Tuesday, May 14, 2013

John le Carré’s best novels

Ted Scheinman is a doctoral candidate and freelance writer based in Chapel Hill.

He has read all 23 of John le Carré’s novels...and ranked them for Slate. The best:
A Perfect Spy remains le Carré’s greatest novel, at once his most autobiographical, his most technically assured, and his most touching. I like to call it the author’s Tender Is the Night; Magnus Pym is a total Dick Diver, just with a few more passports.
Read about the ranking of the rest of le Carré’s novels at Slate.

A Perfect Spy is among Ann Patchett's favorite books, Jonathan Miles's five best books on the secrets of espionage, and Philip Pullman's forty favorite books.

Also see: Jon Stock's top ten John le Carré novels.

--Marshal Zeringue