Ooh, I second the MacInnes. I haven't read her in yonks, but I loved her when I did.

Wait, wait. Speaking as the World's Most Passionate Archie Goodwin Fan Ever - as someone who owns not only all the Nero WOlfe novels, but who has read all the Bertha Cools as well - how does he qualify as spy novels? What did I miss?

He's classic American mystery writer, with Chandler and Hammett.

Oh, that's right, it was specified as *spy* stuff. They must have chased spies occasionally.

Archie? I think he did in exactly one short story, written during WWII, when he was in the army. ANd even there, he was chasing a Fifth Columnist.

And I do find Tehanu polemically feminist in a problematic way

Agreed. I've forgiven it some of its flaws, now that it's bookended with the last two volumes, but yeah -- in some ways it feels awfully obvious and a little contrived. (In other ways, it still does feel natural; I always wondered what Tenar had done with herself, when Ged went off to do his hero/mage/cool guy thing.)

I can see how Le Guin could sometimes leave readers cold, especially some of her older stuff. (Although I love The Dispossessed, it's not because I'm passionate about any of the characters.) I think The Telling is one of her stronger novels, because it gives its main character an emotional backstory to work through.

And The Bourne Identity is such a page turner that it took me many years -- and several readings -- to discover the Mack-Truck-sized hole in the story.

There's only one? Concur that it's a good page-turner, although at times hilariously overwrought. What I really like about it -- and this is true of all Ludlum in his prime, I think -- is the intricate detail work of spying. You know, the dead-drops and the feints and the diversions and double- and triple-backup plans. I appreciate that sensibility of the paranoid savant.

I think the best Fleming novel is Casino Royale -- it suffers least from the recycling of unconscious tropes of the author, and works best in its historical context: one of the villains is a man who spent time in a Displaced Persons camp after the war, so he quite literally has no identity or nationality at all. Also, that book is where I learned how Baccarat is played.

There's only one?

Fair point, Nutty. I was thinking of Marie falling in love with Jason, the guy who kidnapped her. Which may be less a plot hole than a WTF was he thinking? point.

I think The Telling is one of her stronger novels, because it gives its main character an emotional backstory to work through.

Really? I think The Telling goes cheap on some of the worldbuilding and the satire, which is frustrating, because other parts of the worldbuilding are excellent and when you finally do get a sense of the main character and the person who would be her antagonist in any other novels, there is some genuinely great writing there.

Also, that book is where I learned how Baccarat is played.

Me too! I had all my card-playing friends playing baccarat for ages after I read Casino Royale.

Mmm. Archie Goodwin.

I think The Telling goes cheap on some of the worldbuilding and the satire, which is frustrating, because other parts of the worldbuilding are excellent and when you finally do get a sense of the main character and the person who would be her antagonist in any other novels, there is some genuinely great writing there.

I suspect my affection for the second half overwhelms possible negative aspects of the first half. Also, the first time I read it, I had no idea it was intended as a parody of modern China.

I do remember watching CTHD, some 6 months later, and getting to the end, and being like, Hey!