Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy

I went out today to buy a birthday present and a card for my Dad (his birthday is next Sunday). I bought him a card and a book called Don't Stop Me Now by Jeremy Clarkson. I also bought a couple of books for myself: A Heart-Shaped Box by Joe Hill and An Utterly Impartial History of Britain by John O'Farrell (which I thought looked like it would be really funny and interesting). I also bought a couple of cheap DVDs in the sales of Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy and Smiley's People. They are both TV adaptations of John le Carre novels and star Alec Guinness. After that I headed up to the Filmhouse cinema and picked up the tickets for the Film Festival that I had booked. I had a drink in the cafe/bar and checked them, and they all seemed to be fine.

I've finished reading the novel Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy by John le Carre, which was first published in 1974. A year after having been retired from "The Circus" (a nick-name for the British Secret Sevice) after an operation goes badly wrong, George Smiley is brought back into the fold because there is information that there is a "mole" (an enemy agent) working in the Circus for thirty years. Smiley is given the task of uncovering the mole, which means pitting his wits against his arch-enemy, the mysterious Soviet spymaster codenamed Karla.
The book depicts a far bleaker world than the Ian Fleming James Bond novels. A world of constant suspicion and paranoia, where, far from constant action and beautiful women, Smiley spends most of his time patiently interviewing his suspects and pouring over stolen files in dark, dingy offices and cheap hotel rooms. The book is very well written and very interesting. It forms the first part of a trilogy, followed by The Honourable Schoolboy and Smiley's People.