Library Bookshelf

MarsGal · April 04, 2024, 06:47:13 AM

Oops! I must have missed my goof. The whole series is about "a small community of retired spies who are living in a coastal town in Maine". They retirees gather together to enjoy a meal and talk, ostensibly, about books. They Call the gathering The Martini Club.

MarsGal · April 04, 2024, 07:40:45 AM

I just now ran across another retired spy themed book. The audiobook special for today is called Night Owl by Andrew Mayne. Listening to the audio sample, I discover that this retired spy uses a memory palace method to remember things. Previously, the only memory palace I've run across is a novel titled The Memory Palace which I have had sitting in my TBR pile for a few years. I had no clue, before just now looking it up, that the method has been around under various names tracing way back to Cicero. Imagine that! Never ran across it in my undergraduate psychology studies. I would not be surprised, if George was still here, that he was familiar with it in his graduate studies. Anyway, it certainly is a different way to start out a spy thriller novel.

Tomereader1 · April 04, 2024, 04:24:19 PM

Spy Coast is really good. Her other books are too.

MarsGal · April 16, 2024, 07:01:08 AM

I have begun adding to my online library wish list. This morning I got introduced to Hanan al-Shaykh (Beirut Blues and Women of Sand and Myrrh), Bolu Babalola, (Love in Color, short stories), Aoko Matsuda, (Where the Wild Ladies Are, short stories), and Sara Nisha Adams (The Reading List) . Several weeks ago I added Jack Kerouac (Dr. Sax), Tan Twan Eng (The House of Doors) and Neal Gaiman (American Gods).

Marilyne · April 17, 2024, 12:08:54 AM

Mars - I'm three-quarters of the way through The Spy Coast, and really enjoying it. Great story and wonderful characters. Fortunately I got the large print version from my library, that's helping me to enjoy I even more! I had such a hard time with the tiny print in Pandemic 1918, that I finally had to put it away for a awhile. I'll try again, but would like to find it in large print.

I might have read Jack Kerouac (Dr. Sax), at some time in the distant past, but can't remember for sure. I know I read a couple of books by him or about him, but I think that was in the 60's or 70's's.

MarsGal · April 21, 2024, 04:55:21 PM

I continue on with The Far Pavilions, now at a little over nine hours of listening left. The book is a bit too long if you ask me, but I do want to finish it. And now I discover that the Brits made a mini-TV series of it back in 1984 and HBO ran it in 1985. It is available on Amazon Prime for rent. Well, I guess I will have to miss out for now; I no longer have Amazon Prime. Anyway, there are some big names associated with it, like: Amy Irving, Christopher Lee, Omar Sharif, John Gielgud, Rossano Brassi. The lead was played by Ben Cross. As I suspected from listening to this book, I was not surprised to learn that M.M.Kaye was born in India. At ten she was sent to England for schooling, returning only briefly to India afterward. She wrote and illustrated many children's books, wrote a murder mystery series, each based in a different international city, and wrote, edited or introduced other books. Paul Scott (author of The Raj Quartet) was her literary agent, and it was he that encouraged her to write The Far Pavilions.

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