the Karla Trilogy I think I'm crazy to start with the Karla Trilogy. Not the first time reading an novel in English actually....I've done "the Pillars of the Earth"...then I had the knowledge of the Camino, and longed for Spain....and traveled in Andalucia and gained the enthusiasm to learn Spanish... But the Karla Trilogy by John Lee Carré, prompted my aspire to learn English....(flushed of shame...)...well..I think I´m not so bad that I can read it with the help of the dictionary...It just assured me that, one can feel as well as much through the lines written in the language no so familiar with....well maybe not quite the same as natives of similar culture background. The language there is quite hard to understand with so many slangs and jargons..even the nautical terms!! I ran into a comment on line by an English-speaking reader once, the guy said the writer chose his words so delibrately that almost made him feel like reading a translated novel. I don't know if it's very true but my main reason of reading the English version is that I can't stand the translated Chinese version....imaging....translated from a translated fiction...LOL.. and...my reason of finding any version of book at the first place is the movie Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy(2011). I couldn't tell one character from another, let alone understand the story....and I find some of the characters so adorable after reading the trilogy, but not the anti-hero hero Smiley. The anxious, inward, restless, and sharp, intelligent chubby little man, not adorable at all. Maybe that's just the interesting point. Strangely, I like the Honourable Schoolboy best, the only one hasn't been presented on the screen. It's said on wiki that BBC considered it too expensive to shoot in South East Asia or make the scenery look like it.....The novel is very ambitious to me and quite exotic in a strange way. I've seen some films by 吴宇森 about HK of that period of time. Something of the novel just reminds me of them. Maybe someday I can figure out something about why.....