BRITISH AUTHOR CHALLENGE - NOVEMBER 2016 - WEST & DEIGHTON

LEN DEIGHTON

BOOKS BY REBECCA WEST

Series
Cousin Rosamund Trilogy
1. The Fountain Overflows (1956)
2. This Real Night (1984)
3. Cousin Rosamund (1985)


Novels
The Return of the Soldier (1918)
The Judge (1922)
Harriet Hume (1929)
The Thinking Reed (1936)
Geronimo Wolf of the Warpath (1958)
The Vassall Affair (1963)
The Birds Fall Down (1966)
A Grave and Reverend Book (1966)
Ending in Earnest; a Literary Log (1967)
Sunflower (1986)
The Sentinel (2002)


Non fiction
Henry James (1916)
The Strange Necessity (1928)
D. H. Lawrence (1930)
A Letter from Abroad (1930)
Arnold Bennett Himself (1931)
Saint Augustine (1933)
Rebecca's Cookbook (1942)
Black Lamb and Grey Falcon (1943)
The New Meaning of Treason (1947)
The Meaning of Treason (1949)
A Train of Powder (1955)
The Court and the Castle (1958)
McLuhan and the Future of Literature (1969)
A Celebration (1977)
The Young Rebecca (1982)
Family Memories (1987)
Survivors in Mexico (2003)

BOOKS BY LEN DEIGHTON

I hope I shall be forgiven for not including his books on french cuisine.

Series
Harry Palmer
1. The Ipcress File (1962)
2. Horse Under Water (1963)
3. Funeral in Berlin (1964)
4. The Billion Dollar Brain (1966)
5. An Expensive Place to Die (1967)
5. Spy Story (1974)
6. Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Spy (1976)
aka Catch a Falling Spy

Bernard Samson
1. Berlin Game (1983)
2. Mexico Set (1984)
3. London Match (1985)
4. Spy Hook (1988)
5. Spy Line (1989)
6. Spy Sinker (1990)
7. Faith (1994)
8. Hope (1995)
9. Charity (1996)

Novels
Only When I Larf (1967)
aka Only When I Laugh
Bomber (1970)
Close Up (1972)
Yesterday's Spy (1975)
SS-GB (1978)
XPD (1981)
Goodbye Mickey Mouse (1982)
Winter (1987)
MAMista (1991)
City of Gold (1992)
Violent Ward (1993)

Collections
Declarations of War (1971)


Non fiction
Fighter (1977)
Airship Wreck (1979) (with Arnold Schwartzman)
Blitzkrieg (1979)
Battle of Britain (1980)
Blood, Tears and Folly (1993)

WHAT I WILL READ



Return of the Soldier



XPD

>1 PaulCranswick: I adore that quotation. Thanks for posting it!

I read Return of the Soldier at uni about 10 years ago and was blown away. Went on to my "one of the best books ever" list. And it's super short, so no excuse not to give it a try.

I have my November reads set, and nothing by these authors in my immediate future, but I'm interested to see what others have to say.

I plan to read Survivors in Mexico by West and Mexico Set by Deighton.

>6 Nickelini: Nice to see you here Joyce. She was quite a woman Rebecca West wasn't she?

I've been mostly missing on challenges this year but I may try this one. I've picked up a couple of Deighton's books that all look good, but never read one.

well thank you for the nudge the challenge gave me Paul. I'm about half-way through Berlin Game and enjoying it quite a lot. It started a little slow but has really gotten interesting.

I have read some of the Len Deighton books and think I will continue with them. I know that the Berlin books Berlin Game, Mexico Set, London Match books are now available as e-books so those of you with kindle's and nooks might want to try reading them. They are good spy thrillers in the same vein as Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy. I have enjoyed his spy novels and recommend them to people who like Le Carre.

I am so behind on challenges now and part of the reason is the Len Deighton book that I have been reading. We're talking door-stopper here. It is Blood, Tears and Folly: An Objective Look at World War II.

There is a story behind why I had to read this book. My aunt told me that Len Deighton wanted to interview my father for a book but Dad wouldn't talk because he felt he was still bound by the Official Secrets Act. I wish he had agreed to be interviewed because I would like to know more about what he went through *sigh*. Anyway, it has to have been this book that Deighton wanted my father's input on so I just had to read it.

I just finished The Return of the Soldier and was amazed at how much depth West managed to pack into such a short book. The last few pages were heartbreaking!

>13 amanda4242: Pleased to see West such a hit Amanda. I will read it this weekend, all being well.

I finished Len Deighton's Berlin Game and liked it a lot. I'll be looking for the followup novel Mexico Set when I go bookhunting next week - on a visit to the library this morning I found Rebecca West's Return of the Soldier and I read the nice intro included in the Modern Library Edition this afternoon. This is a short novel so I should have it finished this weekend.

I just finished Blood, Tears and Folly: An Objective Look at World War II by Len Deighton. It was pretty comprehensive. I learned a lot more about the war in Africa and Russia. But as comprehensive as the coverage was in the beginning of the book, the coverage of the war in the Far East, the part that I am really interested in, was very sparsely covered. It was a good book but I will have to look elsewhere for insight into the war in Burma which is the area I am interested in.

>16 Familyhistorian: You may try Burma : The Longest War by Louis Allen, Meg which is probably the most well known book on the subject, or The Burma Road by Donovan Webster.

>12 Familyhistorian: : I love to hear the stories that LTers share of their family history where books and authors are concerned. It's sad that you don't have your father's own story.

>13 amanda4242: : So well said, amanda. I just finished The Return of the Soldier. Five stars!

>18 countrylife: It would have been very interesting to see Deighton write about the war in Burma based upon information from my father. It would have filled in some of the gaps and given more context to the story that I know as I was always nosy and have some of the story already.

I've finished The Ipcress File. It umped around so much that it was really hard to follow what was going on. Also, I didn't always understand what they were talking about--apparently I just don't speak mid-20th century British Espionage.

Just finished The Return of the Soldier--short, but intense. Her writing reminds me of Henry James in some ways--there's a lot packed into each sentence.

I finished Berlin Game and enjoyed it. I've got a 3in1 omnibus out from the library so might continue with the trilogy in December.

#22
I enjoyed all of that series. I recommend his books to people who like spy novels. When I read them I thought they would be dated, but they weren't. I think it was because I liked the characters and that is timeless.