Reading Wednesday

[troisoiseaux]

Currently reading

- Agent Garbo by Stephan Talty, about Juan Pujol García, a WWII double agent who fed disinformation from the British to the Germans. This is one of those absolutely bonkers true stories that would be too improbable to believe if it were fiction. You can read an amusingly phrased summary here, but it misses one of the most genuinely insane events of his spy career: the time he faked his own arrest and trial for treason in order to convince his disgruntled wife not to follow through with her threats to blow his operation. (She apparently bluffed him/MI5 right back, by faking a suicide attempt, but ultimately agreed she wouldn't blow his cover. You will be unsurprised to learn their marriage didn't last.)

- Perilous Times by Thomas D. Lee, in which the knights of the Round Table are immortals doomed to be resurrected whenever Britain is in peril— in its near-future setting, the peril is climate change and also dragons— and Christopher Marlowe is an evil immortal bureaucrat, for some reason?? I'm only a couple of chapters in, but I love it already.

Currently listening

Still following Re: Dracula, which I continue to find even spookier and more emotionally compelling than when I read Dracula last year— I'd kind of rushed through the voyage of the Demeter when I read the book, but with the updates spaced out, and read aloud, the captain's voice (provided by another Magnus Archives alumnus, Alasdair Stuart (aka Peter Lukas)) increasingly wretched with each desperate log entry...!!! This audio adaptation includes original songs to mark the end of significant sections— Jonathan's last journal entry from Dracula's castle ("Bite"); the last entry in the captain's log from the Demeter ("The Ratcatcher")— which is a very cool touch.

Comments

[muccamukk]

Agent Garbo sounds great! Will check that out.

[troisoiseaux]

It's a wild ride!

[sovay]

the time he faked his own arrest and trial for espionage in order to convince his disgruntled wife not to follow through with her threats to blow his operation. (She apparently bluffed him/MI5 right back, by faking a suicide attempt

I had missed or forgotten that part, which is very impressive. (Either they were going to be made for one another or implode, yeah.)

[troisoiseaux]

She was involved in his freelance deception operation back in Lisbon, to some extent, but once they got to England, she wasn't. And then she just really hated being in London and being so isolated, because socializing with anybody, but especially other Spanish expats, would have been too risky in the circumstances...

ETA: I've finished the book and couldn't resist updating this comment because while I knew from a quick pre-book Wikipedia scan that after the war Pujol a. divorced his wife, b. faked his death, and c. moved to Venezuela, I didn't realize that he did this things in the most insane order possible— that is, he faked his death after they'd separated (and he'd moved to Venezuela) but before their actual divorce? I think they were both made for each other and destined to implode, because while his faking his death convinced even his MI5 colleagues who weren't in the know, his (ex-)wife didn't believe it. (She wrote him asking for an official divorce so she could remarry like 10 years later, but didn't tell their kids??)

[sovay]

that is, he faked his death after they'd separated (and he'd moved to Venezuela) but before their actual divorce? I think they were both made for each other and destined to implode, because while his faking his death convinced even his MI5 colleagues who weren't in the know, his (ex-)wife didn't believe it. (She wrote him asking for an official divorce so she could remarry like 10 years later, but didn't tell their kids??)

I'm so impressed by both of them.

[kore]

Those books sound great!

I need to catch up on Re Dracula, I was a backer so I should get ad-free episodes, but I can't figure out how to make them work.

[troisoiseaux]

Oh no!! I've just been listening to it on Spotify.

[skygiants]

I am so glad you're enjoying Perilous Times :D

[troisoiseaux]

I am so glad you recommended it!

[lunabee34]

I love that: Knights, Assemble! Your enemy: Us! And then they usher in an era of clean energy. :)

[troisoiseaux]

...sort of? skygiants has a great review here.

[lunabee34]

Oh, wow. That sounds like an utterly wild ride. :D