BOND POLLS 2017: 007 Literature Contest, TOP 10 Fleming's Best [RESULTS, WINNER & RUNNER-UP, page 8]

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  • edited September 2015 Posts: 11,119
    33 voters already. And something important has happened today. "OHMSS" took the lead from "FRWL". Until two days ago "FRWL" was constantly in the lead. "OHMSS" now got 9 times the top mark of 12 points, "FRWL" 'only' 5 times. It also seems "CR" and "MR" are having more difficulty to keep up with the no# 1 and # 2. Let's see how things will evolve ;-):
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  • KerimKerim Istanbul Not Constantinople
    Posts: 2,629
    Yay me!
  • Kerim wrote: »
    Yay me!

    Thanks for the votes dear @Kerim ;-)
  • Keep voting guys :-).
  • 12 POINTS: From Russia with Love
    10 POINTS: On Her Majesty's Secret Service
    08 POINTS: You Only Live Twice
    07 POINTS: Casino Royale
    06 POINTS: Goldfinger
    05 POINTS: Thunderball
    04 POINTS: Moonraker
    03 POINTS: Dr. No
    02 POINTS: Live and Let Die
    01 POINT: The Spy Who Loved Me
  • Thanks for the votes buddy. Remember, the deadline for the votes is October 18th!
  • Keep voting guys.
  • Keep voting pls
  • DariusDarius UK
    Posts: 354
    12 Points: On Her Majesty's Secret Service
    10 Points: From Russia With Love
    08 Points: Dr No
    07 Points: Casino Royale
    06 Points: Thunderball
    05 Points: Moonraker
    04 Points: Goldfinger
    03 Points: Quantum of Solace
    02 Points: Live and Let Die
    01 Point: You Only Live Twice
  • Thanks mate! This poll will have such nice results. And I also think it's a nice list for very young Bond fans who never read a Bond novel. So they know which book they should start with first :-).
  • suavejmfsuavejmf Harrogate, North Yorkshire, England
    Posts: 5,131
    Bond fans who've never read Fleming!!! They can't be called Bond fans surely......
  • ThunderfingerThunderfinger Das Boot Hill
    Posts: 45,489
    suavejmf wrote: »
    Bond fans who've never read Fleming!!! They can't be called Bond fans surely......

    Of course they can, but they are like Christians who haven t read the Bible, or Muslims who haven t read the Quran.
  • Posts: 11,119
    Deadline is this Saturday October 18th...
    --> 8:00 pm GMT
    --> 3:00 pm EST
    --> 9:00 pm GMT+1

    So make sure you vote before the deadline!
  • Posts: 11,119
    Only few hours left to vote guys/girls :-)
  • Posts: 11,119
    1.5 hours until the deadline!
  • suavejmfsuavejmf Harrogate, North Yorkshire, England
    Posts: 5,131
    suavejmf wrote: »
    Bond fans who've never read Fleming!!! They can't be called Bond fans surely......

    Of course they can, but they are like Christians who haven t read the Bible, or Muslims who haven t read the Quran.

    Ha ha ha! Brilliant.
  • suavejmfsuavejmf Harrogate, North Yorkshire, England
    Posts: 5,131
    1.5 hours until the deadline!

    Come on Dr No!!!!!!
  • Mark_HazzardMark_Hazzard Classified
    Posts: 127
    This ought to be interesting...
  • suavejmfsuavejmf Harrogate, North Yorkshire, England
    Posts: 5,131
    When's the list being released?
  • SirHilaryBrayOBESirHilaryBrayOBE Chez Hilly, Portsmouth
    Posts: 66
    stupidly late to the party but let me see.

    12... OHMSS
    10... Casino Royale
    8... Moonraker
    7... From Russia With Love
    6... For Your Eyes Only
    5... Dr No
    4... Thunderball
    3...The Spy Who Loved Me
    2... Diamonds Are Forever
    1...You Only Live Twice

    0... TMWTGG
  • DariusDarius UK
    Posts: 354
    http://www.mi6community.com/index.php?p=/discussion/13500/best-ian-fleming-bond-novel#latest

    Since the above thread has now been closed, I may as well place my post here. Call me a spammer if you will, but I feel a bit put out to have spent the best part of an hour putting together a well-considered post just to have it trashed.

    Best Fleming novel...

    I suppose it depends on what one would consider the main criteria for the "best".

    As far as the formulaic approach is concerned, namely: "Bond is given an assignment by M to infiltrate or investigate some shady operation run by a larger than life villain and Bond then brings down said villain while kicking some ass and indulging in some great sex along the way," is concerned, one need look no further than Casino Royale, Live and Let Die, Doctor No, Goldfinger, Thunderball, Moonraker, On Her Majesty's Secret Service and The Man With The Golden Gun. In other words, most of the canon.

    However, the remainder of the novels may be considered experimental novels that seek to break the mould of the novels listed above. In Diamonds Are Forever, Bond is sent on a mission, but he is little more than a detective chasing a smuggling ring. As such, Fleming is seeking to add a large dollop of "detective crime thriller" to the traditional James Bond mix. Maybe Fleming had been reading too many Agatha Christie novels at the time, who knows? What is clear to most latter day critics though, is that Diamonds Are Forever tries to take Bond into areas, such as everyday policing, in which he is clearly uncomfortable and unsuited. If you like detective novels, the Diamonds Are Forever, may well come top of your list of favourite Bond novels, but I have to say that detective fiction has become too much of a formulaic and cliché-riddled genre for this book to be any less than disappointing for me. I'm all for Bond breaking new ground, but forcing him into areas of the mundane doesn't really work for me.

    Then, of course, there's The Spy Who loved Me. This is the novel where Fleming tried desperately to break the mould and the result was a critical failure because by 1962, the fans and critics alike were gagging for their regular dose of Bond, and this novel largely fails to deliver this. Instead, we have what is essentially a mainstream novel about the life and loves of a young woman with Bond dragged in by the scruff of his neck to save the novel's heroine and therefore wreck any significant character development arc that a mainstream novel demands of the book's heroine. Frankly, if Bond had stayed out of this book it would have made a much better and more satisfying novel, although it would not then be a "Bond" novel. Leaving this aside though, the book is well up to Fleming's superlatively high standards of writing and one can't help feeling that if he had written this pseudonymously and left Bond out that it may well have been a much better critical and commercial success than it actually was. As it stands, the book just can't make up its mind what it is

    From Russia With Love is essentially a "formulaic" novel in that Bond is sent on a "trap" mission by M to obtain a decrypting device from the Soviets. However, a goodly portion of the book is told from the main villain's point of view and it is Donovan Grant's wholly entertaining and somewhat chilling backstory that grabs one most about the novel. Not only this, but Bond as a character pales next to the larger than life Darko Kerim, who, along with Grant dominate most of the reader's attention.

    You Only Live Twice is, I think, the best of the Bond novels in which Fleming seeks to break the traditional 007 mould, but here he does this in much more subtle ways in which he manages to imbue the book with a deep thematic core (otherwise all but absent in previous "formulaic" novels), whilst at the same time preserving the Bond that everyone knows and loves. The theme in question is that of death and rebirth. Bond is transformed from the heavily drinking man mourning the premature death of his wife at the beginning of the book to a man of action and then, after the death of Blofeld, becoming Taro Todoroki, the Japanese partner of Kissy Suzuki -- almost literally born into a new life after falling very symbolically into the Sea of Japan and losing his memory. As such, the book gives us the best of both worlds, there's the Bond out on a mission to foil Dr Shatterhand (aka Blofeld)'s evil project and there's also a clearly developed character development arc for Bond -- a factor that is almost entirely absent form previous novels, simply because if always seems to get in the way of the action.

    So take your pick. Out of the formulaic novels, where one can put the mind into neutral and enjoy the action, the sex, the caricatured villains, the exotic travelogues and the two dimensional central character , I would pick O Her Majesty’s Secret Service as my personal favourite as it richly embodies all of the formula elements listed above, it gives Bond a credible character development arc and it richly satirises the theme of snobbery. Out of the so called experimental novels, I think it has to be From Russia With Love winning by a nose because it came first. You only Live Twice is by far the most "literary" novel of the canon and if you prefer that sort of thing, it would easily win.
  • The poll isn't finished yet...I just see :O. Shall we vote a bit more?
  • Posts: 7,537
    Am I too late. in the middle of re-reading them all, since I, shame on me, haven't dipped into them in years, but if memory recalls

    12 points FRWL
    11 points OHMSS
    10 points CR
    9 points MR
    8 points GF
    7 points TMWTGG
    6 points LALD
    5 points DN
    4 points TB (reading now!)
    3 points YOLT
    2 points DAF
    1 point SWLM
    I always liked the short story TLD too
  • SerialHitmanSerialHitman Plotting my revenge
    Posts: 45
    12 POINTS: OHMSS
    10 POINTS: CR
    08 POINTS: MR
    07 POINTS: TB
    06 POINTS: TMWTGG
    05 POINTS: FRWL
    04 POINTS: GF
    03 POINTS: YOLT
    02 POINTS: TSWLM
    01 POINT: TLD
  • TheWizardOfIceTheWizardOfIce 'One of the Internet's more toxic individuals'
    Posts: 9,117
    12 - OHMSS
    10 - MR
    8 - FRWL
    7 - TLD
    6 - CR
    5 - YOLT
    4 - GF
    3 - DN
    2 - OP
    1 - LALD


  • 12 Pts. Moonraker
    10 Pts. You Only Live Twice
    08 Pts. Thunderball
    07 Pts. From Russia With Love
    06 Pts. Live and Let Die
    05 Pts. Casino Royale
    04 Pts. Diamonds Are Forever
    03 Pts. On Her Majesty's Secret Service
    02 Pts. The Hildebrand Rarity
    01 Pt. Octopussy
  • suavejmfsuavejmf Harrogate, North Yorkshire, England
    Posts: 5,131
    12. DN. 10. FRWL. 8. CR 7. TB. 6. OHMSS. 5. LALD. 4. THR 3. OP. 2. FYEO. 1. MR.
  • edited July 2016 Posts: 12,837
    Bump? Haven't read them a while but off the top of my head this would be my top ten

    12- YOLT
    10- TB
    8- OHMSS
    7- GF
    6- MR
    5- CR
    4- FRWL
    3- TLD
    2- TMWTGG
    1- DN

    Diamonds, LALD and TSWLM are the only ones I didn't really think much of though (and even they had their moments), I really enjoy the majority.
  • Posts: 11,119
    Ooowh, I forgot about this! Anyway, keep voting ;-).
  • SeanCraigSeanCraig Germany
    Posts: 732
    I see no more votes but also no closing post ... shall we still vote? I just discovered this thread...
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