John le Carre biography by Sissman

the biography truly conveys the real character of Cornwall, his real life and his writing

he is boring, his world view is surprisingly naive, ( took him 30 years to find out sometimes witnesses and sources lie!), he has sympathy but no empathy, not patriotic or social ( he thought he shouldn't have to pay taxes just because he doesn't want to ) , can't write women, but he can write a good "what happens" next book, people would send him ideas for his books , his spy stories are as accurate as james bond books but are less fun and more respected because he doesn't/can't write erotica

after I read a le Carre I do not know more about the world or human nature, they are what Greene would call entertainments

i respect he did the sit down work and the structure is often technically very good.

I did like The Spy Who Came in From the Cold and The Constant Gardener movies, I think sometimes the movies are better than the books. Burton made that movie, it would have been awful without him ( yet Carre hated him and the performance ) just like Fiennes made the Gardner movie.

3 hobbits for biography ( it was way too long )