an out of date guide book which did not mention the existence of a tunnel between Hong Kong Island and Kowloon, he vowed never again write a scene set in a place he hadn't visited - hence the meticulous research which underwrites every novel that came after. Le Carré aficionados will appreciate this book for what it is.

[Beef Oven!]

Chapter 10 is entitled Going out in the field - after writing a Hong Kong scene in Tinker Tailor in Cornwall, with the help of an out of date guide book which did not mention the existence of a tunnel between Hong Kong Island and Kowloon, he vowed never again write a scene set in a place he hadn't visited - hence the meticulous research which underwrites every novel that came after. Le Carré aficionados will appreciate this book for what it is.

Can be a minefield. In the director’s commentary for Mike Leigh’s Topsy Turvy, he tells how he found out too late to edit Gilbert’s retort to Sullivan that if he wanted 'more cerebral librettos, he should go to Oslo and find Ibsen'. At the time the capital of Norway was still Christiana. This infidelity, clearly bugged Leigh who is known for breathing so much life into his films with wonderful historical and contextual detail.

[Pianorak]

Chpater 33 (Son of the author's father) of his recently published memoir The Pigeon Tunnel deals with his real-life relationship with his appalling father - A Perfect Spy is remarkably (uncomfortably) autobiographical.

Thanks for that, Richard. It's my first encounter with le Carre, apart from the TV Tinker, Taylor. I must admit I have always been rather snooty about spy novels and such. Quite a lot to catch up on, I think.

[Richard Tarleton]

I have always been rather snooty about spy novels and such.

He was never really a spy novelist in the Fleming or Deighton mode, although he was friends with Deighton (they used to meet for jolly lunches) - transcends the genre, and indeed moved on, when the Wall came down...new windmills to tilt at...

[Richard Barrett]

Until very recently I was the only person in the known universe who hadn't read Catcher in the Rye. Then I put that right, basically on my daughter's recommendation, and I found myself wishing I'd read it when I was her age (14). What a (goddamn) marvellous book, I can't get it out of my head.

[Conchis]

Until very recently I was the only person in the known universe who hadn't read Catcher in the Rye. Then I put that right, basically on my daughter's recommendation, and I found myself wishing I'd read it when I was her age (14). What a (goddamn) marvellous book, I can't get it out of my head.

I read it when I was eleven (a little bit too young, perhaps) and loved it immediately. Years later, I can still remember whole sections. And the characters....Ackley Kid, Stradlater, Maurice the pimp, Phoebe Weatherfield Caulfield, all so vividly drawn. :)

[teamsaint]

Until very recently I was the only person in the known universe who hadn't read Catcher in the Rye. Then I put that right, basically on my daughter's recommendation, and I found myself wishing I'd read it when I was her age (14). What a (goddamn) marvellous book, I can't get it out of my head.

...and incidentally one of those books that brings / brought so many expressions into the language,or common use, I should think.

" At least a horse ( substitute appropriate animal) is human,for Gods sake " is a popular one hereabouts.

[Pianoman]

Until very recently I was the only person in the known universe who hadn't read Catcher in the Rye. Then I put that right, basically on my daughter's recommendation, and I found myself wishing I'd read it when I was her age (14). What a (goddamn) marvellous book, I can't get it out of my head.

My favourite unreliable narrator, and one of the 'best' - at least until Charles Arrowby in Murdoch's 'The Sea, The Sea'...

[Alain Maréchal]

I think I am the only person in the known universe who read it as a teenager and did not "get" it, who then reread it years later and did not "get" it, and who has tried several times and still does not "get" it. It does nothing for me. I've tried, I did not understand it then, and it repelled me. I do not understand it now. I shall not try again.

[Alain Maréchal]

I have been rereading Thucydides: he seems so prophetic at times, especially in his description of demagogues, and the way an electorate can regret its decisions, such as during the Mytilenian debates.

[ardcarp]

Just read Tinkers by Paul Harding. It won him a Pulitzer Prize.

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2010/sep/25/tinkers-paul-harding-jay-parini

It's 'about' an old man dying, so consists of flashbacks. But it isn't the 'story', it's the extraordinary nature of Harding's prose; almost poetry. It's a short novel (not the usual American blockbuster) and I needed to savour each phrase. So it takes a while to read. Loved it.