Need new Author similar vein to John Buchan?

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Originally Posted by Brian Bean

I agree that Le Carre has written some excellent novels around the theme of espionage although I have only read The Spy Who Came in From the Cold and A Small Town in Germany. I thought Maughman's stories were just what espionage was about, especially as it was based on his own experience. Did you know, for example, that they were so accurate that the British Secret service actually recommended they should be read by new recruits........

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It was said at one time that le Carre used his own experiences in MI5/6 as a basis for his stories, too, though I don't know if this was actually the case: he was a civil servant though whether he was one of the Grey Men has not been confirmed, as far as I know.

For adventure and sea faring I'd recommend anything by Jack London: Call of the Wild, White Fang, To Build a Fire, and also The Sea Wolf for a great sea faring story, by far one of my favorites.

So, I'm about 10 pages from finishing Ashenden. Its a quirky book. The first 3/4 is very much about spy work, and is narrated in a very detached 'male' fashion , but starting halfway through and growing in intensity it becomes much more of a human nature drama, more sensitive and emotional.

I like it, but it almost seems to me as if he got bored with being so cold and his heart took over as he wrote the book, making it more classic Maughm as he proceded along.

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Originally Posted by spotty

....it almost seems to me as if he got bored with being so cold and his heart took over as he wrote the book....

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That's an interesting comment, spotty - I felt much the same way about the main character in Of Human Bondage: I really could not feel any sympathy or sense of identification with him until nearing the end of the book when he stops whinging about life and gets stuck into living it and recognises the humanity and needs of others.

Having a serious love for what I dub "Boys' Adventure novels" I wanted to add to this great list -- The Count of Monte Cristo (unabridged--the Buss translation available from Penguin is an easy read) , The Three Musketeers, and The Scarlet Pimpernel. Maybe also some Kipling-Captain's Courageous is so fun!. Oh...and definitely The Hornblower books by CS Forrester. She by Haggard is also good, in addition to the aforementioned King Solomon's Mines.

Oh--and Jack London...of course!

OOoh! Oooh! I just found the coolest lists:
Fiction:
http://artofmanliness.com/2009/06/02...t-one-fiction/

Non-fiction:
http://artofmanliness.com/2009/06/29...venture-books/

Those lists are awesome. You rock!