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Comments
Personally, I only enjoyed the beginning.
Finished Thunderball earlier. One of Flemings better Bond books. nothing here to complain about.
Next up: The Spy Who Loved Me
That's a fair assessment. It's good, but OHMSS and YOLT are better.
But the best Blofeld.
Picked this up recently on a secondhand book site. And wow! Wood emulates Fleming much better than any other Bond novelist, apart from Markham (Kingsley Amis)
He blends the Fleming Bond with the cinematic one quite seamlessly.
This is very different from the film (No Bond on a Camel in this) especially the first few chapters which are excellent.
Jaws is treated as completely serious and threatening. He even gets a cool backstory, as does Stromberg.
The latter parts are more close to the finished film (Bond and Anya have been winched down to the sub) which is where i'm up to in this so far suprisingly excellent read.
As much as I enjoyed Christopher Lee in the film, I can't help but feel a really hard nosed and obnoxious American villain would have felt more unique. Roy Schieder would have been a fantastic Scaramanga, had they stuck more to the source.
I just bought TSWLM book myself few weeks ago. Havent got around to reading it yet. Looking forward to it!
Hope you enjoy it as much as i have mate.
Needless to say this would have been a much more hard edged Bond film if it was like this book!
I love that casting decision @Roadphill !!
Thanks @peter While I was reading Scaramanga's dialogue, I couldn't help but visualise him in my mind.
It's funny, while reading Casino Royale, at various points I see only Lazenby at the gambling table (when he takes out his cigarette case and lighter for example), at other times I see Connery; still at other times I see Craig (especially with Mathis and Vesper); I saw Dalton once, after Bond tips his chair over, and; sometimes I see a mish-mash of Connery/Craig...
Suffice to say it's been a fun read.
It's strange who the mind's eye conjures up. Roger and Sean are by far my favourite Bonds, but I never see them when I read Fleming. Only ever Lazenby or Brosnan... As you mention Casino Royale, for some reason I always see Robbie Coltrane as Le Chiffre...
Mankiewicz wanted Jack Palance for the role, and I think he would have been terrific--and maybe even a bit scary.
I did remember reading that somewhere. I think EON actually approached him, but alas he wasn't interested..
I just finished Colonel Sun a couple weeks ago. I have to agree with you. The first third of the book was really solid, with the first 3-4 chapters being great. The book slowed to a crawl for me in the middle all the way until the last few chapters. It redeemed itself a bit towards the end, but was still only mildly enjoyable compared to most Fleming endings. Shame because I thought Amis really caught Fleming's style in the early part of the books.
C+ for me overall. Enjoyable and glad I read it (first timer), but with such a banger of a premise, I thought the execution could have been much better.