It looks like you're new here. If you want to get involved, click one of these buttons!
^ Back to Top
The MI6 Community is unofficial and in no way associated or linked with EON Productions, MGM, Sony Pictures, Activision or Ian Fleming Publications. Any views expressed on this website are of the individual members and do not necessarily reflect those of the Community owners. Any video or images displayed in topics on MI6 Community are embedded by users from third party sites and as such MI6 Community and its owners take no responsibility for this material.
James Bond News • James Bond Articles • James Bond Magazine
Comments
This is something I've been fighting to get in the films for a long time with no such luck. I think many people don't realise this fact either.
I tried reading GF when I was 12 and was bored and angry, largely because it wasn't like the "real" Bond. I read all of the Fleming books when I was 19 or so and could appreciate them for what they were - incredibly well-written books that aren't necessarily like the films. Bond doesn't always get the girl and can be full of self-doubt. VERY different, especially from the SuperBond! era of the Moore years.
If anyone is unsure of the Fleming books I'd strongly recommend the two short story collections. Very interesting, more down-to-Earth, and gives a good overview of the style of Fleming without having to make it all the way through a novel. I recently re-read the FYEO collection and thought it fantastic.
As for "Bond's small tasks" I don't think they would "bore the audience" and actually show them a side to him that certain people wish to see. It would also be a good way to cut back on all the unnecessary action.
I plan on reading Carte Blanche, For Special Services, Icebreaker, and High Time to Kill next, but I may take a break before that.
Love the Fleming books. All the post-Fleming material I have to say has been short of enthraling, but amusing nonetheless. I actually didn't care for Colonel Sun. Devil May Care and License Renewed were okay, but lacked the imagination and originality of Fleming. Zero Minus Ten had it's moments, but was a pretty mediocre read overall. As such, since arriving to the post-Fleming material I really only read them on occaision when I need my Bond fix.
why don't they make the Gardner and Benson's books into movies?
Could that be. Hard to believe that I hadn't read any before Casino Royale started filming. I think I thought ; "Heck! They've started filming the first novel. I might as well start reading the novels in original order. Which I pretty much did after that
Tip: don't miss the Moneypenny Diaries series. Outstanding.
they are boring ?
That's what I get for reading a Bond book and watching a Connery Bond film in too small a space of time. Thanks for the correction. I'll fix it. Evil, similar S words.....
Same thing with Bond. Only Fleming. However, in this case I have given some of the other guys a try, Gardner and Benson more specifically. And guess what, they're no Ian Fleming. I just can't cope with the drop in quality. Reading Fleming is like dining at the best restaurants in Paris. Reading Bond material from anyone else feels like getting a kids' meal at McDonalds.
Even from reading just this fraction of his work, I can still see endless options to include his material in the movies. It's not all dried up, like I had heard from script writers/producers before reading them.
What is most interesting to me is just how different the Bond of the books is from what people *think* Bond is like. He's philosophical, romantic, and even poetic. He isn't the super-confident hero or lady-killer from many of the films and has, at times, a very casual way of talking to people (Craig comes closest to capturing this IMHO, Moore is the furthest away). Interesting to picture any of the cinematic Bonds clutching the arms of his chair in fear when he hears M tell him that he's going away on a dangerous mission!
Although the some of the films (such as FRWL) have hewn very close to the plot of the source novel the *character* of Bond has always been quite removed from the one in the books...
The books have plenty of camp elements and outrageous plots, the first few 60's films are the closet adaptations of the novels but the character himself always seemed like somwhere between Connery and Moore and by that I don't mean Brosnan.
As much as I like Timothy Dalton, I think LTK is one of the best films in the series, I'm not sure playing it dead straight and intense is neccesarily capturing Fleming's Bond.
Moore is furthest away from it, and Brosnan only gets anywhere near it by drinking martinis and having black hair. Walking around acting all swarve and confident is not enough, but the scripts really didn't help him.
Going back to the original question, I have read all the Fleming books 10 years ago when I was 17 and am now reading them again. I am 3/4 into Live and Let Die, they seem even better this time around now I am older. When I am through reading the Fleming novels I will go onto the non-Fleming ones for the first time in the correct order. Although I will not bother with Carte Blanche as I have read reviews online and it seems an insult to Fleming and the Bond character. It seems the books have now become just like the films, Bond only in name and thats it. So the Fleming-esque Bond is resigned to the past.
I'm just glad there is still material I have not read that retains the original character (or so I have heard) and can look forward to reading.
Only ones I read years ago. I liked FRWL best.
The Kingley Amis novel,
all of John Gardner's novels and novelisations,
all of Raymond Benson's novels and novelisations ,
Sebastian Faulk's novel,
Jeffery Deaver's novel.
John Pearson's book (not a Bond novel)
All the Young Bond books.
Christopher Wood's The Spy Who Loved Me/Moonraker novelisations
the spoofs-"Bond Strikes Camp" "Alligator" "Your Deal, Mr Bond" "Bondom"
"Doctor No will see you now" "The Girl With The Golden Bouffant" ""Kiss the Girls And Make Them Spy"
and Agatha Christie's "The Listerdale Mystery" which has a character called......