I’m still an addicted reader but I don’t think I lose myself in books like I used to. It used to be that if I started a book, even if I thought it was awful, I would plough on and finish it. Now I find it harder to do that – actually, that’s not true, I find it impossible to do so. I do reread favourite books, and I do also dip into books I’ve written (maybe trying to get me to buck up and get writing properly again!)
I came across a list of my all time favourite books the other day, which I wrote some time ago. I will share it, but I’ll also have a ponder on whether any should be demoted, or if any others should be elevated to this top ten! Here they are:
- Tinker, Taylor, Soldier, Spy – John le Carré,
- Great Expectations – Charles Dickens,
- Catch – 22 – Joseph Heller,
- Treasure Island – Robert Louis Stevenson,
- 2666 – Roberto Bolsaño,
- The Complete Works of Sir Thomas Wyatt,
- Secret History – Donna Tartt,
- Just William – Richmal Crompton,
- Modern Cookery – Eliza Acton,
- Middle Eastern Cookery – Arto Der Haroutunian
I will ponder on this and probably update – they are all wonderful, but are they really my all-time favourite ten books?I think #1 and 2 will remain in place, I think Treasure Island might be promoted to #3… but who might be dropped, who might make a new entry? I must ponder!
Lois Elsden 
I do love a John le Carre (almost any of them in fact but that one is indeed a classic). I also have that Middle Eastern cookery book but haven’t used it in years – a reminder to have a wee look for some cooking inspiration!
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I enjoy just reading it as well as using the recipes! I believe that Haroutunian was somewhat of a controversial figure, but his restaurant was wonderful, and I love his book!
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Something fundamental, went wrong with James Bond from his very creation and only Ian Fleming is to blame. Indeed, as they say in Hollywood, “What a mistaka to maka” … Ian Fleming didn’t know what a secret agent really was!
At least Le Carré had few blunders compared with Ian Fleming who dubbed James Bond a “secret” agent yet simultaneously depicted 007 as an employee on MI6’s payroll. You may say “so what” because Bond is fiction. So is Postman Pat but his creator John Cunliffe never called him an Uber or Deliveroo courier.
Now an MI6 secret agent would never have: (1) been an employee on MI6’s payroll who took holidays and submitted expense claims etc; (2) reported directly to the Head of MI6, had annual appraisals and been on extremely familiar terms with many other MI6 employees such as Q or Moneypenny; (3) been a frequent visitor to MI6 HQ and other MI6 buildings; and (4) even used his own name when he met ministers et al in Whitehall.
Given Ian Fleming’s background in British naval intelligence in World War 11, that contradictory classification of 007 was about as absurd as calling a Brain Surgeon a Hair Dresser or a Navy Seal a Coastguard as noted in the latest intriguing news article in TheBurlingtonFiles (advert free) website which is a tad similar to a virtual espionage museum with no entry fee.
To quote from the article … “As for 007 being “secret”, … since everybody knew … his favourite drink was shaken not stirred, I’m surprised he wasn’t poisoned more often … especially as he insisted on letting everyone know his name was “Bond, James Bond”! Perhaps Bond’s true skill lay in being so conspicuously ostentatious that no one believed he could genuinely be a spy!
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Thanks! I enjoyed your comments!
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It is a tad befuddling but Fleming obviously did not know about the pragmatic issues relating to the administration of secret agents. In the early days of the SOE secret agents might well have been HMG employees but never in the Cold War.
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