A Perfect Spy: A Novel | 
pickOften acclaimed as Le Carré's best this is the heavily autobiographical tale of Magnus Pym, the perfect spy of the title, and his relationship with his conman father. Excellent, even if I found some of the motivation behind Pym's betrayals a little opaque.
pickMy first time reading LeCarre and it was challenging for sure. A Perfect Spy is unconventional in its use of first person and third person POV, often within the span of the same sentence. It jumps from multiple character POVs through multiple timelines, creating a collage-like story that can often be a bit confusing. Once the reader gets their bearings and simply accepts what LeCarre is doing it becomes a read which rewards the effort.
pickIt took me a while to get into the rhythm of this one. The POV changes constantly, not just between characters but also from 3rd person omniscient to 1st person to 3rd person limited (with characters recalling past events about themselves in the 3rd person). This is the first le Carre novel I've read. I'm not sure if this is indicative of his other work, but once I got used to the style I loved it and will definitely be reading more of his stuff.
? Just a tiny little thing but a pet peeve of mine: mispronouncing a easily looked-up name. Joe Louis was a famous American boxer. No matter who *you* are or where you are from, *his* last name is pronounced /‘lü-is/ (NOT /‘lü-ē/) There are tons of fight videos and reference books like dictionaries out there. If the audiobook narrator didn‘t use them the proofed/QC department should have.
Image: Photo of Joe Louis Barrow (real name) (cmgww.com)
🎧 Started reading this last year when I was on vacation in France but got very distracted by, well France! Picking it up again and starting over, this time in audio (narrated by Michael Jayston.) The story is about the life of a spy named, “Pym.” Complicated in structure w/dIfferent POVs that sometimes interlace, the audio narrator is doing a yeoman‘s job.
I imagine it would be hard not to be paranoid if this is your profession
#ithinkimparanoid #fiercefeb photo challenge
@Cinfhen @batsy
So far this seems to be the year of chunksters. The average page count of my books has been about 500 pages. And to make it even crazier, I am thinking about starting "The Suitable Boy".
#2017wrapup #DNF
This year I got better at putting down books that I just didn‘t care to finish.
But I still wonder... am I missing out?🤔
I think I‘m going to give another chance to A Perfect Spy. Is there another one here I should try again?
pickJohn le Carre's classic spy novel is a stunning psychological unpicking of the motivations and psychology of a spy, which partly draws on le Carre's own background.
pickThis is my favorite of all the John lecarres books. The language and the description reminds me of dickens
