doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion Classic & Custom Single Barreled Sporting Rifles @ doublegunshop.com A Book Thread?

Don't think anyone has mentioned John LeCarre. I watched TINKER, TAILOR, SOLDIER, SPY when it was on PBS 32 years ago and have ended up reading all of LeCarre's work. Cuts to the bone of the spy business so much better than most current spy novels.

I don't think that anyone knows for sure what rifle York used, a 1903 or a 1917.

I started with a "A spy who came in from the Cold" and "A Small town in Germany by LeCarre from then on I read them when I found them.

LeCarre makes me think of Frederick Forsyth The Day of the Jackal, The Dogs of War, The Odessa File and more. I think The Odessa file was one of the first books I read cover to cover without breaks. I like the movie as well. Also the Shepard which Waterman mentions that Forsyth wrote for his wife.

For when you are going through a tough time read The Long Walk by Slavomir Rawicz.

Adam Hall's Quiller series, William Forstchen's Civil-War/Fantasy series.

One of the very best African books IMO is James S. Rand's Run For the Trees.

S.M.Stirling's Draka series is good but his later stuff is somewhat more fantasy-oriented than I like.

Anything by Dick Francis and any of Lawrence Block's later works.

Geoffrey Household's Rogue Male is a classic and many of his other works are also very good. I especially enjoyed his The Adversary, also published as Dance of the Dwarves or similar.

I have read Robinson Crusoe at least 8 times now over the last 55 years.
Regards, Joe

I have read "Run for the Trees" several times and have enjoyed it more each time.I think it is time to do so again.

In a couple of months I will be starting to read for my master's degree. (Even at 58 years old, why not? It's a free perq offered by the college that employs me.) Being a small Liberal Arts school whose curriculum is based upon the Great Works of Western Civilization -sort of a traditional Oxford/Cambridge approach- it's no surprise that I'll be reading the likes of Plato, Aristotle, Locke, Joyce, Ptolemy, Homer, Thucydides, Nietzche, etc., to name but a few. It shall be a grueling but enlightening experience, leaving little time for pleasure reading. (Unless of course I take a day off if/when JLB comes out with a new one! A new one by LeCarre will prompt the same behavior.) Wish me luck, for some (nay, a lot) of this reading is difficult at best.

Gary,
Having only a GED level education I can only imagine the difficuly of what the future reading will bring. Good Luck fore sure!

The most difficult book I have ever read was Stephen Hawking's work. That left my head spinning.

I enjoy John Le Carre but find reading him is a lot of work. I've known a couple of people in the "human intelligence" business, and from what little they've told me of the trade, "The Tailor of Panama," sounds close to the mark of about 80% of "civilian" spy life! (My son, who is in the military end of the trade, says that one big unspoken reason spooks are so close-mouthed is that they don't want anyone to know how much they DON'T know!).

My favorite "spy" novelist is Allan Furst, by far. The one to start with is "The Polish Officer"; unfortunately, it is about as sad a book as you'll ever read. (And then it got even worse for poor Poland....) His latest, "Spies of the Balkans," is also excellent.

Back to MP's comment about Sgt. York. I came across a discussion of Alvin York and what rifle he used somewhere, but I can't recall just where somewhere was. The discussion was that York used a 1917 Enfield because his entire unit was armed (Division? Brigade?) with 1917s. The same discussion said they used 1903s in the Sgt. York movie because everyone "knew" that York must have used a Springfield and because the movie prop house had Springfields.

That seemed a reasonable explanation at the time. I have since used both rifles on the target range (firing from the military prone position) and find I far prefer the 1917. Dig out your copy of Whelen's "The American Rifle" and read what he has to say on pages 126 & 127.

The 1903 vs 1917 question is one I'd like some more info on, as is the question of his use of his 1911 Colt. Even an average-to-poor issue 1911 is fully capable of center body hits at 50 yds and head shots at 25 yds.

I remember reading that A) he used a 1917 because that's what his entire unit was issued and B) he used a 1903 because that's what his entire unit was issued.

As a battle rifle IMO the 1917 is far FAR superior to the 1903 but that's not the question. Details, we want more details....
Regards, Joe