Books 28 and 29 were Tinker Tailor Solider Spy and Our Kind Of Traitor by John Le Carre.
Hadn't read these for years. I guess it was prompted by the film. Tinker Tailor is full of gorgeous slices:
"Taking the marble he slowly rolled it round his hard, powdery palm and Roach knew at once that he was very skilful at all sorts of things; that he was the kind of man who lived on terms with tools and objects generally."
"a private Kim’s game to preserve his mind from the atrophy of retirement, just as on other days he learnt the names of the shops along his bus route to the British Museum; just as he knew how many stairs there were to each flight of his own house and which way each of the twelve doors opened"
"She’d been hanging around ever since, cooking nut rissoles and playing the flute"
"‘Sweat them, George. Tempt them, bully them, give them whatever they eat.’"
"he had the battered look of someone just arrived from a bad journey"
"‘George is like a swift,’ Ann had once told Haydon in his hearing. ‘He cuts down his body temperature till it’s the same as the environment. Then he doesn’t lose energy adjusting.’"
And I loved this from Our Kind of Traitor:
"We’re not hired to rock the boat. We’re here to help steer it. We’re a Service.’"