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Better Than Friday - 136 (Patreon)

Published:
2022-03-26 03:42:55
Edited:
2022-03-26 03:43:23
Imported:
2026-09
Tags:

Content

Happy Vernal Equinox week everyone, hope you’re well and having some nicer weather. 

Have a great weekend. 

1. Our Man in Havana by Graham Greene 

Found this via the instagram of @trentryansmith who posts some great stuff. 

Given that I'm currently reading Patricia Highsmith and Graham Greene was a fan of hers, it seems like a logical move to pick this up soon. I haven't read Greene yet. 

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MI6’s man in Havana is Wormold, a former vacuum-cleaner salesman turned reluctant secret agent out of economic necessity. To keep his job, he files bogus reports based on Charles Lamb’s Tales from Shakespeare and dreams up military installations from vacuum-cleaner designs. Then his stories start coming disturbingly true… First published in 1959 against the backdrop of the Cold War, Our Man in Havana remains one of Graham Greene’s most widely read novels. It is an espionage thriller, a penetrating character study, and a political satire of government intelligence that still resonates today. This Penguin Classics edition features an introduction by Christopher Hitchens.

- Amazon

2. Infinity Land Press Artaud Podcast

A discussion about the last book of Antonin Artaud, 'A Sinister Assassin', recently out from Infinity Land Press. 

3. Ray Dalio - The Changing World Order

An impressive, terrifying but educational video describing Dalio’s theory about where the USA is at as a world power.

4. Patricia Highsmith Interview

I’m currently reading “The Talented Mr. Ripley”, and it’s one of the greatest books I’ve ever read.

5. Tricky Haven't listened to this in 1000 years, still sounds great. 

Files

Comments

Gareth Sykes

Glad to hear your reading Graham Greene. I've not read Our Man in Havana but The Quiet American is one of my favourite books. Recently re-read The Talented Mr Ripley, still good and is also one of my favourite books. Mentioning Graham Greene I highly recommend Richard Greene's (no relation) recent biography of Graham Greene - Russian Roulette: the life and times of Graham Greene.

Donald Wright

That was a fascinating interview with Highsmith. I wonder how she felt afterwards—the questions asked were so probing! I recently read Greene's The Third Man, and enjoyed it immensely. It really gave a sense of what it must have been like in postwar Vienna. (And The Power and the Glory gave a frightening picture of life in Mexico in the early decades of the 20th century.) Greene seemed to absorb the atmosphere of the places he'd lived, with his antennae always up. I haven't yet read Our Man in Havana, but hope to.

Jack Walter

Read The Quiet American.

Zero

Will certainly look forward to your thoughts on Highsmith's enduring psychopath (the third entry in that series, 'Ripley's Game', is also a decent read.) Barring a low-budget Barry Pepper vehicle, the cinematic Ripley-verse also ranges from minor-classic (Delon) to watchable (Malkovich). Joining the Patreon commentariat to recommend either 'The Quiet American' or 'The Power and the Glory' as your first Greene. Graham would alternate between more literary novels and efforts he specifically subtitled "an entertainment" to convey their marketable intent; immediately adapted as a popular film following publication, 'Our Man in Havana' is one of the latter (à la 'The Third Man.') Not that 'Our Man' is remotely objectionable -- it's not like every popular Greene novel hasn't been adapted regardless of those distinctions (often twice) -- but I wouldn't personally place it much higher than his top ten on the print side of that equation.

Brock Eldon

I'm a bit biased on Greene with "The Quiet American" (that's the PERFECT Saigon book); but I like all of his work. "The End of the Affair" is actually my favourite, probably. I'd recommend you start with that one.