I was raised on angsty spy novels. Well, them and stories of racial violence in the deep south. So I had no learning/loving curve at all.
I mean, there are people that don't like angsty spy novels? And pick up Ludlum?
Harrumph.
Seems like everyone's got a tale to tell.
Mal ,'Safe'
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§ ita § - Jul 09, 2007 1:03:57 pm PDT #59 of 10000
Well not canonically, no, but this is transformative fiction.
bon bon - Jul 09, 2007 1:04:05 pm PDT #60 of 10000
It's five thousand for kissing, ten thousand for snuggling... End of list.
I wiki'd, and apparently she's a Canadian economist. Which would explain why we're all right. I remember her being at a conference.
I've had a bad day at work, this is why I'm trainspotting here.
JZ - Jul 09, 2007 1:06:46 pm PDT #61 of 10000
See? I gave everybody here an opportunity to tell me what a bad person I am and nobody did, because I fuckin' rule.
She was in banking, IIRC.
She felt to me like total flobotanum -- Bourne's shadowy past could be sussed out if he only had the assistance of someone who knows international banking inside and out, if only -- why, hel-LO, Marie!
It may also be that I'm ruined for spy novels by having started out with Le Carré, lord and king and master and commander of the angsty spy novel (TM Nutty), and I probably shouldn't have read Bourne quite so immediately after The Spy Who Came In From The Cold, as it was bound to suffer in comparison. I should have waited a bit, say, two or three years. t /serious Ludlum issues
§ ita § - Jul 09, 2007 1:10:09 pm PDT #62 of 10000
Well not canonically, no, but this is transformative fiction.
Ludlum's more pulpy. There are many people in Le Carré's league. Graham Greene, perhaps?
JZ - Jul 09, 2007 1:12:48 pm PDT #63 of 10000
See? I gave everybody here an opportunity to tell me what a bad person I am and nobody did, because I fuckin' rule.
Graham Greene is so infinitely better than Ludlum. Though he doesn't really inhabit the "spy novel" portion of my bookbrain.
§ ita § - Jul 09, 2007 1:14:30 pm PDT #64 of 10000
Well not canonically, no, but this is transformative fiction.
Though he doesn't really inhabit the "spy novel" portion of my bookbrain.
I got to him through Our Man in Havana, so he does for me. Ludlum is more in a class with Fleming, though I think I like Fleming better.
Miracleman - Jul 09, 2007 1:19:17 pm PDT #65 of 10000
No, I don't think I will - me, quoting Captain Steve Rogers, to all of 2020
I liked Frederick Forsyth's "The Fourth Protocol", which was made into a so-so movie with Pierce Brosnan.
Nutty - Jul 09, 2007 1:22:23 pm PDT #66 of 10000
"Mister Spock is on his fanny, sir. Reports heavy damage."
Fleming at least is brief. OTOH, Ludlum's personal angst is a little bit camouflaged by the fact he is so lengthy.
I liked Ludlum; he got me through highschool; but as with a lot of my highschool reading I can't bear to read it now I'm no longer in highschool.
bon bon - Jul 09, 2007 1:26:22 pm PDT #67 of 10000
It's five thousand for kissing, ten thousand for snuggling... End of list.
Ludlum and Tom Clancy and Helen McInnes were also my high school friends. And Sidney Sheldon. Man, what taste I had. At the time, however, I remember Ludlum's "funny" books actually being funny, and damn he was prolific.
Kathy A - Jul 09, 2007 1:27:35 pm PDT #68 of 10000
We're very stretchy. - Connie Neil
The Fourth Protocol (movie version) also had Joanna Cassidy and Michael Caine, so I rather liked it, even though it did involve an awful lot of running around on Caine's part.