George Blake:No Other Choice : The Cold War Memoirs of the Ultimate Spy
- Taschenbuch 2017, ISBN: 9780671741556
Gebundene Ausgabe
Viking. Good. 24 cm. Paperback. 2016. 310 pages. Cover worn<br>Out of the secret world I once knew, I h ave tried to make a theatre for the larger worlds we inhabit. Fir st comes th… Mehr…
Viking. Good. 24 cm. Paperback. 2016. 310 pages. Cover worn<br>Out of the secret world I once knew, I h ave tried to make a theatre for the larger worlds we inhabit. Fir st comes the imagining, then the search for reality. Then back to the imagining, and to the desk where I'm sitting now.' From his years serving in British Intelligence during the Cold War, to a c areer as a writer that took him from war-torn Cambodia to Beirut on the cusp of the 1982 Israeli invasion, to Russia before and af ter the collapse of the Berlin Wall, John le CarrU has always wri tten from the heart of modern times. In this, his first memoir, l e CarrU is as funny as he is incisive - reading into the events h e witnesses the same moral ambiguity with which he imbues his nov els. Whether he's writing about the parrot at a Beirut hotel that could perfectly mimic machine gun fire, or visiting Rwanda's mus eums of the unburied dead in the aftermath of the genocide, or ce lebrating New Year's Eve with Yasser Arafat, or interviewing a Ge rman terrorist in her desert prison in the Negev, or watching Ale c Guinness preparing for his role as George Smiley, or describing the female aid worker who inspired the main character in his The Constant Gardener, le CarrU endows each happening with vividness and humour, now making us laugh out loud, now inviting us to thi nk anew about events and people we believed we understood. Best o f all, le CarrU gives us a glimpse of a writer's journey over mor e than six decades, and his own hunt for the human spark that has given so much life and heart to his fictional characters. ., Viking, 2016, 2.5, Ballantine Books 2000. Paperback (VG-); all our specials have minimal description to keep listing them viable. They are at least reading copies, complete and in reasonable condition, but usually secondhand; frequently they are superior examples. Ordering more than one book may reduce your overall postage costs, Ballantine Books 2000, 0, Picador. Very Good. 5.55 x 0.79 x 8.25 inches. Paperback. 2016. 304 pages. <br>A NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW EDITORS' CHOICE nNAME D A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR BY THE PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER nWINNER OF THE 2015 NATIONAL JEWISH BOOK AWARD /JJ GREENBERG MEMORIAL AWARD nFINALIST FOR THE 2017 SAMI ROHR PRIZE nLONGLISTED FOR THE 2017 INTERNATIONAL DUBLIN LITERARY AWARD nFINALIST FOR THE 2015 WALLAN T AWARD n nA stunning debut novel from award-winning author Danie l Torday, in which a young man recounts his idolization of his Un cle Poxl, a Jewish, former RAF pilot, exploring memory, fame, and storytelling. n nPoxl West fled the Nazis' onslaught in Czechosl ovakia. He escaped their clutches again in Holland. He pulled Lon doners from the Blitz's rubble. He wooed intoxicating, unconventi onal beauties. He rained fire on Germany from his RAF bomber. n n Poxl West is the epitome of manhood and something of an idol to h is teenage nephew, Eli Goldstein, who reveres him as a brave, sin gular, Jewish war hero. Poxl fills Eli's head with electric accou nts of his derring-do, adventures, and romances, as he collects t he best episodes from his storied life into a memoir. n nHe publi shes that memoir, Skylock, to great acclaim, and its success take s him on the road, and out of Eli's life. With his uncle gone, El i throws himself into reading his opus and becomes fixated on all things Poxl. n nBut as he delves deeper into Poxl's history, Eli begins to see that the life of the fearless superman he's adored has been much darker than Poxl let on, and filled with unimagina ble loss from which he may have not recovered. As the truth about Poxl emerges, it forces Eli to face irreconcilable facts about t he war he's romanticized and the vision of the man he's held so d ear. n nDaniel Torday's debut novel, The Last Flight of Poxl West beautifully weaves together the two unforgettable voices of Eli Goldstein and Poxl West, exploring what it really means to be a h ero, and to be a family, in the long shadow of war. n nEditorial Reviews n nReview n nIt's Mr. Torday's ability to shift gears bet ween sweeping historical vistas and more intimate family dramas, and between old-school theatrics and more contemporary meditation s on the nature of storytelling that announces his emergence as a writer deserving of attention.-The New York Times n nLyrical pro se glides over the page as smoothly as a Spitfire across a cloudl ess sky...an utterly accomplished novel.-The New York Times Book Review n nThe last sentence of Torday's novel is one of the great conclusions...Torday gives his dual protagonists the ending they deserve...a real one, equal parts inevitable and explosive.-Esqu ire n nTorday is a consummate storyteller.?Electric Literature n nTorday's tour-de-force of a novel puts a fresh spin on World Wa r II (yes, really) in a page-turning tale of truth, lies and forg iveness. ?BookPage n nWhile Torday is more likely to be compared to Philip Roth or Michael Chabon than Gillian Flynn, his debut no vel has two big things in common with Gone Girl--it's a story tol d in two voices, and it's almost impossible to discuss without re vealing spoilers. A richly layered, beautifully told and somehow lovable story about war, revenge and loss. ?Kirkus (starred revie w) n nA wonderful accomplishment of storytelling verve: tender, l yrical, surprising, full of beautifully rendered details. Torday is a prodigiously talented writer, with a huge heart. ?George Sau nders, author of Tenth of December n nAccording to Tim O'Brien, ' A true war story, if truly told, makes the stomach believe.' Dani el Torday knows how to tell a true war story, and The Last Flight of Poxl West is a stunning debut. Meticulously researched and be autifully written, The Last Flight of Poxl West resurrects a chap ter of World War II that was a complete surprise to me. It's the viscerally-gripping, eye-wateringly moving first-person account o f a young Czech Jew who flew missions for the RAF during World Wa r II; it's also a profound and timely meditation on the desire fo r justice, retribution, and redemption. This book is unputdownabl e, wise, and unbelievably generous. Its ending left me speechless . ?Karen Russell, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Swampla ndia! n nThe Last Flight of Poxl West is a beautifully told and m oving story of love, loss, and growing up. Daniel Torday is a stu nning writer, and his first novel is full of elegant, thought pro voking surprises. ?Edan Lepucki, author of California n nThis amb itious, complex novel beautifully interprets and illuminates the past with contemporary eyes and a gentle heart. ?Mary Gaitskill, author of Veronica, a National Book Award Finalist n nThe Last Fl ight of Poxl West is a love story, a war story, a family saga, an intimate view of vast Twentieth Century events, a treatise on th e telling of stories, and a damned good read as well. Torday's la nguage is precise and it is grand; and he uses it to describe sce nes you will swear he was witness to himself. The details, the in sights, the knowledge, the writing, and the unmistakable empathy- - these elements add up to a stellar, memorable book. ?Robin Blac k, author of Life Drawing n nLove, lust, war, revenge, betrayal: I was inclined to like this book before I opened it. Daniel Torda y's gorgeous prose and moral candor made me love it. A spectacula r debut. Torday is quickly making a name for himself as one of ou r finest young novelists. ?Daniel Smith, author of the New York T imes bestseller Monkey Mind n nOMFG! What a book! Eli Goldstein h as the retrospective candor of Roth's Zuckerman and the sensitivi ty of a Harold Brodkey narrator, and Poxl West is an unforgettabl e creation. Plus, things happen in this book, big things like the world wars. A delight! ?Gary Shteyngart, author of Little Failur e n nA brilliant--and perhaps even more importantly, hilarious--b ook about what we make of our heroes, and what our heroes make of us. It's all here: the crime of storytelling, the joy of storyte lling, the story hidden not so well in history, and the pleasures and problems of one word placed so well after another. ?Rivka Ga lchen, author of Atmospheric Disturbances n nDaniel Torday's The Last Flight of Poxl West interweaves a powerful war story with a profound meditation on the need such stories fill in us, and the truths they can sometimes obscure. Eli Goldstein's relationship w ith Poxl West is strange and moving, and the book's final pages p resent a deep and revealing pathos. Really good stuff. ?Phil Klay , author of Redeployment, National Book Award winner n nAbout th e Author nDANIELTORDAY is theDirector of Creative Writingat Bryn Mawr College. An author and formereditor at Esquire magazine, Tor day currently serves as an editor at The Kenyon Review. His short stories and essays have appeared in Esquire, Glimmer Train, Harp er Perennial's Fifty-Two Stories, Harvard Review, The New York Ti mes and The Kenyon Review. Torday's novella, The Sensualist, won the 2012 National Jewish Book Award for debut fiction. n nAbout t he Author nDANIELTORDAY is theDirector of Creative Writingat Bryn Mawr College. An author and formereditor at Esquire magazine, To rday currently serves as an editor at The Kenyon Review. His shor t stories and essays have appeared in Esquire, Glimmer Train, Har per Perennial's Fifty-Two Stories, Harvard Review, The New York T imes and The Kenyon Review. Torday's novella, The Sensualist, won the 2012 National Jewish Book Award for debut fiction. ., Picador, 2016, 3, London: Hutchinson, 1956. Hb, 448pp, frontis, b/w plates. Good with clean contents in a Poor dj which has loss and tears. Memoir by the politician and press magnate focusing on the rivalries and conflicts of the British government during the final years of the First World War.. Hard Cover., Hutchinson, 1956, 0, Simon & Schuster, 1991. Hardcover. Good. Disclaimer:Pages can have notes/highlighting. Spine may show signs of wear. ~ ThriftBooks: Read More, Spend Less.Dust jacket quality is not guaranteed., Simon & Schuster, 1991, 2.5<
