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Give us the short list of your favourite Bond novels/collections.
chrisisall
Brosnan Defender Of The Realm
Mine:
#1 Moonraker
#2 Dr. No
#3 Casino Royale
#4 For Your Eyes Only
#5 Octopussy & The Living Daylights
#6 Colonal Sun
#1 Moonraker
#2 Dr. No
#3 Casino Royale
#4 For Your Eyes Only
#5 Octopussy & The Living Daylights
#6 Colonal Sun
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Comments
2. Moonraker
3. Doctor No
4. Thunderball
5. Colonel Sun
6. For Special Services
7. Goldfinger
Our first three are there. Cool.
Been years, even decades since I read some of them. I liked Colonel Sun and For Special Services when I was a kid so I thought they deserved a place on this list.
1. Moonraker
2. You Only Live Twice
3. Thunderball
4. Live and Let Die
5. From Russia With Love
Short stories:
1. The Living Daylights
2. The Hildebrand Rarity
3. Risico
Gardner:
1. No Deals, Mr. Bond
2. Win, Lose or Die
3. Icebreaker
4. For Special Services
5. Brokenclaw
Miscellaneous:
1. Solo
2. Colonel Sun
3. James Bond, The Spy Who Loved Me
Impressed by what I've read and need to read more:
1. John Pearson (only read The Life of Ian Fleming)
2. Charlie Higson (only started SilverFin)
3. Kate Westbrook (only started The Moneypenny Diaries)
Credit for trying:
1. Tomorrow Never Dies
2. The Facts of Death
3. Zero Minus Ten
Underrated Fleming:
1. Diamonds Are Forever
2. Dr. No
3. The Spy Who Loved Me
CASINO ROYALE
MOONRAKER
FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE
DOCTOR NO
ON HER MAJESTY'S SECRET SERVICE
YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE
both Short Story Collections
Still Pretty Great
LIVE AND LET DIE
THUNDERBALL
THE SPY WHO LOVED ME
THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN GUN
Not Quite Up To Par, But Still Some Excellent Fleming To Be Found Within
DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER
GOLDFINGER
Nearly As Good
COLONEL SUN
JAMES BOND, THE SPY WHO LOVED ME
JAMES BOND AND MOONRAKER
I Enjoy Quite A Bit
SOLO
- Moonraker
- Casino Royale
- OHMSS
I have trouble putting them in order after that but TSWLM, Thunderball, Dr No and Goldfinger are probably next favourites.1. On Her Majesty’s Secret Service
2. Dr. No
3. Moonraker
4. You Only Live Twice
5. The Spy Who Loved Me
6. Live and Let Die
7. From Russia with Love
8. Casino Royale
9. Thunderball
10. Goldfinger
11. The Man with the Golden Gun
12. Diamonds Are Forever
Top 3 are basically interchangeable, which I considered the most flat-out entertaining Bond stories; I feel like if one isn’t going chronologically, MR is a perfect first Bond novel to read. YOLT and TSWLM were two of the most different but also most enjoyable for me. Found LALD super entertaining, FRWL and CR are both classics as well, though I love them slightly less than my top few.
I would say there’s a line there after 8 in quality a bit. TB, GF, TMWTGG, and DAF are all still very good, but I found the pacing in these to be not quite as great. Now that I got my wish in much of YOLT being mined in NTTD, I hope the few left like MR, TSWLM, TMWTGG, and DAF get explored a bit more in future movies. As for short stories:
1. For Your Eyes Only
2. Risico
3. The Hildebrand Rarity
4. The Living Daylights
5. Quantum of Solace
6. Octopussy
7. From a View to a Kill
8. The Property of a Lady
9. 007 in New York
All great really, though the last two didn’t stick with me near as much as the others. Really hoping they use up those final four Fleming titles and dig more into his chapter names for film titles in the future.
OHMSS
FRWL
DN
TMWTGG (I can’t help but love this under-baked novel)
James Bond: The Authorized Biography of 007
1 From Russia With Love
2 Moonraker
3 Live and Let Die
4 Casino Royale
5 Dr No
5 Goldfinger
6 Diamonds are Forever
I'll do a full ranking when I've finished them all.
1. Casino Royale
2. Moonraker
3. On Her Majesty's Secret Service
4. From Russia with Love
5. The Man with the Golden Gun
Gardner:
1. The Man from Barbarossa
2. Icebreaker
3. No Deals, Mr. Bond
Horowitz:
1. Forever and a Day
2. Trigger Mortis
Miscellaneous:
1. Solo
2. Colonel Sun
3. James Bond, The Spy Who Loved Me
4. Carte Blanche
5. Devil May Care
I read Carte Blanche recently and found myself enjoying it more than I expected.
One thing I'm doing with my Fleming re-read is reading a few other books in between each one. I did a 'Flemingathon' about fifteen years ago when I read one after another and it was a mistake. The stories blended into each other and I was expecting the characters of a previous novel to appear again. I think a few weeks at least between each book is needed, to let the stories breath, and work as individual stories.
I'm surprised this time round, of how much previous adventures and situations are referenced in the books. Just little nods here and there, a mention of Vespa, or a memory of a previous visit somewhere. Fleming obviously took his Bond universe seriously.
Moonraker
Thunderball
The Living Daylights
Goldfinger
Folio Society Collection