I will add those to my list. Thanks.
Philby’s autobiography was mentioned a few times at the end of the book I read but under the implication that people in British intelligence believe there is a second unreleased book in the Russian authorities archives because it ends so abruptly. I will read it myself though to know what Philby really thought of some of the main characters he worked with in MI6 that feature heavily in the book I read.
On another note I finished over the course of the last two nights a murder mystery book by Shari Lapena titled An Unwanted Guest.
It draws inspiration from Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None which to me is the greatest murder mystery book ever written.
The fact I got through the book so quickly (just shy of 300 pages) is the best approval I can give. I am now going to look into her other work.
Glad to help, Boycott! I’d be interested to hear what you think of Trotsky’s Run. It’s kinda sorta like John le Carre crossed with David Sedaris; fun-loving spies tackle bleak Cold War situations that even they can’t quite believe.
Had to return my library audiobook of Patrick O’Brian’s The Thirteen Gun Salute, which I’m really enjoying (Dr. Maturin was just consulting with his British naval intelligence handler, while Capt. Aubrey, of late a privateer skipper, looks like he’ll shortly be getting his long-yearned-for reinstatement in the Royal Navy). I should get it back soon.
Just started Robert A. Heinlein’s Glory Road, an old favorite of mine, which I haven’t read in years. A bit self-consciously world-weary at times, but still a good read.
Finished Michael Connelly’s new novel, The Law of Innocence. After hosting a party at a downtown Los Angeles pub to celebrate a big not-guilty verdict, Mickey Haller, aka the Lincoln Lawyer, is pulled over by a cop due to a missing rear license plate. A dead body is found in the trunk of his car, the victim being a former, deadbeat client of his. Haller must mount his defense from jail while figuring out which of the many enemies he’s made over the years could have pulled off such a frame. Written this year, the pandemic lurks in the background. Another winner from Connelly.
Next up, it’s back to Elvis Cole/Joe Pike LA noir with The Forgotten Man, by Robert Crais.
Finished Walden, by Henry David Thoreau. Something of a slog at times, but worth it. My favorite parts were his observations of nature. Also this line about springtime: “Thaw with his gentle persuasion is more powerful than Thor with his hammer.”
Now I’m reading Less, a novel by Andrew Sean Greer.
Audiobook reviews ahead (I still feel I should include that proviso).
The Man in the High Castle by Philip K Dick, written in 1962. It is an alternate history/alternate reality novel in which the Axis powers won World War II. Most of the narrative consist of treatises of what everyday life would be like in the occupied states with much philosophical and political meandering. What is supposed to be the main story, but is almost there as an afterthought is this book called “The Grasshopper Lies Heavy” which lays out an alternate history/alternate reality - within the alternate history/alternate reality - in which the Allied powers won World War II. The climax involves the author of the book describing how he wrote it and what it means to the world and the universe. It’s a pretty deep book - the kind you mostly just let it wash over you like poetry. There aren’t a lot of plot details to keep track of.
The miniseries on Prime borrows some character names and a general theme from the book, but that’s about it.
Now I’m listening to Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein and I’m loving it. Talk about poetry. That old time, Queen’s English with every effort to include as many syllables as possible. Dad can’t look sad - a miserable and cloudy countenance befalls father’s weary visage. I’m about a quarter of the way through.
Finished The Forgotten Man, by Robert Crais. In a Los Angeles alley, an old man, clutching faded newspaper clippings and gasping his last words to a cop, lies dying of a gunshot wound to the chest. The victim claims to be PI Elvis Cole’s long-lost father, whom Cole has never met. The clippings detail a previous case in which Cole rounded up a group of killers, but indications are the victim here may very well have been a killer himself. Tenth in Crais’ Elvis Cole/Joe Pike series, this one is the best I’ve read thus far.
Next up is Crais’ 11th in the series, The Watchman. Joe Pike takes the spotlight on this one.
You might also enjoy Susanna Clarke’s Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell, which I have long described as “if Jane Austen wrote a Harry Potter book.” Regency England deals with the return, after centuries, of actual magic. Very good stuff.
Over the weekend I finished Meet Me on Lake Erie, Dearie! Cleveland’s Great Lakes Exposition 1936-1937 by John Vacha and read Cheryl Ganz’ The1933 Chicago World’s Fair: a Century of Progress. (I’m doing research on something the two Depression-era Expos have in common). Vacha’s book is a detailed history of Cleveland’s lesser-known expo. Ganz’ book was actually more of a sociological treatise on how the expo treated and portrayed women, minorities, ethnic groups, aviators, and Sally Rand. There’s really only about two chapters on the Expo itself, and I was annoyed when I learned this. I couldn’t find what I was looking for, and found much of the book irrelevant and boring. The opening chapter, on Sally Rand, was interesting – her notorious “bubble dance” certainly is one of the few things people today recall of the Fair, and it certainly gave a boost to the morale of Chicagoans and fairgoers in the depths of the Depression. (And the chapter isn’t boring. A chapter about a woman who dances almost completely nude with ostrich feather fans or an inflated four foot balloon . isn’t boring.) But an entire chapter devoted to her? In a book that’s supposed to be about the Exposition?
As a sidelight, I’m sort of amazed at the amount of female nudity allowed at shows at both fairs. Not only Ms. Rand, but dancers at other pavilions, including the Mexican and the Parisian Cafes. And both fairs had peepshow “nudist colonies”, one literally in miniature. I guess that if it’s exotic or foreign or done as a gimmick (one of the “little nudist colonies” literally was little – an optical arrangement similar to the “Tanagra Theater” illusion made the nudists appear to be about eight inches tall.) Maybe this is one of the other things that bolstered morale during the Depression.
Right now I’m finishing up Longfellow’s Tales from a Wayside Inn and re-reading The Best of Philip K. Dick. It’s the only volume of the Ballantine/Del Rey “The Best of …” series that was missing from my collection. On audio I re-read The Daily Show with Jon Stewart Presents Earth, which is still a hoot, and am re-reading for the umpteenth time some Nero Wolfe.
Still reading this one, and also started on Castle Hangnail by Ursula Vernon, also recommended by LHOD and several others! I’m really enjoying this story of a little girl who becomes the Master of a magical castle, but I’m not quite brave enough to read it at work where grown-ups can see me. 
I read Castle Hangnail a couple of years ago when Vernon was Guest of Honor at Arisia. my wife picked up and read some of her adult works at that time, but I haven’t read them yet.
I also have T. Kingfisher’s The Hollow Places in the TBR pile…might be an appropriate choice to read next!
I loved Hangnail! I’ve not read Hollow Places yet though…
If you enjoy this one, I rec Minor Mage, it’s another children’s book about a boy with vry minor magic who has to save his village from drought.
Library hold placed. 