The Spy Who Came in from the Cold

John LeCarré |  Fiction

two-hearts

 My credibility as a blogger may be called into question with this post.  The Spy Who Came in from the Cold spent 34 weeks on The NY Times bestseller list, and most everyone knows the title, at least.  But I didn’t get it.  Literally.  The first time I understood the story line at all was at the beginning of Chapter 20, “Tribunal” on page 167.  The entire book is only 225 pages.  I felt no tension, couldn’t figure out who the bad guys and good guys were, and there was no spying in the entire book.

My friend Jan W is on a journey to read all of John LeCarré’s books.  I haven't read him, but Jan’s commitment inspired me to try him on for size.  It will be a while before I venture into another LeCarré.

I have read everything by Robert Parker (which is why two of my cats are named Spenser and Hawk), and, when much younger, J.D. Salinger and Kurt Vonnegut.  Have you intentionally read everything published by a particular author?  If so, who?

 

2 responses on “The Spy Who Came in from the Cold

  1. Mary Cary Crawford

    I’ve tried a couple of LeCarre’s books but never got very far. I chalked it up to it not being my favorite genre and his writing style. I’ve watched some of the movies made based on his books and haven’t been a big fan of these either. I don’t think your feelings about this author/book challenge your book blogger credibility. Major review sources give the books to reviewers who like the genre and/or author so there is some bias going in.
    There is only two authors I can think that I’ve read all or most of their work – A.J. Cronin and Willa Cather. Cather is one of my all-time favorite authors. Over the past 5-6 summers, I’ve been working on reading Ian Rankin’s Inspector Rebus novels. Don’t know if I’ll get to all of them; he’s written 20 that I know of. Crime fiction is not my favorite but I’ve gotten to like the main character, its setting mostly in Scotland, and the author’s writing style. And it is fun to look for the author at used book sales.

    1. Andrea Sigetich Post author

      I don’t know Cather or Cronin! I should go look …