♫Monday Monday♫ Afternoon & The Spy Novel - Non Fiction

I did finally mow the lawn yesterday. My neighbors took down the effigy of me they were planning to burn. Thank goodness it's been raining the past week. 😁

I haven't finished any more books since my first of May but I did make some progress on two of them today. I think I'll finish at least one by tomorrow morning. Here's something. I wonder if any of you have experienced this. I noticed it especially yesterday morning. I was lying in bed reading. Every now and then I'd doze off. I still felt like I was reading the book but it changed quite drastically, like my book had become my dream. When I'd open my eyes I'd have to get back into the flow of the book. It's happened a few times. Quite a strange feeling.

So my look at the Spy / Thriller novel will be some non-fiction books I've read the past few years.

The Spy / Thriller Novel - Non Fiction

Over the past few years Jo has bought me a variety of Non-Fiction spy novels. I've enjoyed them all. I will also include in this section a biography of one of the great spy novelists. I hope you like this list.

1. Family of Spies by Pete Earley (1988).

"The definitive behind-the-headlines story of naval officer John Walker, Jr., and the most damaging espionage operation in America's history, this book is based on exclusive taped interviews with Walker and friends, essential documents, telephone transcripts and FBI files." (3 stars) I remember hearing about this when I was working with the US Air Force. It affected security clearances of many foreign nationals who worked in the US military. As I recall anyway.

2. John le Carre, the Biography by Adam Sisman (2015).

"Over the course of John le Carré's 86 years he's written 24 novels. He's maybe most well-known for his aging spy, George Smiley, who appeared in many of his early novels. I've read nine of ten of his books and have in the past few years, started to read his earlier works, as I missed them when I started to explore his writing.

This biography, John Le Carré: the Biography by Adam Sisman piqued my interest when I first saw it on the bookshelves in one of my local book shops (It was originally published in 2015). I finally purchased a copy and was glad to settle down to it this past month. The book was well-organized and flowed nicely. Sisman has an excellent way in presenting his story. It progresses logically, from le Carré's early childhood until his 80th birthday, finishing with his 2nd most recent novel, A Delicate Truth (2013).

I found le Carré's early life very interesting. Much detail is provided about his father and how poorly he treated his wives and children. Ronnie Cornwell (le Carré's real name is David Cornwell) was a ducker and diver, a grifter and philanderer and never changed over the course of his life. He used his children to achieve his own ends, got involved in many financial schemes, spent time in prison for his shady dealings and many times left his boys on the spot.

Much of what David accomplished was almost almost in contrast to his father. Not too say his father wasn't loved, as he had loyal friends, but he just wasn't a very good man / father. Cornwell's story moves through his childhood, time spent at boarding schools and gradually to university and a career with MI5 and MI6. Cornwell had marriage difficulties, was somewhat of a philanderer as well but ultimately found the wife who supported and for whom he cared dearly. As we get to David's writing career, we move chronologically through all of his novels, what influenced him in writing them, reviews of the books, problems with publishers, movie and TV tie-ins, etc. It's a very interesting story and we do find inklings of Cornwell's attitudes and how they develop and change over the course of his long life. Work was an addiction to him and his methods of formulating and developing his stories make for some interesting reading for budding authors. 

If you've enjoyed le Carré's books you might find this biography interesting. It was nice reliving the stories and also remembering the history of the time in which Cornwell grew up and also meeting the people who became his friends.  (3.5 stars)"

3. Spymistress, the Life of Vera Atkins by William Stevenson (2006).











"A rousing tale of espionage and unsung valor, this is the captivating true story of Vera Atkins, Great Britain's spymistress from the age of 25. With her fierce intelligence, blunt manner, personal courage, and exceptional informants, Vera ran countless missions throughout the 1930s. After rising to the leadership echelon in the Special Operations Executive (SOE), a covert intelligence agency formed by Winston Churchill, she became head of a clandestine army in World War II. Her team went deep behind enemy lines, linked up with resistance fighters, destroyed vital targets, helped Allied pilots escape capture, assassinated German soldiers, and radioed information back to London. As the biographer of her mentor in the SOE, William Stevenson was the only person Vera Atkins trusted to record her story."

4. The Zimmerman Telegram by Barbara Tuchman (1958). 

"I enjoyed this story very much. It tells the story of German attempts to keep the US out of WWI by trying to goad Mexico and Japan into keeping the US too busy to make them enter the war against Germany. Wilson, President at that time, wanted to get the warring factions to sit down and discuss peace. The British discovered the German activities and plans by breaking down the telegrams sent from Berlin to Washington. The book deals with British plans to break the news of the German plots against Washington and how to do so without alerting the Germans to their code-breaking activities. A very worthwhile read, maybe not with quite the breadth of Barbara Tuchman's The Guns of August, but still an excellent piece of historical research that has been presented in a very interesting fashion. (3 stars)"

There you go. Have a great week!