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I also did not know until looking at Wood's wiki page, that he wrote the Confessions books, which were turned into films of the same name.
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1. Casino Royale
2. Live and Let Die
3. Carte Blanche
His writing is great, from what I saw. After all he worked on the screenplay for TSWLM with Richard Maibam and worked on Moonraker on his own.
EDIT: Sorry for double posting, I just wanted to keep the posts apart as they have little in common. Won't do it again.
1. Casino Royale
2. Live and Let Die
3. Carte Blanche
4. Devil May Care
Confidence is high, I say again, confidence is high.
01. Moonraker - Ian Fleming (1955)
02. On Her Majesty's Secret Service - Ian Fleming (1963)
03. From Russia With Love - Ian Fleming (1957)
04. You Only Live Twice - Ian Fleming (1964)
05. Casino Royale - Ian Fleming (1953)
06. The Living Daylights - Ian Fleming (1966)
07. The Spy Who Loved Me - Christopher Wood (1977)
08. For Your Eyes Only - Ian Fleming (1960)
09. Thunderball - Ian Fleming (1961)
10. Quantum Of Solace - Ian Fleming (1960)
11. Live And Let Die - Ian Fleming (1954)
12. From A View To A Kill - Ian Fleming (1960)
13. Risico - Ian Fleming (1960)
*****14. Moonraker - Christopher Wood (1979)*****
15. Colonel Sun - Robert Markham (1968)
16. The Property Of A Lady - Ian Fleming (1966)
17. The Hilderbrand Rarity - Ian Fleming (1960)
18. Dr No - Ian Fleming (1958)
19. The Spy Who Loved Me - Ian Fleming (1962)
20. Octopussy - Ian Fleming (1966)
21. The Man With The Golden Gun - Ian Fleming (1965)
22. Goldfinger - Ian Fleming (1959)
23. Diamonds Are Forever - Ian Fleming (1956)
24. 007 In New York - Ian Fleming (1966)
Next up: Licence Renewed
WestonMcKay Will Return in
Moonraker
I think after I read "Solo" in the fall, I'll continue reading through the Wood, Gardner, and Benson books. I own them all, but I've only ever read the first two Gardner novels before getting caught up with other reading endeavors.
Rather than make some cheap remark about your copy of Doubleshot being overpriced I'll just be positive and say that I think it has one of the best covers of all the continuation novels, and actually to be fair as far as Benson books go it's one of the more readable ones.
The writing is very good and Bond is a fuller and rounder character than at any point previously. He's also noticeably more relaxed and humorous. After the trick briefcase in FRWL we get some more gadgets (still rare in the novels): the tricked-out Aston Martin DBIII and knives hidden in the heels of Bond's shoes.
Fleming is clearly falling deeper into his alcoholism at this point. The references to bourbon and booze are increasingly frequent.
Interesting reference to Vesper when Bond imagines that he's died and gone to heaven.
The big downsides are:
Tilly Masterson, a ludicrous parody of a lesbian. Fleming's whole attitude to homosexuality is pretty much what you would expect from a middle-aged man writing in the 1950s, for that matter.
The plot absolutely falls to pieces once Bond and Tilly are captured in Geneva - the idea that Goldfinger would choose to employ them (when Tilly has already confessed that she was plotting to kill him) is ridiculous and even Fleming feels the need to lampshade it.
Likewise, Operation Grandslam is a massive stretch.
Pussy decides to switch sides and renounce a lifetime of homosexuality because... well, I'm not really sure. She fancies Bond I suppose. She's easily the weakest Bond girl so far.
Bond is asked, as a favour, to discover how a multi-millionaire is cheating at cards. He succeeds and humiliates the cheat (and wins a large sum of money into the bargain.) The following day he is, co-incidentally, summoned by M to investigate the very same man. It was a stretch of credibility in MR, here it's beyond suspension of disbelief.
My favourite being this one. As Bond and Auric stroll down the wide open expanse of the fairway, Bond enquires innocently of his playing partner, " How's the agoraphobia, Goldfinger?" :))
No response from Auric.
Bond shoots lots of other good zingers at Oddjob too. I think GF is one of Fleming's most outlandish and funniest tales, and jam-packed with the requisite violence and sex.
Fleming delights in insulting both GF and Oddjob. GF is such a miserable SOB, whenever he turns up at the club to play golf, the pro has to go out with him, as the other members find excuses to avoid him. That is funny, as the etiquette at a golf club, is that one happily agrees to be paired up, with whoever the pro might match one up with. It's a gentleman's game.
I don't know that Bond "cures" Pussy of her attractions, but he does bring her over to the other side at least. It's pretty clear Pussy is destined for Sing Sing. This relationship won't be continuing post de-briefing.
Fleming's treatment of OddJob/Koreans is pretty mean, but the book has some great humor and sections. I love the Miami sequence when Bond gets one up on Goldfinger over the earpiece.
How did 007 In New York,The property of a lady and the living daylights come out if he was dead by then?
Yes, go out and buy it second hand. It's worth every penny.
Didnt it influence Die Another Day or something or had something to do with it?
Wilco!
Yes, well it influenced the kidnapping of M in The World is not Enough and the character of Colonel Tan-Sun Moon as the villain, named after Colonel Sun Laing-tan from Colonel Sun. These are the main connections between the novel and the film series.