Welcome to Litsy!

I probably shouldn‘t mark this reread as a review, but consider this a review of the audio narrated by Simon Vance. Vance is perfect for le Carre‘s novels. This one is not as adventurous or glamorous as his more well known novels, but the author himself notes that this is closer to reality than Spy or Tinker Tailor. It‘s petty, sad, and filled with egos that desperately want to be relevant but aren‘t. Le Carre‘s writing is brilliant, as always.

This was probably a more realistic spy novel than ‘The Spy Who Came in from the Cold‘ but I preferred the drama and romance of that novel over so much of the day to day training in this one.

(1964) For readers who thought "The Spy Who Came In from The Cold" was overoptimistic, le Carré offers a cynical gem about a British intelligence agency trying to gather information about a possible military buildup on the East German border. But "The Department" is so plagued by nostalgia, overconfidence, budget constraints, and bureaucratic rivalries that the adventure can end only one dreadful way. I can't say I "enjoyed" it but I do admire it

John le Carré never fails to deliver a clear-eyed view of Cold War espionage. As a Yank, it‘s interesting to see how Britain focused on Germany, which makes sense after enduring the Blitz throughout WWII. But it is also interesting to see the bureaucracy behind Britain‘s Cold War efforts. Bureaucracy that seemingly pitted agencies within the British Intelligence community against one another and led to lost agents for diplomatic purposes.

#WeRemember Day 10: I got this #JohnLeCarre novel during the Sharjah used book festival around two years ago. Here‘s more of my book haul: https://wp.me/pDlzr-lH7

Ah, a spy novel again in this spy series from le Carré.

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Fine, crappy iPhone with limited storage, I‘ll listen to a shorter audiobook with a smaller data file than the George RR Martin tomb.

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Le Carré notes in the intro that Looking Glass War is far closer to the reality of the Secret Service than Spy Who Came in from the Cold. It‘s definitely a more pathetic Department, inhabited by petty men, worried about all the wrong things, and sadly dismissive of agents. Wonderfully written, as all of his books, but it definitely leaves me feeling sad and a little dirty.

Bailey has ANOTHER UTI and an ear infection, so we‘re snuggling on the couch while I try to finish this book and grumble about the fact mentioning George Smiley in six out of 268 pages does not make this “A George Smiley Novel”. I can‘t wait to reread Tinker Tailor.

More of a so-so for me. Bleak and felt kind of pointless, but maybe that in itself was the point: that these characters were going nowhere. Written well, as always with John le Carré.

Last night I dreamt that John le Carré was visiting my parents -- in the dream he'd always been good friends with my dad but he hadn't been able to visit us since I was a kid, so it was weird to see him when we were both adults ??? But we chatted about books, namely The Looking-Glass War, which I now have to borrow because my subconscious likes to recommend me books ?

Bleak, even by Le Carré's standards, this is a superbly written dissection of the follies and illusions at the heart of British espionage in the mid-sixties. The Department is staffed by a hopeless collection of has-beens, never-weres, stuffed shirts and timeservers, glancing enviously at their rivals in the comparatively well-equipped and glamorous Circus. Wonderful stuff.

Do you know what love is? I'll tell you: it is whatever you can still betray.

A different sort of excitement than The Spy Who Came In From The Cold but I find this one a more interesting and engaging story.