tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10905712.post111384519349990837..comments2023-03-31T06:15:48.139-07:00Comments on Suitable For Mixed Company: Notable Book: Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy, by John Le CarreKathryn Judsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06459741827801474808noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10905712.post-1114022015265689902005-04-20T11:33:00.000-07:002005-04-20T11:33:00.000-07:00Thanks for writing, both of you.As it happens, Hel...Thanks for writing, both of you.<BR/><BR/>As it happens, Helen MacInnes was the author who introduced me to suspense books. In fact, in my youthful ignorance (and arrogance), I assumed espionage books were somehow inferior to anything written by Isaac Asimov, who was my hero of the moment. But I was wandering through the library, and the cover of one of her books looked interesting, and the rest is history.<BR/><BR/>As for books by Manning Coles, they are entertaining reads, but I find many of them to be more than that. For the ones written during World War II especially, I sometimes wonder if the British government wasn't putting in polite requests to the authors (Manning Coles is a pen name for a man and woman writing together)- something along the lines of 'do be good sports and point out the dangers of this or that will you? The public doesn't quite seem to grasp the hazards to which they're contributing, or the nastiness of our enemies. Turn Tommy loose on it, won't you? Thanks awfully.'<BR/><BR/>Then again, since the manly half of the writing team reportely worked for British Intelligence in real life, perhaps he saw the wider problems clearly enough and didn't need prompting, but only needed permission, from his superiors.Kathryn Judsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06459741827801474808noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10905712.post-1113868394226916202005-04-18T16:53:00.000-07:002005-04-18T16:53:00.000-07:00We like Le Carre, and note as you point out that w...We like Le Carre, and note as you point out that we have to hunt him up and down the bookstore aisles, under both names.<BR/><BR/>We also like Helen MacInnes' spy novels.Headmistress, zookeeperhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14071449326819510530noreply@blogger.com