Sunday, September 27, 2015

Spies, Spies, Spies (Book Sale Part 1)

Today the Planned Parenthood Book Sale ended, and unlike last year, I attended on the last day when the books go down to 50% off. I did not expect to find much (and I hoped not to find much). I had already overdone my book buying on the previous three visits. But I did find books I had not seen before that I was very happy with.

However, the subject of this post is the spy novels I found on the earlier visits. Two of them I was looking for (A Spy's Life by Henry Porter and Catch a Falling Spy by Len Deighton). The other three were either entirely new to me or not really on my radar.











I would love to hear if any of you have comments on your experiences with any of these books.



16 comments:

neer said...

Tracy, I have the Michael Frayn book on my shelves. I have heard great things about it, esp. as it is inspired by a book I love a lot: THE GO-BETWEEN.

Happy Reading.

col2910 said...

I have the Porter and a few others from him but I've not tried him yet. The Deighton was also published as TWINKLE, TWINKLE LITTLE SPY - part of the Harry Palmer series - again not yet tried. The Parker book I assumed was Robert B. but apparently not it's a book from 1950 - seems interesting. The Frayn book I have - again unread and I don't think I have the Matthews book, but you never know! (It hasn't turned up yet)

Good reading ahead, I reckon!

Prashant C. Trikannad said...

Tracy, I enjoy spy novels and barring Deighton I haven't read the other authors whose books you bought. I do have a couple of Robert Parkers on my shelves, unread as yet. The bookshop where I recently picked up the two Jack Higgins (as you know) had a bunch of Len Deighton paperbacks. I resisted buying any of them because I have far too many books to read. I didn't want to add him to my unread pile.

pattinase (abbott) said...

I don't read many spy books but I loved the Frayn one.

Anonymous said...

Oh, these look great, Tracy. Deighton tells such a good story, and like Neeru, I've heard a lot of good about the Frayn. Hope you'll enjoy these.

TracyK said...

Very interesting, neer. I looked up The Go-Between and it does sound good.

TracyK said...

I should not be surprised, Col, that you have so many of these, since we both like spy fiction and you have so many books. Glen found the Parker book for me, and we both thought is worth a try. I had forgotten that Twinkle, Twinkle Little Spy was part of that nameless spy series. I am glad you reminded me of that.

TracyK said...

You are much better than I at resisting adding books to your piles, Prashant. I did find two Jack Higgins at the sale. One I already had but in an e-book edition (The Eagle Has Landed); I wanted to read a paper copy. And the other was The President's Daughter, one of the ones you just got.

TracyK said...

I am glad to hear that, Patti. I am looking forward to reading it.

TracyK said...

I can never pass up a Deighton when I find one, Margot. And I was glad I ran into the Frayn book, also.

Elgin Bleecker said...

Seeing the Michael Frayn book made me smile. Is there anything this guy can’t write? He is quite the talent. I’ve read some of his plays and some of his novels, but not this one.

Roger Allen said...

Spies is a very good book, but it isn't a spy novel. You might say it's about the effects of spy novels.

TracyK said...

Frayn is new to me. I have heard about one or two of his books, but this will be my first time to read any of them.

TracyK said...

Roger, that sounds interesting, so I am sure I will like it.

Clothes In Books said...

I'm intending to read more Deighton because I liked the Samson books so much - helpful of Col to tell me the British name of this one! I have read the Frayn, and as others say, it is not a spy novel in the sense you enjoy. I didn't particularly like it myself, though I know other people did.

TracyK said...

Thanks for the comments on the Frayn book, I really have done no investigation of it yet so all the comments are useful. I will go into it with an open mind.