Summer Reading

[Anileve]

I am a big mystery buff, that's my guilty pleasure. Love detective stories, espionage and conspiracies. I want to delve into some light but cerebral and yet fun read for the summer. Can anyone recommend something along those lines or any other recent books that were interesting.

 

What are you reading this summer?

 

 

[vava]

For that kind of 'airport' reading, you could pick up any Michael Creighton novel, or maybe a Harry Bosch novel (by Michael Connelly).... Other recommendations: - Raymond Chandler has some decent murder mysteries, and if you like the cold war type spy thrillers, you can't go wrong with John le Carré. But again all of this is low commitment, easy-to-read, fun stuff Enjoy....

[Arvestaked]

Anything by Dashiell Hammett. I love that guy's stories. And he was a detective so you know you're getting good stuff. For a novel, start with The Thin Man (since you've probably seen the movie version of The Maltese Falcon). You can also get a collection of some of his short stories called Nightmare Town. Great for a fix of mystery-on-the-go.

[Anileve]

Raymond Chandler has some decent murder mysteries, and if you like the cold war type spy thrillers, you can't go wrong with John le Carré. But again all of this is low commitment, easy-to-read, fun stuff Enjoy....

Chandler I found, I am definitely interested. LeCarre is a well respected individual in my world, don't have many of his books in the library unfortunately. But I would like to give Chandler a try.

 

Anything by Dashiell Hammett. I love that guy's stories. And he was a detective so you know you're getting good stuff. For a novel, start with The Thin Man (since you've probably seen the movie version of The Maltese Falcon). You can also get a collection of some of his short stories called Nightmare Town. Great for a fix of mystery-on-the-go.

Of course I know Maletese Falcon! Know and like! Very groovy recommendation.

 

You know I am also thinking if I should just go ahead and go with a gusto for Atlas Shrugged, I gulped down The Fountainhead and I know that I will devour Atlas, but I would also feel sad if I finished it, so I've been putting it off for some time. I absolutely love her writing! I'm not sure if it's worth taking her on vacation with me.

 

I didn't know that either one of you gents like/read mystery. Eve's pleased.

[Anoushik]

What are you reading this summer?

I'm halfway through "Anna Karenina" by Leo Tolstoy. I've been reading Russian literature for some six months now, starting with "Brother's Karamazov" by Dostoyesky, on to Chekhov's "Short Stories", and now "Anna Karenina". I'd read Chekhov before, in high school, but wanted a more mature reading this time.

Edited May 25, 2007 by anoushik

[Shahan Araradian]

I am a big mystery buff, that's my guilty pleasure. Love detective stories, espionage and conspiracies. I want to delve into some light but cerebral and yet fun read for the summer. Can anyone recommend something along those lines or any other recent books that were interesting.

 

What are you reading this summer?

Espionage is also a favorite of mine.

 

I recently read a classic non-fiction book (that reads like a novel) on Israel's Mossad written by the only defector who's gone public with his story. I HIGHLY recommend reading it. It's called "By Way of Deception" and is written by Victor Ostrovsky.

 

Some interesting quotes from the book...

 

“The Mossad has just 30 to 50 case officers, or katsas, operating in the world at any one time... Unlike other countries, Israel can tap the significant and loyal cadre of the worldwide Jewish community outside Israel. This is done through a unique system of sayanim, volunteer Jewish helpers.” - pg. xi

 

“For the first time, Halim began to realize that, in addition to offering him a good time, his new-found friendship could be profitable. For the Mossad, who know that money, sex, and some type of psychological motivation – individually or in combination – can buy almost anything, their man was now really hooked. It was time to get down to some real business, or tachless, with Halim.” - p. 12

 

“Now that he knew Halim had complete confidence in his cover story, Donovan invited the Iraqi to his luxurious hotel suite in Sofitel-Bourbon at 32 run Saint-Dominique. He'd also invited a young hooker, Marie-Claude Magal. After ordering dinner, Donovan told his guest he had to go out on urgent business, leaving a phony telex message behind on a table for Halim to read as confirmation.

“'Listen, I'm sorry about this,' he said. 'But you enjoy yourself, and I'll be in touch.'

“So Halim and the hooker did enjoy themselves. The episode was filmed, not necessarily for blackmail purposes, but just to see what was going on, what Halim would say and do. An Israeli psychiatrist was already poring over every detail of the reports on Halim for clues to the most effective approach to the man. An Israeli nuclear physicist was also on standby should his services be needed. Before too long, they would be.” - p. 13

 

“The jet, temporarily painted with Donovan's company logo, was a Learjet flown in from Israel for the occasion. The Amsterdam office belonged to a wealthy Jewish contractor. Ran didn't want to cross the border with Halim since he'd not be using his phony British passport but his real papers, always the preferred route to avoid possible detection at borders.”

 

“Over dinner, the two men outlined a plan they said they had been working on: trying to sell nuclear power plants to Third World countries – for peaceful purposes, of course.

“'Your plant project would make a perfect model for us to sell to these people,' said Itsik. 'If you could just get us some details, the plans, that sort of thing, we would all stand to make a fortune from this.

'But it has to be kept between us. We don't want Donovan to know about this or he'd want a piece of the action. We've got the contacts and you've got the expertise. We don't really need him.'” - p. 15

 

“...Now they really had him. The promise of untold riches was too much...”

 

“Halim had been officially recruited. And like so many recruits, he wasn't even aware of it.” - p. 15

 

“The drivers of the other two trucks carrying engines from the Dassault Brequet plant for Mirage fighters to a hangar in the French Riviera town of La Seyne-sur-Mer near Toulon on April 5, 1979, thought nothing of it when a third truck joined them along the route.

“In a modern-day twist on the Trojan Horse, the Israelis had hidden a team of five neviot sabateurs and a nuclear physicist, all dressed in regular street clothes, inside a large metal container, slipping them into the security area as part of the three-truck convoy based on information obtained from Halim...” - p. 19

 

“An environmental organization named Groupe des ecologistes francais, unheard of before this incident, claimed credit for the blast, although French police dismissed the claim...

“Others accused the Mossad, but an Israeli government official dismissed the accusation as 'anti-Semitism.'” - p. 20

 

“It was on June 7, 1981, at 4 p.m. on a bright, sunny Sunday, that a group of two dozen U.S.-built F-15s and F-16s took off from Beersheba, on a treacherous 90-minute, 650-mile journey across hostil countries to Tuwaitha, just outside Baghdad, intent on blasting the Iraqi nuclear plant.

“Accompanying them was what looked like an Aer Lingus commercial carrier, but in truth was as Israeli Boeing 707 refueling aircraft. The fighters kept in close formation, with the Boeing flying directly underneath, to make it appear as if there was only one aircraft, a civilian plane on a civilian route...”- p. 26

 

“Damien Chassepied, a French technician who had been recruited by Mossad, was asked to deposit a briefcase containing a homing device inside the building. For reasons unknown, Chassepied lingered inside and became the only human casualty of the extraordinary assault.” - p. 27

 

--

 

“'We've pulled your name out of a computer,' the man said. 'You fit our criteria. We know you're already serving your country, but there's a way you can serve it better. Are you interested?'

“'Well, yes, I'm interested. But what's involved?'

“'A series of tests first, to see if you're suitable. We'll call you.'” - p. 33

 

“'See that balcony on the third floor over there? I want you to stand here for three minutes and think. Then I want you to go to that building and within six minutes, I want to see you standing out on the balcony with the owner or tenant, and I want you holding a glass of water.'” - p. 40

 

“Although they wanted fairly spontaneous actions, the instructors also wanted each of use to have a basic plan of action rather than an enactment of the Arabic expression, 'Ala bab Allah,' or “Whatever will be, will be; let's just leave it to Allah.'” - p. 40

 

“Amy Yaar made the connection [in Sri Lanka] then tied the country in militarily by supplying it with substantial equipment, including PT boats for coastal patrol. At the same time, Yaar and company were supplying the warring Tamils with anti-PT boat equipment to use in fighting the government forces. The Israelis also trained elite forces for both sides, without either side knowing about the other, and helped Sri Lanka cheat the World Bank and other investors out of millions of dollars to pay for all the arms they were buying from them.” - p. 68

 

“When I visited the factory as a trainee, I saw a large batch of blank Canadian passports. They must have been stolen. It looked like an entire shipment. There were over 1,000 of them. I don't think the shipment was ever reported missing – not in the media, anyway.” - p.75

 

“Israel is a nation of warriors, which means that direct contact with the enemy is considered the most honorable approach to take. That makes the Mossad the ultimate Israeli status symbol.” - p. 83

 

“Sayanim – assistants – must be 100 percent Jewish. They live abroad, and though they are not Israeli citizens, many are reached though their relatives in Israel...

“There are thousands of sayanim around the world. In London alone, there are about 2,000 who are active, and another 5,000 on the list. They fulfill many different roles. A car sayan, for example, running a rental agency, could help the Mossad rent a car without having to complete the usual documentation. An apartment sayan would find accommodation without raising suspicions, a bank sayan could get you money if you needed it in the middle of the night, a doctor would treat a bullet wound without reporting it to the police, and so on. The idea is to have a pool of people available when needed who can provide services but will keep quiet about them out of loyalty to the cause. They are paid only costs. Often the loyalty of the sayanim is abused by katsas who take advantage of the available help for their own personal use. There is no way for the sayan to check this.” - p. 86-87

 

“The one problem with the system is that the Mossad does not seem to care how devastating it could be to the status of the Jewish people in the diaspora if it was known.” - p. 87

 

“The trick of making the initial contact is to make it appear so natural that if the subject looks back at it, nothing seems odd. ... But before you ever approached him in that Paris bistro, you would have turned his file inside out, discovered everything you could about his likes and dislikes, and also about his schedule for that night – as much as you could do to remove the element of chance and, therefore, risk.” - p. 93

 

“The Mossad had package companies ready on a shelf, complete shell companies with an address, a registered number, just waiting to come to life. They even kept some money in these companies, enough to file tax returns and avoid raising suspicions. They had hundreds of such companies around the world.” - p. 93-94

 

“The idea of recruitment is like rolling a rock down a hill. We used the word ledarder, meaning to stand on top of a hill and push a boulder down. That's how you recruit. You take somebody and get him gradually to so something illegal or immoral. You push him down the hill. But if he's on a pedestal, he's not going to help you. You can't use him. The whole purpose is to use people. But in order to use them, you have to mold them. If you have a guy who doesn't drink, doesn't want sex, doesn't need money, has no political problems, and is happy with life, you can't recruit him. What you're doing is working with traitors. An agent is a traitor, no matter how much he rationalizes it. You're dealing with the worst kind of person. We used to say we didn't blackmail people. We didn't have to. We manipulated them.

“Nobody said it was a pretty business.” - p. 98

 

“There was one simple question asked when anything happened: 'Is it good for the Jews or not?' Forget about policies, or anything else. That was the only thing that counted, and depending on the answer, people were called anti-Semites, whether deservedly or not.” - p. 122

Edited May 27, 2007 by Shahan Araradian

[nairi]

I am a big mystery buff, that's my guilty pleasure. Love detective stories, espionage and conspiracies. I want to delve into some light but cerebral and yet fun read for the summer. Can anyone recommend something along those lines or any other recent books that were interesting.

 

What are you reading this summer?

 

How about Sherlock Holmes? You've probably already read that, but isn't it worth re-reading?

 

Another one of my favorites is Joseph Conrad's The Secret Agent.

[Maral]

I love reading any time but especially in the summer,I should take it up again...

 

have any of you been in a bookclub?

[Shahan Araradian]

This isn't a new book, but... Another one of my top favorite espionage books is by our very own Arshavir Shiragian, one of the Armenian agents involved in Operation Nemesis in the 1920s. It is called "The Legacy" and published in 1976 by Hairenik Press, Boston.

 

Though non-fiction, the book reads like a novel.

 

Some quotes...

 

"I had studied the map of Rome carefully, and when I got off at the Termini Plaza, the city seemed like an old friend... The Allies seemed not only to have forgotten the Armenians but seemed also to be competing with each other in offering protection to the exiled Ittihad leaders. I wondered if M. had finally located a few of them..." - p. 81

 

"I tried to work as methodically as possible. We had pictures of the top ten and we studied them in our spare time. Every night I would stare at these pictures before I fell asleep so that the faces would be engraved on my mind."

 

"We kept up our daily routine, wandering from cafe to cafe, listening for Turkish conversation. I was particularly fond of dropping into a cafe near the Villa Borghese. This cafe was used by an old Turk who would sit there by the hour speaking to his compatriots about the news of the day and about the other Turks in Europe. I got valuable bits of information from his conversations. Although I tried to get close to him without making him suspicious, once he turned to me and said in Turkish, 'My boy, is there anybody else here who knows Turkish but you?'" - p. 89

 

"In place of M., Shahan Natali was to work with me. Hratch Papazian was already in Berlin under the Turkish name of Mehmed Ali and had managed to become very friendly with the leading Turks. In fact, he was as close as a brother to one of the sons of an important Turk. Aram could pass into Berlin at any time from Vienna. Arshag Yezdanian would come to Berlin too, and there would be still another comrade, whome I knew only by name. 'There will be six of you,' said Comrade Vahan Navassartian. 'You can accomplish a big job. Go and avenge the murder of one and a half million Armenians.'" -p. 132

 

"There are many ways to serve in resistance and revolutionary movements. One can be an editor, a propagandist, even a poet. Why had Shahan [Natali], a small man with prematurely greying hair, thrown himself into the difficult and dangerous career of pursuit and assassination? It was surprising until I learned that he had accompanied Solomon Tehlirian to Berlin in pursuit of Taleat *****..."

 

"On the night of March 14, 1922, my comrades and I had another conference and decided to hold to our original plan: to deal with all the Turks at once. This would include Djemal and Enver *****s, Djemal Azmi *****, Dr. Behaeddin Shakir, former police chief Bedri Bey, Djevdet, and others. Hratch and the mysterious Seto would be able to tell us when these Turks would be gathered in a group. We would decide the hour on the basis of their information." - p. 150

Edited May 27, 2007 by Shahan Araradian

[Emil]

Since you like detective stories, pick up any Michael Connelly or Robert Crais novel, excellent reading.