Welcome to Litsy!

🤯 🤯 🤯 I knew he wasn‘t a “good guy” going into the book. What a colossal mess, death and destruction he left in his wake. It reads like a John Le Carré novel. But it‘s not fiction.

Highly recommend.
(Since it was on audio, it was harder to keep the characters straight at the beginning of the book.)

The reader was so-so. Sounded like he could have been a reader for World War 2 newsreels.

#bookspin and #augustARCreadathon forecast. @TheAromaofBooks @Clwojick

I already working I two of the ARCs 🙌. Looking forward to clearing my conscience. 😄

😳

This guy. Yikes. There‘s devotion to a cause. What lies beyond is extremely dangerous. Sociopath? That answer is probably too easy.

List ready! #bookspin #doublespin #bookspinbingo
I made space for impulse reads this month. (Thanks for the idea, @TheSpineView 👍)
#augustarc @Clwojick

This has been in my TBR for quite awhile. After reading the review from @Lizpixie I decided to finally pick it up. Yowza. It‘s fascinating. The hubris, commitment, loyalty, and paranoia. 😳 #spies

I‘m reading and listening. So many characters and details. Hard to keep straight while listening. Bonus! Cameos from Graham Greene.

Bk5 of July & Bk4 of #JubilantJuly #readathon is done! Another brilliant NF from the author about a double agent, but this one is an MI6 agent spying for Russia. Philby was one of the “Cambridge Five” a group of communist leaning University friends that became KGB informants. Three became MI6 while two worked for Bletchley Park & the Foreign Office. All were responsible for many deaths of agents & sympathisers & the failure of many ops. It was👇👇

About to go to bed on Day5 of #JubilantJuly #readathon after listening to a few hrs of this NF #audiobook by the same author of The Spy & The Traitor. So far it‘s just as interesting, though it‘s not narrated by the author this time & this readers upper class accent can be a bit difficult to listen to. Kim Philby was the biggest betrayer of Englands secrets during the Cold War,as an MI6 agent,he passed on numerous covert reports to the communists.

This was another well researched and well written nonfiction book by Macintyre. I enjoyed his novel on Oleg Gordievsky more, but this was still brilliant. My heart breaks for Philby‘s friend Nick Elliott, and you can‘t help but feel like that personal betrayal was almost worse than the betrayal of the British security services. I‘m also astonished at how many clues were missed and how long it took him to be caught.

The more non-fiction Cold War era spy stories I read, the more I am amazed (and horrified) by the number of instances where a double agent‘s behavior changes dramatically or becomes erratic AND NO ONE SUSPECTS THEM OF ESPIONAGE! It seems like a classic tell. 🤦🏻‍♀️

A book I could give to anybody

Very interesting, though a bit dry 3/5⭐️

Listening to this audiobook at work before we opened today. It‘s a super serious book with a super serious topic. What part does my boss hear, you ask? The random sidebar about the USSR experimenting with orgies for productivity. Honestly, my life

...and the official, bought on my birthday, birthday #bookhaul from B&N! Thanks to @Gina for sharing the non-fiction book list. Hey, at least I got the two I went in for! 🤣🤣

Far and away his best!

This is an excellent book that centers the narrative of Kim Philby's betrayal of his country around his friendship with Nicholas Elliot, as well as his "close" set of friends within MI5, MI6, and the CIA. Macintyre's descriptions of the characters, be they large or small, are colorful and entertaining and one feel's as if one is at the table with the rest of them.

I can‘t get enough of Ben Macintyre‘s books, particularly in audio. Another great one!

It occurs to me that my match for #summersantagoespostal #summersolsticebookexchange provided far more information that I did (new at all this!). I've cleared my tbr down to books I don't own which may prove a more helpful insight into my eclectic reading tastes than the guidance I originally provided 😳 (ps book tagged here is very good!)

This nonfiction book gives the fascinating account of one of the greatest spy betrayals in history. If you're a fan of the TV show The Americans, I would recommend this one!

The miles flew by while I listened to this fascinating story of Russian spy Kim Philby. He worked for MI6, and rose in the organization all while passing information to the Soviets. The book focuses on his friendship with another MI6 operative, Nicholas Elliot. The author parallels Philby's betrayal of his country with his betrayal of his closest friend. I am now trying to choose a new audiobook. Decisions!

With no new episodes of The Americans for a bit, I've decided to read about spies until it comes back.

Here are the books that have snuck into my collection in the last month. More commentary here: http://readingenvy.blogspot.com/2016/11/new-books-in-november-2016.html

YOU. YES YOU. Stack this book. You will not regret it. Fictional #spynovels are great, but this book is completely engrossing and endlessly fascinating. I somehow missed the Kim Philby story during my history degree, so I was drawn right in. GO GO GO!!! #photoadaynov16

This was a fascinating story about WW II spies and a double agent from the Old Boy's Club who was a secret communist for decades before being caught. Ian Fleming appears, as do a multitude of other fascinating characters.