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That said, if we are throwing out favorites, they are somewhat spread out for me. Dr.No, From Russia, OHMSS, Thunderball.
Overall the 50's books are better as a whole, particularly MR and Dr.No, but my 2 favourites belong in the 60's....if that makes any sense?
I'd say the 50's are the best, but both Majesty's and YOLT are among my top three Fleming.
But I think Fleming s writing was better in the 1950s. Along with the debut novel, my favourite Bond books are FRWL, DN, GF. What a stretch! When reading a novel, I enjoy being surprised by a sentence, seeing an expression I would not have thought of myself. Fleming s language was just more exciting in the 50s, so that trumps it for me. And it is not like the stories were bad either, they were great.
Oh and TSWLM is underrated.
Much like the films I think there is something in every single book that adds to the canon. I'm quite a fan of reading YOLT and TMWTGG back to back. I always secretly hoped the DC era would end this bleakly, but can't see them going down that route anymore.
Agreed entirely.
Seconded.
But anyway, basically, Ian Fleming made the perfect genre novels in the 50s, he knew its tropes, its themes, its commonplaces and used them perfectly. In the 60s, he played with them and turned the genre on its head. YOLT is a novel about exoticism and a nightmarish journey to Hell and back for Bond. Bond does Dante, in a way. OHMSS is a rewrite of Dracula and also prophetic. TB may be the most conventional of his 60s novels, but even then he gives us the puritan Blofeld, the villain completely antithetic to the hero and he creates a trope that will be used in many novels and movies to come (okay, so this was disputed, but nevertheless Blofeld is 100% Fleming). And the chapters set in Shrublands are absolutely daring: you put your action hero in the most mundane, unexotic setting, then you have him play a game of cat and mouse against an adversary with whom Bond has to remain on speaking term, hiding both his and his enemies' true nature. TSWLM shows us the adventure of a Bond girl where Bond is a secondary character and is also a neat hardboiled crime novel in its own right. True brilliance.
It's impossible for me to rank them.
Originally I read them willy nilly as I managed to get my adolescent paws on them
But if I must, I think my favorites are the '50s books when all was new and fresh.
LALD is probably my favorite. Here Fleming introduces the much loved Bond-on-mission format.
FRWL DN rank 2 and 3 I guess.
Domino is my favourite book Bond Girl, and I find Fleming and Bond to be at their humorous glib best in GF and YOLT.
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)
3 from the 50's vs 2 from the 60's.
I've been listening to LALD on audiobook read by Rory Kinnear. It's a cracker with more depth than some give credit for. Kinnear does a good Bond but struggles with American accents apart from, inexplicably, Harlem patois; the most challenging part of any in the books.
M briefing a classic too.
A good double header for sure.
The movie kind of riffed on Bond's visit and of course elevated Tee Hee's status.
I like the way the film just kind of homaged the book, borrowing bits here and there, following the basic narrative, but creating a new story around the characters and general scenario.
Fleming wrote his second novel in advance of the publication of Casino Royale too, so that if the reviews were bad he would not be disheartened enough not to write a second Bond novel.
There goes my hypothesis. But I find the two novels so different, in tone and rythm.
I think the strains started to a show on IF with the last few novels, therefore I thought a more philosophical and personal element was added to TSWLM through TMWTGG.
I couldn't agree more with this synopsis - eloquently put and describes Fleming's evolution perfectly.