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Showing posts with the label John Le Carré

Blogging Anniversary - 10 years

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A while ago I checked when I did my first blog post, in order to celebrate with an anniversary post. Well, that day came and went without any reaction from me. Better late than never, so here a reminder of my very first blog post from 24 October 2012.  The book was New Finnish Grammar  by Diego Marani. Marani is an Italian novelist, translator and newspaper columnist. While working as a translator for the European Union he invented a language ‘Europanto’ which is a mixture of languages and based on the common practice of word-borrowing usage of many EU languages. It was a suitable book to start with, being a book about letters, languages and memories. With a beautiful prose, the novel went directly to my heart.  "One night at Trieste in September 1943 a seriously wounded soldier is found on the quay. The doctor, of a newly arrived German hospital ship, Pietri Friari gives the unconscious soldier medical assistance. His new patient has no documents or anything that can ide...

The Night Manager - tv-series

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I have just finished watching The Night Manager . It is based on John Le Carré's spy thriller from 1993. Fantastically adapted for television with great acting by Tom Hiddleston and Hugh Laurie in a different role from what we are used to. Jonathan Pine is a former British soldier, turned night manager in luxury hotels around the world. At one point he gets involved with a woman, the mistress to a wealthy Egyptian. She hands over documents showing that her lover is working with a famous international businessman who deals in arms and drugs under the auspices of selling legal products. The woman is killed for handing over the documents and that changes the path for Pine. He is contacted by a branch of the British intelligence service and enrolled to go undercover to frame Roper. It is partly filmed in Mallorca which I know rather well. Other film locations are Cairo, Zermatt and Turkey, where I have been as well. It is always nice to see places where you have been on film. ...