Beats le Carre hands down!
925085
Edward Wilson, American by birth, Brit by emigration, served as a Special Forces Officer in Vietnam and was decorated for his part in rescuing wounded Vietnamese soldiers from a minefield - one can only begin to imagine the hell of that. In his prize-winning first novel A RIVER IN MAY, praised by W G Sebald and Alan Sillitoe, Wilson built on those experiences to create one of the great anti-war novels of all time.

Wilson then embarked on a series of novels about the Cold War, told from a British perspective but informed by an insider's knowledge of how the world of US covert operations works as well. In THE ENVOY his central character Kit Fournier is ostensibly a senior diplomat at the US Embassy in London, but in reality he is the CIA's main man there. The dirty doings of espionage and counter espionage take place against the backdrop of an H-bomb apocalypse: The Times found it 'A glorious, seething broth of historical fact and old-fashioned spy story'.

In THE DARLING SPY, Catesby, a British spy with his career on a downward spiral, is tasked with tracking down 'Butterfly' before she defects to the Americans. Much of the action in this suspense-filled thriller takes place in the divided Germany of the time - and the ending will knock the socks off you: 'The first few seconds, before the cold soaked through, were delicious. Catesby used his feet to kick away from the hull and began to backstroke to Finland . . . ' (I can't give away more of the plot than that!) And there is even a cameo appearance by Misha Wolf, the East German counter-intelligence supremo.

Catesby returns again in THE MIDNIGHT SWIMMER. The time is 1962 and the story is told against the backdrop of the Cuban Missile Crisis. Catesby is dispatched to Habana and Washington to make use of clandestine contacts - and is authorised by his spymasters to offer Moscow a deal which may resolve the crisis. Again, Wilson blends real-life characters (JFK, Marilyn Monroe, Che and Fidel) and historical fact to create a first-rate thriller. To my mind, Edward Wilson is the top writer in this genre today . . . and that includes John le Carre, with whose work his writing has been compared. Really excellent stuff.
3537606
Great book , a great movie, but you must understand that Le Carre is an "American Hater", in this, as well as all his books.....If you  are an American, be prepared for the critisism. Even in The Perfect Spy, when the CIA is correct , he casts them as fools. Still in all, I read everything he writes.
824304
Le Carre has become more and more politicized with a definite agenda in his later novels.  It detracts from the story.
Charles McCarry is a far superior writer than Le Carre and I would suggest that the readers of that genre read those.
817196
This book met and surpassed my highest expectations.  This book blew me away from begining to end.  The dialogue and the narrative from Tender was hilarious, and I don't laugh in books all that often.  Palahniuck's got a way with words, and it definitely shows here.
Fight Club is my favorite movie, so naturally I needed this book.  I saw Fight Club, then read it.  Fight Club is a great movie, but as far as novels go, SURVIVOR is superior.  I'm not gonna waste anymore time, go out and get this.  Plain and simple, if you do not read this book, you will be missing out on a lot.  If you like satires, this has got to be next on your list.  GO READ IT FOR CHRISSAKES(or Tender's).
4317741
I'm not sure how anyone who's read through this book can rate it at less than five stars, unless he doesn't enjoy classic literature or perhaps read a poor translation.  Hugo's general knowledge and genius are stupendous.  He delivers coherent digressionary essays on all manner of deep topics external to the main plot of the novel: the human psyche and motivation, spirituality, convents and monasteries, human rights, love.  He weaves all this in with his solid grasp of history, warfare and battle tactics, politics, and even sewer construction.  Not to mention an enthralling story that was considered robust enough to make into a recent high-budget Hollywood film.
I just finished the Penguin (Denny) translation last night after about two years of working on this ~1250 page beast (I took breaks of, oh, around four months every now and then).  I read 600 pages in the last three months or so in a rather determined effort to finish it up.  I found Denny's translation generally outstanding.  Very readable and never bogged me down.  He moved a couple of the lengthier digressions to separate appendices at the back of the book.  I read those too; they were worth it!
The plot itself is intricate but involves a relatively small set of characters considering the length of the book.  Somehow, through various coincidences, the characters' actions affect each other throughout the entire novel.  The hero Jean Valjean, the inflexible Javert, and the evil Thenardier are present through most of the story and their individual aims and goals are what keep the story moving.  Hugo also successfully  superimposes this plot on the turbulent political atmosphere of the time and the characters are each directly affected by events outside their control.
Les Miserables is simply one of the greatest works produced by the human mind in all of recorded history.  You owe it to yourself to take the time to work through it at some point in your life.  You'll be a better person for it.  And I think that Valjean is a good model for the right and honorable way to try to live our lives.
658454
Its a wonderful read! This George Smiley book is of the classic mystery genre. Although the mystery and story itself are quite subdued, there is a lot more to the book than the plot itself. Le Carre is severly critical of the English private school organization and to me it read more as a diagnostic of problems with the organization with a very finely crafted story as the veneer.

If you end up liking this one "Smiley's People" is one you will enjoy even more...perhaps his best work.
1407920
You really can't say much in a negative way in reviewing Dostoyevsky as all of his novels are considered masterpieces and rightly so.  I first read C & P....., as a college freshman.  The reading was an assigned requirement from my Lit professor.  I had not red anything of FD's till then and thought the assignment was going to be a tough slog not to mention boring!  Boy was I wrong and happily so.

Since then I have read all of Dostoyevsky's novels and have been terrifically entertained over uncounted hours.  C&P,  and The Bros K, are my favorites which I am certain puts me in an extremely large group of readers.

If you happen to be a "Newbie" with Dostoyevsky you will not be disappointed and I envy you.

A big Thank you to "Lazyboy" regarding his heads-up on the EVERYMAN'S translation.  A second rate translation can ruin a masterpiece (as we all know) thanks again Lazyboy... you saved me a few bucks and loads of frustration.
1853428
If you love historical fiction and detective novels and a really good, detailed mystery/suspense this is the book for you!  Incredible how Mr. Carr takes you back and puts you right into 1890's New York City...Five Points, Teddy Roosevelt, Jake Riis, lower east side tenements, Grand Central station, JP Morgan...I hated to "leave" this book.
48839
Played recently on a Rolls Royce music system - that is, it cost about as much - this Cd utterly knocked me over. The thinness Santa Fe mentions largely disappears, while the fortes lift you right off your feet. Ansermet's way with the score can't be faulted - he's as good here as he is in his unbeatable leadership of Debussy's Pelleas et Melisande&nbsp;<a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/Debussy-Pellas-et-Mlisande/dp/B00008JL7U/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">Debussy: Pellas et Mlisande</a>- and the entire Decca team who tackled putting together this Daphnis et Chloe, led by engineer James Lock and producer John Mordler left us something very special indeed. Massive sound blocks of full orchestra and chorus simply expand out into the room like a re-creation of the Big Bang - this music and this recording is trashed using headphones - let it out into the wide open spaces and just take it all in!

One other quick note - Ansermet worked with Ravel testing out some of the passages of La Valse before publication - he knows the work from the ground up!

If you adore this work and have either Munch and/or Monteux you must also add this version - you won't be sorry! What the little Swiss band lacks in style points is more than compensated for by Ansermet's superb conducting and Decca's sensational classic sound.
221997
This book a treasure. The cover promises a caper, and I imagined something along the line of the movie "Dirty Rotten Scoundrels." What I got was infinitely better. Landis has an ability to observe human beings and her observations have paid off with some startling characters. Yes, there is a Don Juan with a mid-life crisis, but Landis takes us inside his head in such a way that we will never look at Don Juan's the same way again. One of my favorite characters is Agnes, the septuagenerian artist with an international reputation. (Can I be here when I grow up, please?)
And let's not forget "Mitzi" and "Mack" the aliases of the main characters. Other reviewers have given complete plot spoilers, but I don't want to do that. These two characters have the greatest story arc ever, from ho-hum boring retired people to grifters of a certain kind to.... well, you have to find out. But most of all this story is a love story. All about every kind of love, including love as a commodity. A story with characters you will want to revisit more than once, so don't give your copy away when you're done!
1393198
An extremely clever, ingeniously structured and, after a deceptively slow start, absolutely gripping film, "He Loves Me, He Loves Me Not" is a superb example of modern French cinema at its very best.

Describing it is impossible without giving anything away, which is a serious problem for any reviewer as a key element in its power & effectiveness is that you should see it without any knowledge at all of what happens. Suffice to say that Audrey Tautou is perfectly cast to make it so effective, that it has the "charm" & "style" that makes French films so good when they get it right, and that, by the end of it all, you'll want to hit the replay button.

Buy it or rent it, put up with the problems that subtitles cause, and then enjoy it for what it is: a superbly crafted... what? Well telling you "what" will destroy much of the enjoyment of the film and you really should avoid the temptation to find out any more than this before seeing it yourself... you won't be disappointed.
1294872
Any book written by le Carre  will always be on my "must read" list and if George Smiley is a character in a book it will always be on top of my stack of books to read.
1597840
Le Carre's best book in a long time. The novel is very current -- he sensed the whole movements in security and intelligence that is taking place right now.
4008761
I remembered seeing many copies of this book toted by people a few years back, and finally gave it a whirl.  I'm pleased I did - it was written with the precision of a master, but yet not in a snobbish, show-off style.  The  characters are endearing and realistic and the historical aspects are  excellent.  The plot is truly gripping and the style of the investigation  is much deeper than the usual "question and hunt".  Carr is a  master and I'm already more than halfway through the sequel to this,  "The Angel of Darkness".  Don't miss either!
709788
I tried reading le Carre years ago and always found him too dense. Someone recommended this book recently and I was not disappointed. Lots of plot twists, and still readable all these years later.
3591492
The Karla trilogy is a masterpiece.  My order is the best- smiley's people, then this, then tinker tailor.  I know this is a minority opinion, but I think Le Carre's writing just keeps getting better and better.  The development of the characters goes deeper, the writing gets more efficient and evocative, the world view of these highly intelligent spies (on both sides) gets more expressed- plus the writing about being a Brit in Asia is amazing.  Unfortunately, the settings make it too expensive to make a mini-series.
3608288
LE CARRE IS TOPS. IN HIS NOVELS HE GOES FAR BEYOND THE ORDINARY THRILLER, INCORPORATING WHAT-IT-IS-TO-BE-HUMAN IN HIS STORIES