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The Pigeon Tunnel: Stories from My Life

John le Carré

4.05 · Rating details · 3,899 ratings · 617 reviews

"Out of the secret world I once knew, I have tried to make a theatre for the larger worlds we inhabit. First 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 career as a writer that took him from war-torn Cambodia to Beirut on the ...more

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Paperback, 310 pages

Published September 8th 2016 by Viking

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Sep 21, 2016 Jeffrey Keeten rated it it was amazing

Shelves: spies, memoirs

”These are true stories told from memory--to which you are entitled to ask, what is truth, and what is memory to a creative writer in what we may delicately call the evening of his life? To the lawyer, truth is facets unadorned. Whether such facts are ever findable is another matter. To the creative writer, fact is raw material, not his taskmaster but his instrument, and his job is to make it sing. Real truth lies, if anywhere, not in facts, but in nuance.”

I’ve had many discussions over the ...more

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Sep 20, 2016 Will Byrnes rated it it was amazing

Shelves: nonfiction, biography, memoir

I’m a liar…born to lying, bred to it, trained to it by an industry that lies for a living, practiced in it as a novelist. As a maker of fictions, I invent versions of myself, never the real thing, if it exists.

…We all reinvent our pasts…but writers are in a class of their own. Even when they know the truth, it’s never enough for them.

John le Carré spent several years as an intelligence officer, with both MI6 and MI5. When his third novel, The Spy Who Came in from the Cold, became an ...more

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Sep 18, 2016 Manuel Antão rated it it was amazing

Shelves: favorites, 2016

If you're into stuff like this, you can read the full review.

"It strikes me now that everything that happened later in life was the consequence of that one impulsive adolescent decision to get out of England by the fastest available route and embrace the German muse as a substitute mother.”

In "The Pigeon Tunnel: Stories from My Life" by John Le Carré

Schiller’s “Die Deutsche Muse” epitomizes what I call the German Soul (taken from my own copy of the “Schiller Sämmtliche Werke” :

Kein Augustisch ...more

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Sep 16, 2016 Darwin8u rated it really liked it

Shelves: 2016

"if you were reporting on human pain, you had a duty to share it"
- John le Carré, quoting a dictum of Graham Greene, in 'The Pigeon Tunnel"

description

First, a disclosure, I was given this book by Viking Books. These types of offers I typically refuse. I don't like feeling under obligation to review or even read a book just because it was given to me. I might do it for friends, but even then, I am VERY picky about what I read. I have thousands of unread books and thousands of others I that are on my radar to read. I usually feel a bit like Melville's Bartleby, aroused only to the level of wanting to reply "I would prefer not to.". But this is John le Carré. Anyone who knows me knows I'VE been pimping John le Carré books for years. My goal is to be a le Carré completest by the end of next year (I still have yet to read The Night Manager, The Tailor of Panama, Absolute Friends, Our Game, or The Naive and Sentimental Lover) but there is a sadness that comes with finishing, with having no country left to visit or no book left to read. I, however, own them all. Often multiple copies. So, how could I refuse a free le Carré? Also, so I wouldn't feel completely like I was writing for free books, I also went out to purchase the Audiobook so I could listen to le Carré talk about his own life.

Surprisingly, this is le Carré's first memoir. That both feels a bit strange and a bit right. First, le Carré is a master at timing and also understands when is the proper point to introduce a character and how much to show. John le Carré, the pen name for David Cornwell, is often reluctant to do interviews (there is a bit about that in this book) and is a bit publicity shy. He isn't Pynchon or Salinger for sure, but the energy of pimping his stuff and his reluctance sometimes to delve into the narrative of his own life (he worked for awhile for both MI-5 and MI-6) and his relationship with his father all seem to be something he is often reluctant to discuss. Ironically, these two issues feed his fiction heavily. His father and his relationship with his father's ghost seems to push through most of his fiction. So, too, obviously does le Carré time as David Cornwell the spy. There is a thin, unbleached muslin shroud between fact and fiction (le Carré talks about his in this book). Perhaps le Carré's greatest book, A Perfect Spy, which Philip Roth (yes, that Philip Fucking Roth) once called "the best English novel since the War" was grown out of David Cornwell's relationship with his own father.

The memoir itself is filled with anecdotes and loosely goes from past to present, but also breaks time's arrow to describe certain relationships with certain people or movies made of his books. I loved especially the parts of this book where le Carré writes about Graham Greene and the craft of writing. I knew le Carré got around, but after reading the memoir, I can safely say he belongs with George Orwell, Graham Greene, William T. Vollmann, Paul Theroux family of adventure writers whose fiction is informed from the trenches. They don't just know where some bodies are actually buried, they may have seen the corpse AND the murder.

So, why only four stars? Because I'm judging his memoir against his best fiction. This is a fun memoir and very good le Carré. It just doesn't cast its shadow as long as the Karla trilogy, the Perfect Spy, etc.
Again, returning to how this is his first memoir, I wonder why now? I hope he is not done with fiction. I hope this is not him saying, I'm done. He is in his 80s, and after he is done, I'm not sure what to do. We have been waiting for 400 years for another playwright to equal Shakespeare. How many centuries will we have to wait for another le Carré? Dear GOD, I fear way too long. ...more

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Sep 13, 2016 Trish rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: biography, audio, spies-and-such, foreign-affairs, russia, british, political-science, history, memoir, germany

These stories are pure enjoyment. David Cornwell makes up for all those years he refused interviews, answering questions we never got to ask. If he doesn’t quite “bare all,” within are things we may have felt strongly about at the time, but now excite us just for the pleasure of hearing a different voice tell us indeed, we may have been right all along.

The written word is fine, but I am going to urge readers to consider the audio of this memoir which is read by the author himself. He is quite These stories are pure enjoyment. David Cornwell makes up for all those years he refused interviews, answering questions we never got to ask. If he doesn’t quite “bare all,” within are things we may have felt strongly about at the time, but now excite us just for the pleasure of hearing a different voice tell us indeed, we may have been right all along.

The written word is fine, but I am going to urge readers to consider the audio of this memoir which is read by the author himself. He is quite good at accents and inflection, and it is riotous in parts to hear his plummy enunciation explaining moments of real learning: when he was sent to Paris as a sixteen-year-old to pick up a debt for his father, or on learning the ways of Hollywood.

Society’s view of spies changes with the times, and David Cornwell acknowledges this, and along with us is horrified at the waste and destruction many of those pointed in the direction of the interests of state have wrought through arrogance and incompetence.

What is most appealing about le Carré’s writing is that David Cornwell has never stopped being the man that attracted MI-5 and-6 when he was recruited early on in his career. He is capable of enormous leaps of understanding—and judgment, when it comes to it. A few of his books will remain in the stacks, long-lasting as literature, because he managed to capture something we acknowledge as real, if dark and depressing and somehow enormously sad.

This le Carré autobiography is arguably even more engrossing than his novels because he applies his writing talent and unparalleled observation and pacing skills, but he shares the sources of his inspiration, highlighting for us where his characters diverge from their real-life counterparts. Real people in real crises are almost always more interesting than their fictional counterparts, aren’t they? Best of all, we get cameos of famed leaders and crooks, winners, losers, and those who tried.

The most affecting bits he saved for the end, where he talks about his “confected” childhood memories, including a mother, all angles instead of curves, whom he met at the age of twenty-one and who talked nonstop about Ronnie (his father), but supplanting the “he” with “you.”

A family of storytellers, then, and all of it manifest in a man torn between the truth and it’s opposite. Cornwell could tell a scam from a mile away, which is why he never went public with the “tell-all” offered to him by Nicholas Elliott, best friend and colleague of Kim Philby, one of the most infamous double agents in British Intelligence history. But hearing Cornwell take on the voice of Elliott as he ostensibly spilled the secrets of the still-classified debriefing with Philby in Beirut is something you do not want to miss, even if you aren’t aware of the significance of that confession.

A couple of meetings with Yasser Arafat stand out, as does his unrehearsed seventy-five minute live interview with French television personality and host Bernard Pivot. Cornell speaks so glowingly of what a phenomenon Pivot was on television that I will forever regret not knowing enough French to understand Pivot's wit and sense of style.

This book gives enormous pleasure, whatever your preferred method of consumption. The revelations may seem out of date to some, but it is actually one of those memoirs that never go out of date. Classic, I think they call it. ...more

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Jun 18, 2017 Diane rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: british-charm, memoirs, audiobooks, writers-on-writing

This is an absolutely delightful memoir from the great John le Carré.

The author's real name is David Cornwell, and this memoir is a loose collection of stories from his experience, including everything from his research trips to Russia to his interactions with Hollywood. There are also tales of tense interactions with other spies who are angry about his books, and of the awkwardness that has occurred when government officials assume le Carré is a master spy, rather than just a bestselling author This is an absolutely delightful memoir from the great John le Carré.

The author's real name is David Cornwell, and this memoir is a loose collection of stories from his experience, including everything from his research trips to Russia to his interactions with Hollywood. There are also tales of tense interactions with other spies who are angry about his books, and of the awkwardness that has occurred when government officials assume le Carré is a master spy, rather than just a bestselling author of spy novels. There was a good quote in the book (which I couldn't find later so I'm paraphrasing) that a lot of people assume le Carré was a spy who used his experience to become a novelist, rather than someone who always wanted to be a writer who briefly served as a spy.

One of my favorite chapters in the book was about his father, who was quite the con man and certainly sounded like a difficult person to have as your dad. Some other good sections were Cornwell's thoughts on the traitor Kim Philby and on fellow spy-turned-novelist Graham Greene.

I've been on a spy kick lately (which coincidentally started with a book about Kim Philby) and this memoir was a fun addition. I listened to The Pigeon Tunnel on audio, read by le Carré himself, and I highly recommend his narration. He has a charming reading voice and is excellent at different accents. In fact, I enjoyed this audiobook so much that I was a bit sad when it ended, and I struggled for days to find my next one. John le Carré is a tough act to follow.

If you're already a fan of his books, you'll probably enjoy this memoir. Highly recommended.

Favorite Quotes
"These are true stories told from memory -- to which you are entitled to ask, what is truth, and what is memory to a creative writer in what we may delicately call the evening of his life? To the lawyer, truth is facts unadorned. Whether such facts are ever findable is another matter. To the creative writer, fact is raw material, not his taskmaster but his instrument, and his job is to make it sing. Real truth lies, if anywhere, not in facts, but in nuance."

"I spend a lot of odd moments these days wondering what my life would have looked like if I hadn't bolted from my public school, or if I had bolted in a different direction. It strikes me now that everything that happened later in life was the consequence of that one impulsive adolescent decision to get out of England by the fastest available route and embrace the German muse as a substitute mother."

"If you're ever lucky enough to score an early success as a writer, as happened to me with The Spy Who Came in from the Cold, for the rest of your life there's a before-the-fall and an after-the-fall. You look back at the books you wrote before the searchlight picked you out and they read like the books of your innocence; and the books after it, in your low moments, like the strivings of a man on trial. 'Trying too hard' the critics cry. I never thought I was trying too hard. I reckoned I owed it to my success to get the best out of myself, and by and large, however good or bad the best was, that was what I did."

"I love best the privacy of writing, which is why I don't do literary festivals and, as much as I can, stay away from interviews, even if the record doesn't look that way. There are times, usually at night, when I wish I'd never given an interview at all. First, you invent yourself, then you get to believe your invention. That is not a process that is compatible with self-knowledge." ...more

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Sep 28, 2016 Emma rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: audible

Considering I've never read a word of le Carre, it might well be thought a surprising choice to read his autobiography. But I am well acquainted with his works from 10 years in bookselling and from watching the excellently done recent BBC production of The Night Manager. Besides, stories from someone who was both writer and spy...who could resist?

In not resisting, I heard (in the Audible version read by the author himself) one of the most interesting set of tales one could ever hope to. I say ...more

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Jul 11, 2017 HBalikov rated it really liked it

David Cornwell, writing as John le Carré, is one of the most celebrated authors of espionage novels. This is essentially a memoir and I listened to the audio book, which was read by le Carré.

I understand that there is some controversy about this book. Some say that the author has undercut Adam Sisman who had written a biography (with le Carré’s assistance) less than a year previous to this book. Some say that le Carré deals with “the truth” about events in less than a rigorous manner. He uses ...more

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Jul 29, 2018 Quirkyreader rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Even though I still have five more books to go in Le Carre’s back catalogue, I decided to read the memoir. And yes there are spoilers in it. But that is beside the point.

I was able to read about what parts of his life inspired his stories. So while I was reading the memoir I was like this part inspired this and this part inspired that. And it gave me a greater insight to Le Carre’s “shadowy” past.

Now I am anticipating the rest of his novels even more.

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Sep 22, 2016 Jay Green rated it really liked it

Elegantly recounted meta-capers (i.e. capers about capers, anecdotes about plots, etc.). Would have liked to have seen more beans spilled, but Le Carré is too much of a gentleman for that, suggesting that he still retains something of the ethos that rendered him suitable for recruitment all those years ago. Fun, and a little mischievous, although not sufficiently so for my tastes.

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Jul 12, 2019 John Farebrother rated it it was amazing

I was given this book together with Le Carre's latest novel, the long-awaited sequel to The Spy Who Came In from the Cold. I have been a fan of Le Carre's writing for many years, and the said sequel delivered again. But I am in two minds about the author's autobiographical work - as I feared before opening it, familiarity can engender disappointment, if not contempt. The book certainly explains the genesis of many of his characters, incidents, and dilemmas - but that much was evident anyway. ...more

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Sep 09, 2016 Bettie rated it really liked it

Recommends it for: BBC Radio Listeners

Shelves: autobiography-memoir, books-about-books-and-book-shops, nonfiction, spies, radio-4, author-love, author-in-the-mirror, a-cut-above, published-2016, autumn-2016

BOTW

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b07tzrwc

Episode 1: One time at a party Denis Healey says: 'You're a communist spy, that what you are'. Plus a memorable lunch with Alec Guinness to discuss his character George Smiley.

2/5: Yvette Pierpaoli, a business woman who once worked out of Phnom Penn. We discover how her character and actions went towards creating Tessa in the novel The Constant Gardener.

3/5: At sixteen he was sent by his father Ronnie to Paris, to meet with Count Mario da Bernaschina ...more

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Sep 11, 2016 Ammar rated it really liked it

Shelves: read-in-2016, crimes-mystery

The pigeon Tunnel by John Le Carre is not a full autobiography or a memoir. This book is a collection of stories that range from his childhood to this age of terror.

There is a full biography by John that was released last year. This book could be a sort of a companion to it.

There are no top secrets here, no scandals or spies. Just vignettes of a long lived life, anecdotes, stories and recollection: some are true and some are hazy.

An enjoyable read that any Le Caree fan would enjoy immensely.

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Jan 14, 2018 Christine rated it really liked it

Shelves: memoirs-letters-and-diaries, history-spies

Le Carre’s book is more a collection of essays that may or may not be true (at least according to his disclaimer). The essays range from the very personal (about his father) to the funny (about a credit card) to the historic (about Philby). There are stories about the development of his novels for movies – including stories about Burton and Guinness. There is a funny bit about Robert Redford.
But Le Carre’s boo isn’t just name dropping, or to be more exact, it’s not about name dropping at all. ...more

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Jul 01, 2018 Lorna rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: memoirs, john-le-carre

The Pigeon Tunnel: Stories from My Life was a delightful, entertaining and very personal memoir written by one of my favorite spy novelists, David Cornwell, best known by his pen name of John le Carre. As you settle in to immerse yourself and listen to one of our greatest raconteurs, it becomes clear that the life of David Cornwell as a British spy for Britain's MI5 and MI6 was just as exciting as the spies in the novels written by le Carre. It is also very interesting to see how his mystery ...more

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Apr 05, 2017 Steve rated it really liked it

Shelves: biography, letters-memoirs-essays, i-spy

About midway through David Cornwell’s (John le Carré) introduction to his fine autobiography The Pigeon Tunnel , the author, now in his 80s, reflects on the nature of memory itself:

These are true stories told from memory – to which you are entitled to ask, what is truth, and what is memory to the creative writer in what we may delicately call the evening of his life? To a lawyer, truth is facts unadorned. Whether such facts are ever findable is another matter. To a creative writer, fact is raw About midway through David Cornwell’s (John le Carré) introduction to his fine autobiography The Pigeon Tunnel , the author, now in his 80s, reflects on the nature of memory itself:

These are true stories told from memory – to which you are entitled to ask, what is truth, and what is memory to the creative writer in what we may delicately call the evening of his life? To a lawyer, truth is facts unadorned. Whether such facts are ever findable is another matter. To a creative writer, fact is raw material, not his taskmaster but his instrument, and his job is to make it sing. Real truth lies, if anywhere, not in facts, but in nuance.

I thought that beautifully stated, especially so for an author who has for so long, in his fiction, operated in the shadows. On the surface, le Carré is viewed as a writer of spy novels. Any close reader of his novels knows he’s much more than that. At his best, he’s a top drawer writer of literary fiction, a master of nuance. I think I saw somewhere that le Carré is part of a continuum that includes Conrad and Graham Greene. I certainly agree with that (though I would have included Robert Stone). Externally le Carré’s work is certainly one of spies, but internally his focus is always on, and I’m reminded of the title of one Graham Greene’s late novels, The Human Factor.

Le Carré’s autobiography is of course something else. On surface The Pigeon Tunnel does seem a grab bag of “stories” and people. For a while there seems a greater unity, as le Carré becomes more David Cornwell, an aspiring writer transitioning over from being an actual spy. I was a bit surprised just how much of a spy he was. I don’t know why I felt that way. I suppose in the back of my mind I always felt that le Carré dabbled a bit on the edges of the spy world, took notes, and then became a writer. In other words, the Spy stuff was a marketing ploy. Not so. Le Carré skirts the edges of what he can reveal. Evidently he came close, with one novel, to being prosecuted for violating the Official Secrets Act. In another instance he had considerable involvement in the Profumo scandal. He was probably considered a bright and shining boy, marked for advancement.

Then The Spy Who Came In From the Cold happened, and everything changed. An acclaimed movie followed. Divorce. More books, more acclaim. One surprise throughout The Pigeon Tunnel is le Carré’s willingness to tell you the original sources for some of his characters. I was both intrigued and disappointed. A part of me didn’t want to know. But Le Carré’s such damn good writer, and has been to some very hot places in order to do his research, that an argument can be made that such “telling” has only enriched the fictional material. (The Cambodia section of The Honorable Schoolboy contains some of the most darkly soaring writing that I’ve read in any modern novel.)

The reason for those field trips (Africa, Cambodia as it fell, Palestine, etc.) was rooted in le Carré’s discovery of a geographic error in Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy. The authenticity you sense in his novels is, well, authentic. So much so, that after reading about le Carré’s travels in Palestine and Africa that I came away from the The Pigeon Tunnel with two as yet unread must-read titles: The Little Drummer Girl and The Mission Song.

But the arc of le Carré’s writing career is only partially maintained, as the author stops often to reminisce over the movie business, Richard Burton, Fritz Lang, (a bizarre) Stanley Kubrick, Russian mobsters, Rupert Murdoch ("my old buddy"), Alec Guiness (a good friend), and eventually his con-man father, Ronnie Cornwell. Le Carré’s “relationship” with his father is a complicated, Dickensian one. His mother isn’t much better, as she seems a distant and loveless figure. The necessary love that le Carré encountered as he grew came primarily from siblings and half siblings. Weirdly, le Carré doesn’t seem to resent or hate his father. If anything, he thinks his father probably prepared him, through raw experience, for the writing career to come. Le Carré’s arguably greatest book, A Perfect Spy has this relationship at its heart. That novel is probably Le Carré’s real autobiography. With that in mind, The Pigeon Tunnel could be viewed as the fascinating, well written footnotes. ...more

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Nov 07, 2016 Jean rated it really liked it

Shelves: memoir, autobiography, non-fiction, history, audio-book, espinonage

This autobiography/memoir by John Le Carré is a series of short stories told from memory. He also states in the book the following: “I’m a liar…born to lying, bred to it, trained to it by an industry that lies for a living, practiced in it as a novelist. As a maker of fictions, I invent versions of myself.”

Le Carré tells of being inducted into MI5, as a junior officer in 1956, at the age of 25. He moved to MI6 in 1961 and left the service at age 33. Le Carré tells of friendships with poets, ...more

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Sep 15, 2016 Laura rated it liked it

Recommended to Laura by: Bettie

Shelves: memoir-biography, audio-books, non-fiction, british-literature, read-2016, autobiography

From BBC Radio 4 - Book of the Week:
John le Carre with five recollections from his writing life, abridged by Katrin Williams:

1/5: One time at a party Denis Healey says: 'You're a communist spy, that what you are'. Plus a memorable lunch with Alec Guinness to discuss his character George Smiley.

2/5: There was Yvette Pierpaoli, a business woman who once worked out of Phnom Penn. We discover how her character and actions went towards creating Tessa in the novel The Constant Gardener.

3/5: At sixteen ...more

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Dec 23, 2016 Jaksen rated it it was amazing

An intricate look into the writing, imagination, and mind of one of the world's great living writers. Of spy novels, and more.

Using his expertise and connections, gained when still a young man, while working in the secret service of Great Britain, le Carre crafted an entire series of novels which are among the finest ever written. Yes, I said it. And he's still working at it. And though he insists he was only a lower-level 'spy' and was never really involved in anything other than utilitarian ...more

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Nov 18, 2016 Brandon Petry rated it it was amazing

Shelves: paris, writing, books-about-books, creative-nonfiction, film, borrowed-library, spy, non-fiction, 2016, x-16-nov

Having only read five or six of Le Carre books and being a big fan of the adapted television movies and films I thought I'd be ready for this book. And while I certainly enjoyed it, part of me (the completists/slight OCD part of me) wishes I had read more of his novels before taking part in this autobiography (it's more a loose collection of various memories and stories each chapter reading more like an essay or story).

But the man, at 84 years old, is one hell of a writer. So that even when I ...more

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Jun 01, 2016 Martin rated it it was amazing

Comments based on advanced copy. I've only read The Honorable Schoolboy and just watched the BBC version of The Night Manager. This literary memoir is brilliant. The author's life reads like his fiction and the candor and transperancy is exceptional. I suspect I will be on a LeCarre binge for the immediate future. This is the best 2016 release I've read thus far this year.

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May 24, 2016 Martin rated it it was amazing

Shelves: autobiography, great-britain

This is the first book I've read by Le Carre. A wonderful memoir. I plan on reading more of his books.

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Jan 30, 2018 Liz Fenwick rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

I listened to this book narrated by the author. The narration is brilliant...as if you were lucky enough to be sitting with a master story teller. Each chapter is a exploration...of his past...memories and ultimately what is truth and what is a lie. I love the way he speaks of his characters...how real they are to him. I can’t recommend this audio book highly enough.

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Oct 12, 2017 Rachel rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: audiobooks, 2017

I read this in a combination of print and audiobook read by the author. I loved le Carre's narration and found the stories within to be fascinating. The end was a bit of a surprise, and I turned the page expecting more. So, the way it ended was a bit disappointing. I enjoyed the details of events and people who inspired some of his novels. A great read for fans.

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Oct 26, 2016 Dayle (the literary llama) rated it really liked it

Shelves: non-fiction

RATING: / 4 fascinating stars!

REVIEW: I grew up with thrillers, mysteries, and espionage novels. They were, and still are, some of my mother's favorite genres. So it makes perfect sense that I would be interested in a memoir from what of literature's kings of spies. John le Carre's list of titles would probably surprise many. I was certainly unaware of a couple that were popular names to me only through cinematic means, completely unaware that the book it was based on was a le Carre. But RATING: ★★★★☆ / 4 fascinating stars!

REVIEW: I grew up with thrillers, mysteries, and espionage novels. They were, and still are, some of my mother's favorite genres. So it makes perfect sense that I would be interested in a memoir from what of literature's kings of spies. John le Carre's list of titles would probably surprise many. I was certainly unaware of a couple that were popular names to me only through cinematic means, completely unaware that the book it was based on was a le Carre. But putting aside the popularity of Hollywood for a moment, the stories recounted and the people that have woven in and out of le Carre's life, are nothing short of fascinating.

I'm not entirely sure how much we actually learn about John le Carre the man in this book (who's real name is David Cornwell, by the by, but from here on will only be called le Carre to lessen confusion), despite it all he is still an enigmatic figure. As the full title suggests, it contains "stories from my life" but it isn't an autobiography, per se. The book is a collection of moments, albeit incredibly interesting moments, that give insight into his writing process and the inspiration he collected across decades to create characters and stories. This is nothing to scoff at, by any means, but if you're looking for government secrets and incredible revelations from the one-time British spy, then you won't find it here. The author is incredibly clear on this point. He recalls minor spy work and several instances of colorful note, but overall his time as a spy was merely a stepping off point into writing, and anything else is still held within his own ethical bounds of secrecy.

The Pigeon Tunnel is full of history and the name dropping is immense, from fallen spies to political figures to Hollywood directors. If you're familiar with the international spy scandals of the last 50 years and prominent news headlines then you'll feel right at home here. Le Carre's personal accounts of these moments and the people he knew, met, and brushed elbows with, are told in such a way as to make history new again. And through it all, le Carre is unfailingly modest. Everything is told and retold with an air of charm and humor. Each recount is without flattery or needless embellishment, trying to create an accurate picture. Still, he is an author of compelling espionage, so who's to tell how much is clever and brilliant writing, and how much is strictly fact. It does feel entirely truthful, though, and utterly honest, at least in my opinion, so take what you will from that.

By far my most favorites passages and chapters were the ones where he met, described, and took direct inspiration from singular people and places. Reading about specific people who inspired him, perhaps most notably his inspiration for The Constant Gardener, was captivating. After that, the instances in which notable figures and dignitaries would call on him for help in serious matters, expecting a super secret agent man to come to their aid, only to find a writer who told stories of spies but who wasn't in "the game", never failed to be funny. Highly entertaining through and through.

Getting a glimpse behind the curtain, so to speak, was brilliant. If you're a fan of John le Carre or spy novels, then I highly recommend this non-fiction. ...more

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Sep 20, 2016 Austin Zook rated it it was amazing

I've been a fan of John le Carré's work for a little while now, having started with Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy and The Spy Who Came in from the Cold, and then graduated to The Night Manager. Someday I'll read one of his novels that hasn't been adapted for the screen, but that's for Future Me to get around to. Today, I'm firmly entrenched in the reality of le Carré, fresh off the thoroughly enjoyable, intimate, and sharp collection of short essays that is The Pigeon Tunnel.

From the book's opening I've been a fan of John le Carré's work for a little while now, having started with Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy and The Spy Who Came in from the Cold, and then graduated to The Night Manager. Someday I'll read one of his novels that hasn't been adapted for the screen, but that's for Future Me to get around to. Today, I'm firmly entrenched in the reality of le Carré, fresh off the thoroughly enjoyable, intimate, and sharp collection of short essays that is The Pigeon Tunnel.

From the book's opening pages, I knew I was in for a treat. The first thing le Carré does is his explain why he's so fond of the book's title and how it's been the working title of many of his novels at some time or another. He and his father used to go to a sort of country club where pigeons would be trapped on the building's roof and then forced to fly through a tunnel; upon exiting this tunnel, they would be fired upon by men waiting gamely with guns. Any pigeons lucky enough to escape the storm of bullets would, rather than fleeing that dreadful place, return to the roof with the traps and begin the process again. It's a haunting anecdote, typical of this collection, and it hooked me immediately.

While this isn't a tell-all sort of novel chronicling the author's life from birth, we do get to experience a lot of the seminal events in le Carré's life from his perspective. Throughout his career, as both intelligence agent and author, le Carré has rubbed shoulders with famous directors (such as Stanley Kubrick), actors (Richard Burton; Alec Guinness), heads of the KGB, Margaret Thatcher, and more. These interactions fill The Pigeon Tunnel and are usually capped off with some wry bit of British humor, which I was surprised to find typically stuck the landing. There's a comedian's sense of timing with le Carré's writing, probably honed from learning to balance all the moving pieces just so in his meatier novels, and he does a great job painting scenes and delivering a punchline to maximum effect.

One of the chapters chronicling the author's relationship with his father, Ronnie Cornwell, an international conman, is very lovingly done. We get to see all the contradictory moving parts whirring around as le Carré attempts to see his father objectively, and occasionally feels he's close to hitting the mark. Typically, when he gets close to seeing his father as a sort of "old boy" who can be charming even as he steals, le Carré is forced to remember the many victims of Ronnie's exploits.

Le Carré brings his mastery of his craft with him as he delves into nonfiction for the first time in his illustrious career. Dozens of vignettes make up this work, some related, some islands unto themselves, and while some will be more amusing for the individual reader than others, each of them has something to say and is additive to this work.

If you love spycraft (or the idea of learning about the man who brought it to the page in a way few, if any, others have) The Pigeon Tunnel is for you. Delve into the life and times of one David Cornwell, aka John le Carré, at your pleasure and, like me, you'll probably want to revisit this as soon as your first read-through is done. ...more

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Dec 09, 2016 Mark rated it it was amazing

Shelves: audiobooks, memoir

“…We all reinvent our pasts…but writers are in a class of their own. Even when they know the truth, it’s never enough for them.”

“I’m a liar…born to lying, bred to it, trained to it by an industry that lies for a living, practiced in it as a novelist.”

David Cornwell, aka John Le Carre, is no armchair author. He has lived the life and in this beautifully written memoir, by one of the best spy novelists of our time, he takes the reader on a journey, that touches down in many historical and personal ...more

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Nov 03, 2016 DeAnna Knippling rated it it was amazing

Shelves: nonfiction

Disclosure: The publisher contacted me to ask whether I would like a copy of the book for review. I would.

The temptation to believe that the author is still a spy must be overwhelming. I, certainly, was overwhelmed by the temptation several times.

However, I'm now of the opinion that spycraft is nerdier and more complex than I imagined, and calling either Le Carre or his actual ego a spy is like calling a former IT guy who's now relegated to building maybe one computer every other year an IT ...more

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Oct 10, 2016 Jacob Overmark rated it it was amazing

Shelves: non-fiction, british, read-owned, reviewed, john-le-carr

This is first of all the autobiografi of the author John le Carré, and secondly some background provided by David Cornwell.
Where some may be looking for more personal stuff, John le Carré has his focus on what shaped him as an author.
Clearly David Cornwell do not expect to ever come at ease with his Ronnie-issues, but choose early to let John le Carré handle the issues as best he could.
Hence Ronnie deserves his place in the book, as inspiration as well as "the ghost of your father".

It was a ...more

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Mar 22, 2017 John of Canada rated it it was amazing

Shelves: memoirs, made-me-laugh, graham-greene, 6-star-reads, adventure, autobiography, made-me-think

The best book I've read this year.It does a nice job of showing how obtuse people in the spy world,and politicians really can be.We are introduced to artists and politicians,some of them famous,and heroes,many of them unknown until now.The author gives insight into how his characters are created,most of them based on real people.Le Carre is briliantly funny and very honest in describing himself.His descriptions of people who suffer at the hands of self important bureaucrats and leaders,whether ...more

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About John le Carré

John le Carré

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John le Carré, the pseudonym of David John Moore Cornwell (born 19 October 1931 in Poole, Dorset, England), is an English author of espionage novels. Le Carré has resided in St Buryan, Cornwall, Great Britain, for more than 40 years, where he owns a mile of cliff close to Land's End.

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“These are true stories told from memory – to which you are entitled to ask, what is truth, and what is memory to a creative writer in what we may delicately call the evening of his life? To the lawyer, truth is facts unadorned. Whether such facts are ever findable is another matter. To the creative writer, fact is raw material, not his taskmaster but his instrument, and his job is to make it sing. Real truth lies, if anywhere, not in facts, but in nuance.” — 1 likes

“and the wood smoke will roll out of the fireplace on to the carpet we paid too much for on that rainy afternoon in Interlaken in the snowless winter of whenever it was,” — 0 likes

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