How many Bond novels have you actually read?

15681011

Comments

  • DB5DB5
    Posts: 408
    Fleming- All the novels and all the short stories
    Amis- Colonel Sun
    Gardner- LR, FSS, IB, NLF, NDMR, WLOD
    Benson- ZMT, TFOD, HTTK, DS, short stories LAF, AMND
    Faulks- DMC
    Deaver- CB
    Boyd- Solo
  • Posts: 4,622
    Completed Boyd's Solo, so the answer is again all of them.

    14 Flemings
    14 Gardners
    6 Bensons
    1 Amis
    1 Pearson
    1 Faulks
    1 Deaver
    1 Boyd
    7 Screenplay novelizations ( 2 Wood, 2 Gardner, 3 Benson)
    5 Young Bond (Higson)
    3 MP Diaries (Weinberg)

    54 total. 11 authors.

    on deck Another Young Bond. This time by Stephen Cole.
  • DragonpolDragonpol https://thebondologistblog.blogspot.com
    edited December 2013 Posts: 18,264
    timmer wrote:
    Completed Boyd's Solo, so the answer is again all of them.

    14 Flemings
    14 Gardners
    6 Bensons
    1 Amis
    1 Pearson
    1 Faulks
    1 Deaver
    1 Boyd
    7 Screenplay novelizations ( 2 Wood, 2 Gardner, 3 Benson)
    5 Young Bond (Higson)
    3 MP Diaries (Weinberg)

    54 total. 11 authors.

    on deck Another Young Bond. This time by Stephen Cole.

    That's really very impressive, @timmer!
    I wonder how that "natural affinity" would have fared if Fleming had lived to see the rise of the Black Power movement in the US? I think the film version of LALD gives us some indication...

    If you read the later thrillers of Dennis Wheatley into the late 1960s and early 1970s you will actually see that he deals with the rise of Black Power as a form of villainy, so that might be an example of what Fleming might have done had he lived into this era and not died too young in 1964.
  • DB5DB5
    Posts: 408
    timmer wrote:
    Completed Boyd's Solo, so the answer is again all of them.

    14 Flemings
    14 Gardners
    6 Bensons
    1 Amis
    1 Pearson
    1 Faulks
    1 Deaver
    1 Boyd
    7 Screenplay novelizations ( 2 Wood, 2 Gardner, 3 Benson)
    5 Young Bond (Higson)
    3 MP Diaries (Weinberg)

    54 total. 11 authors.

    on deck Another Young Bond. This time by Stephen Cole.

    Wow Timmer, that's quite an accomplishment!

    Does that include all three of Benson's short stories?

  • edited December 2013 Posts: 4,622
    DB5 wrote:
    timmer wrote:
    Completed Boyd's Solo, so the answer is again all of them.

    14 Flemings
    14 Gardners
    6 Bensons
    1 Amis
    1 Pearson
    1 Faulks
    1 Deaver
    1 Boyd
    7 Screenplay novelizations ( 2 Wood, 2 Gardner, 3 Benson)
    5 Young Bond (Higson)
    3 MP Diaries (Weinberg)

    54 total. 11 authors.

    on deck Another Young Bond. This time by Stephen Cole.

    Wow Timmer, that's quite an accomplishment!

    Does that include all three of Benson's short stories?
    Staying on top of the literary Bond hasn't been too difficult, as I've picked up everything from Pearson forward (mid '70s) as they were published.

    Re short stories; no I am only including the original published novels and Fleming short story collections. 54 total books.
    The Benson and Weinberg MPD short stories were originally published scattershort in various periodicals.
    I am embarassed to say, that I have only read one of the Benson short stories and none of the 3 Weinberg MPD shorts.
    I did pick-up the Playboy magazine in which the first of Benson's short stories was originally published, but wasn't able to keep pace after that.
    However Benson has been kind enough to make the short stories available in a couple of omibus collections of his novels. So they have been available in paperback for a while.
    I've been too cheap to buy though, as I have a natural aversion to repurchasing material that I already have, just because there'a a couple of extras added. Like buying an artist's deluxe edition cd after already having forked out for the original.
    However I may break down with the Benson omnibuses, as I do want to read those stories.
    Meantime Higson's Young Bond short story is available in the Young Bond Dossier which I did pick up, and even Fleming's "007 in New York" short, has been availalbe in more recent OP collections.

    I am also proud to say I own the complete 54 book collection above, including all paperbacks but for MP Diaires:Final Fling which I only have in HC and Solo which isn't out yet.
    I also have 10/14 Gardner HC's 2/6 Benson HC's, all 5 Young Bond HC's, 1/3 MPD hardcovers, plus Faulks, Deaver and Boyd HC's.


    Someday I will put the whole collection on ebay, for some new Bond fan that wants to read the whole ouevre. Better than leaving book collections to heirs who have no interest in them and might break them up.
  • edited December 2013 Posts: 9,843
    All of Fleming Benson Faulks and Deaver about half of Gardner and Amis.
  • ThunderfingerThunderfinger Das Boot Hill
    Posts: 45,489
    All of Fleming, all great.
    James Bond-The Spy Who Loved Me by Wood. Even better than the film, and emulating the Fleming style surprisingly well.
    The first three by Gardner. I enjoyed the first initially, but had not read much of Fleming at the time. Now I find all three to be abysmal, there is a reason why I gave up on Gardner after that, but if anyone here feels that he grew as a Bond writer after that, I might give him another shot. The library is rather close from my home.
  • All of Fleming and Colonel Sun. I have Solo too, just haven't read it yet.
  • Read all the Flemings except TMWTGG and FYEO. Haven't read any of the Gardners, but I did read Devil May Care
  • 0BradyM0Bondfanatic70BradyM0Bondfanatic7 Quantum Floral Arrangements: "We Have Petals Everywhere"
    Posts: 28,694
    CR, LALD and MR of Fleming as well as DMC and CB for the continuation novels. I hope to revisit Fleming from the start and finish them all, but have no idea when that'll happen.
  • chrisisallchrisisall Brosnan Defender Of The Realm
    Posts: 17,789
    I hope to revisit Fleming from the start and finish them all, but have no idea when that'll happen.
    It's a fun, fascinating, nostalgic & time capsule-like ride. The evolution of Bond's character mirrors the changes in Fleming's life. It's a study in organic writing IMO.
  • 0BradyM0Bondfanatic70BradyM0Bondfanatic7 Quantum Floral Arrangements: "We Have Petals Everywhere"
    Posts: 28,694
    chrisisall wrote:
    I hope to revisit Fleming from the start and finish them all, but have no idea when that'll happen.
    It's a fun, fascinating, nostalgic & time capsule-like ride. The evolution of Bond's character mirrors the changes in Fleming's life. It's a study in organic writing IMO.

    Yeah, that's interesting. I like putting a lot of myself into my own characters when writing, especially if it is spy fiction I am focusing on. You can fantasize about the job without actually committing your life to it, and live out that dream in the muse of your character/s, putting them into situations where you ask yourself ""what would you do?"
  • DragonpolDragonpol https://thebondologistblog.blogspot.com
    Posts: 18,264
    chrisisall wrote:
    I hope to revisit Fleming from the start and finish them all, but have no idea when that'll happen.
    It's a fun, fascinating, nostalgic & time capsule-like ride. The evolution of Bond's character mirrors the changes in Fleming's life. It's a study in organic writing IMO.

    Yeah, that's interesting. I like putting a lot of myself into my own characters when writing, especially if it is spy fiction I am focusing on. You can fantasize about the job without actually committing your life to it, and live out that dream in the muse of your character/s, putting them into situations where you ask yourself ""what would you do?"

    Well, that's exactly what Ian Fleming did in his James Bond novels and short stories. Fleming lives out his own Boys Own-style fantasies and daydreams with James Bond as his surrogate hero. There's a lot of wish-fulfillment in the James Bond novels, and this is down to the fact that Fleming invested so much of himself in them, perhaps even subconsciously.
  • edited December 2013 Posts: 4,622
    chrisisall wrote:
    It's a fun, fascinating, nostalgic & time capsule-like ride. The evolution of Bond's character mirrors the changes in Fleming's life. It's a study in organic writing IMO.
    Yes get on this @brady. Chop Chop. These are the greatest reads of your life. They are the only books I read more than once, other than a handful of Destroyer novels that I particularly enjoyed and I guess a few others such as Puzo's Godfather and Plato's Republic.
    The Bond continuation novels, as good and Bondian as some of them are, don't even remotely compare IMO to the classic Fleming originals.
    Fleming is special. It's like treasure - a whole different world - the classic literary roots of a global phenomenon. The books are so eminently readable. I read the whole 14 all over again last year. I am going to do it again next year too. There is nothing better!!!

  • timmer wrote:
    The Bond continuation novels, as good and Bondian as some of them are, don't even remotely compare IMO to the classic Fleming originals.

    Controversial, but I thought Colonel Sun was better than a couple of the Fleming books.
  • DragonpolDragonpol https://thebondologistblog.blogspot.com
    Posts: 18,264
    timmer wrote:
    The Bond continuation novels, as good and Bondian as some of them are, don't even remotely compare IMO to the classic Fleming originals.

    Controversial, but I thought Colonel Sun was better than a couple of the Fleming books.

    I think that that's quite a commonly held opinion, though I don't hold it myself.
  • Posts: 15,106
    I have read all the Fleming ones and years ago, the novelization of TSWLM. Not really interested about the other writers, although I have Carte Blanche which I will read eventually. For me, they are writing fan fiction.
  • DragonpolDragonpol https://thebondologistblog.blogspot.com
    Posts: 18,264
    Ludovico wrote:
    I have read all the Fleming ones and years ago, the novelization of TSWLM. Not really interested about the other writers, although I have Carte Blanche which I will read eventually. For me, they are writing fan fiction.

    You really need to check out John Gardner, too, @Ludovico. He was a long established thriller writer, not a fanboy. He's the longest standing Bond continuation author, too, so that should count for something.
  • WalecsWalecs On Her Majesty's Secret Service
    edited January 2014 Posts: 3,157
    As of now I've read all Fleming's, every novelization (except GoldenEye), Devil May Care, Carte Blanche, and Solo.

    Gonna start Licence Revoked when I've finished reading The November Man series.
  • edited January 2014 Posts: 4,622
    Dragonpol wrote:
    You really need to check out John Gardner, too, @Ludovico. He was a long established thriller writer, not a fanboy. He's the longest standing Bond continuation author, too, so that should count for something.
    Yes Gardner's original books, all 14 of them, are jolly good reads. He managed to create a contemporay '80-'90s Bondverse of his own, populated by a fresh band of evil masterminds, criminal organizations and alluring women. Good job.
    I do plan to to re-visit the entire canon at some point, much the way I have done with occasional Flemingathons.

  • So far I have read all of Fleming's novels and the Robert Markham (Kingsley Amis) adventure. It is my intention to embark on Gardner's tales next.
  • All of the Fleming novels.
  • JB007LTK wrote:
    Wait a Minute.
    The NOVELS are not really any good.
    THE MOVIES are what got Ian Fleming a Mansion in Bahama Islands.
    It's called a SCREEN PLAY.
    If you can take a Novel or Story and make it a MOVIE....THEN you become BOND.
    No one goes to the MOVIES to see a BOOK.

    "You should do your homework..."

    Eve, Skyfall
  • I´m half way through LALD. I really like it!
  • WalecsWalecs On Her Majesty's Secret Service
    Posts: 3,157
    All Fleming's Bond (14), Devil May Care, Carte Blanche, Solo, Christopher Wood and Raymond Benson novelizations (2 + 3), Licence to Kill novelization.
    23 novels
  • Pajan005Pajan005 Stockholm, Sweden
    Posts: 432
    I've only read Goldfinger, but I might read Solo soon.
  • WalecsWalecs On Her Majesty's Secret Service
    Posts: 3,157
    Pajan005 wrote:
    I've only read Goldfinger, but I might read Solo soon.

    Not really a bad novel (I actually enjoyed a lot), but far from the best Bond novel. If you own it, you should read it, but I'd suggest you to start with Fleming novels (especially Casino Royale, From Russia with Love, Doctor No, OHMSS and YOLT, which are my personal favourites) and then read the "continuation novels".
  • Posts: 7,653
    All of them
  • DragonpolDragonpol https://thebondologistblog.blogspot.com
    Posts: 18,264
    SaintMark wrote:
    All of them

    Quite an achievement, that. Well done, sir. =D>
  • MajorDSmytheMajorDSmythe "I tolerate this century, but I don't enjoy it."Moderator
    Posts: 13,978
    All of them except the Benson short stories.
Sign In or Register to comment.