>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>That reminds me (speaking of gadflies). Ever read a book called "The Gadfly" by E.L. Voynich? Hard to say if you'd like it. It's a very political novel written in the late 1800s. Considered one of the first truly political novels. It has a very socialist bent; a book about revolution, but regardless of one's own political beliefs, it's hard to deny the beauty of the story and the characters. A remarkable book even if it does go well beyond my own belief system.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>HEY CHARLES, have you read it? Sorry for shouting, but he might not be reading this.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>I wasn't but I heard you shouting <s>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>Don't know it. Putting it on list.
>>>>>>
>>>>>>You can download it from the Gutenberg Project. It's no longer under copyright.
>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>Made me think of movie of Conrad's Secret Agent with Bob Hoskins where Robin Williams does a master turn (in an uncredited part) as The Professor, an anarchist who is a human bomb ready to blow himself up if he is arrested. Marvelous.
>>>>>>
>>>>>>Gee, speaking of Bob Hoskins, I remember being literally dragged kicking and screaming a couple of hundred years ago to a movie that two female friends of mine wanted to see. I really didn't want to go. I really, really didn't want to go. It was called "Mona Lisa". It turned out to be a stunningly terrific movie.
>>>>>
>>>>>Very very good movie. About that period he did another great one with Helen Mirren - The Long Good Friday.
>>>>
>>>>You should take a look at Spiral
>>>>
>>>>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spiral_%28TV_series%29 french name was Engrenages a very good French tv Cop series.
>>>
>>>Unfortunately not available here yet on Netflix and only seems to be available for purchase from overseas as PAL. Have been looking for it for a while. Maybe BBC America will have it eventually.
>>
>>Really not doing to well on Le Carre (why am I telling you this ?)
>>
>>just read A Most Wanted Man and again the US intelligence are depicted as gung ho rumsfeld Cheney loving psychopaths. Its very disappointing . I'm no fan (as you know) of much intelligance activity but I do like the fiction to have somenuance and these later Le carre books seem to have abandoned that as far as the US is concerned. Every character is well rounded except the Americans.
>
>LeCarre's politics really started to get in the way of his work. There has always been a certain amount of animosity/competition/jealousy/mistrust between 6 and the agency - some of it quite complicated and going back to OSS/SIS days. I am sure some of it comes from that, but I have also read elsewhere that LeCarre's politics were moving further and further to the left. (ala the Cambridge dons )
>
>That's why I prefer Deighton. I think his view of the special realtionship is much more nuanced in that regard and his reading of American intelligence agencies and their people seems from my own limited knowledge and experience to be much more real and less ideological.
>
>In fact that is the primary difference between Deighton and LeCarre. I think Deighton much better understands how ideology is only a component of what drives people in that line of work and there are other much more complex factors at work. I think LeCarre had that in the beginning but started to lose it somewhere after the Smiley/Carla stuff.

Yes.But who's writing any good stuff today. Any recommendations ? or is the current intelligence scene just to grim to get a good story out of.