Fog Of Confusion

Bad News

For you to understand the approaching train wreck that is my aging brain, you need only to look at this email exchange between me and a Reader:

Kim,
Thanks for your post about Michael Caine this morning.
Thought I’d add my $0.02, if you don’t mind. One of my favorite movies that he made was “The Eagle Has Landed”.
I wondered if you like it, and if not, why not? I’m not much of a discerning literature or movie connoisseur as you are, but I like to learn. — Tim

Tim,
Love it.  I have the movie AND the novel trilogy.  (Higgins is one of my favorite modern authors, ever since Eye Of The Needle.)

Well, you all know where this is going, right?  Hold on:

Kim,
I haven’t read the novel, thanks for the heads up. I’ll put the trilogy on my reading list. — Tim

Then about ten minutes later, some pieces of Truth came upon me, and I hastily continued:

Tim,
I’m losing my mind.  The author of Eye Of The Needle was Ken Follett, not Jack Higgins.  DOH!!!!
But Higgins did write the trilogy:  Eagle Has Landed, Eagle Has Flown, Night Of The Fox.
Although Follett also wrote a novel called The Fox.
All very confusing to an old man like me.

The latter is not to be confused with D.H. Lawrence’s novella of the same name, nor with the Peter Sellers / Vittorio De Sica movie After The Fox, which featured the luscious Maria Grazia Buccella:

The movie was derived from a play of the same name by Paul  Neil Simon.

Where was I?  Oh, yes.  Anyway:  Jack Higgins wrote The Eagle Has Landed  and its two sequels (a.k.a. the Liam Devlin Trilogy ).

And Ken Follett wrote The Eye Of The Needle and other fine stories.

Everyone got that?  Good.

Now explain the middle bit to me.

10 comments

  1. Eye of the Needle was one of the finest actor portrayals of a character by Donald Sutherland ever. I must have watched that movie a half a dozen times.

    I do miss all the old timers such as LeCarre and even newbies like Martin Cruz Smith where the cold war era needed description.

    Carry on.

  2. The day I catch the SOB that keeps sneaking into my garage to hide whatever it is I need next it’s going to get real western.

    When my executor cleans out my shop he is going to wonder why I had six open tubes of Shoe Goo.

    2. Why did preussenotto have 5 boxes of 1×5/8″ drywall screws that were opened but less than half used?

      1. That one is actually easy.
        I couldn’t tell you how many times I’ve needed ‘something’ , fastener of
        some type, or something that is usually small and packaged in ‘groups
        of several’ – box, blister pack, whatever.
        The solution is spend a LOT of time looking for said item because I KNOW
        I have it/them SOMEWHERE –
        or
        simply go buy more, ANOTHER package, because
        1) they are not expensive
        2) I will have the item(s) FAR sooner than I will EVER find ‘mine’, if at all
        3) keeping my blood pressure ‘in the green ( or at least orange )
        Ever need 6 identical screws, have 5 in your hand and they only come
        in boxes of 100 ??
        THAT type of situation

        1. I own three copies of the Fencer trilogy by K. J. Parker because I wanted to read them again but couldn’t remember which sodding box I’d put them in. Twice.

  3. Agreed the eye of the needle is great, and some other Follets too. But then he started writing unreadable lefty shit (the fall of giants trilogy) which for me cancels out his earlier good stuff.

    Kim I presume you are an admirer of Wilbur Smith?

Comments are closed.