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Which Bond novel are you currently reading?

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  • echoecho 007 in New York
    edited December 2015 Posts: 6,304
    It would be interesting to read Fleming's stories in order of "creation"--e.g. FAVTAK was the backstory for Drax in MR so you'd read FAVTAK first, then MR.
  • ThunderfingerThunderfinger Das Boot Hill
    Posts: 45,489
    echo wrote: »
    It would be interesting to read Fleming's stories in order of "creation"--e.g. FAVTAK was the backstory for Drax in MR so you'd read FAVTAK first, then MR.

    First time I heard about this? Ages sinc I read the short stories.
  • GettlerGettler USA
    Posts: 326
    echo wrote: »
    It would be interesting to read Fleming's stories in order of "creation"--e.g. FAVTAK was the backstory for Drax in MR so you'd read FAVTAK first, then MR.

    Interestingly enough, I actually read Casino Royale a few years back (loved it), then bought a copy of FYEO short story collection not too long after that, so I did read it before MR lol
  • ThunderfingerThunderfinger Das Boot Hill
    Posts: 45,489
    GOLDFINGER

    That first chapter is among the best things Fleming ever wrote. The whole book is such a blast. We never get inside Bond s head in quite the same way in he other books. Oddjob is an animal. As with Red Grant in FRWL, he is much worse in the book.

    This is a top three Bond book, Fleming was at his peak in the late 50s.
  • echoecho 007 in New York
    Posts: 6,304
    Birdleson wrote: »
    You people are making me want to run the gamut again, though I just did it twice in the last couple of years. Last year several of us on the Originals thread read them all in order and wrote mini-reviews (though the ones by @BeatlesSansEarmuffs, @4everbonded and me turned out to be more than mini), if you care to go back and find them. What I did different last time, and which I strongly suggest others doing, was read the short stories in the OCTOPUSSY collection as they were originally published in magazines (before and after THUNDERBALL) rather than when the collection was issued. It flowed better that way, and thus the whole saga ends appropriately and accurately (both as Fleming intended and thematically) with THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN GUN.

    Interesting. I think Octopussy is underrated. It's one of the most autobiographical things Fleming ever wrote.
  • brinkeguthriebrinkeguthrie Piz Gloria
    Posts: 1,400
    Just got all Flemings and Trigger Mortis on my new Kindle Paperwhite!
  • timmertimmer
    Posts: 4,622
    I want to get my paws on the Young Bond Shoot To Kill.
    It's been out for almost a year, yet it"s still available only in French paperback in Canada.
    Very odd.
  • DragonpolDragonpol https://thebondologistblog.blogspot.com
    Posts: 18,281
    I'm currently re-reading Ian Fleming's last Bond novel The Man with the Golden Gun (1965) as I'm writing something on it.
  • RC7RC7
    Posts: 10,512
    Dragonpol wrote: »
    I'm currently re-reading Ian Fleming's last Bond novel The Man with the Golden Gun (1965) as I'm writing something on it.

    One of my most read Fleming's. A belter for sure.
  • RevelatorRevelator
    edited January 2016 Posts: 2,918
    Dragonpol wrote: »
    I'm currently re-reading Ian Fleming's last Bond novel The Man with the Golden Gun (1965) as I'm writing something on it.

    Dragonpol, would that be the post on "Cruelty" for the "Fleming's 7 Deadlier Sins" series on OO7InVT's site? I'm writing about "Malice" and also taking a look at TMWTGG but I'm sure I won't step on your toes!
  • suavejmfsuavejmf Harrogate, North Yorkshire, England
    Posts: 5,131
    Just finished FRWL for the millionth time or something! I noticed an error in it though. After Darko Kerim kills Krilenko, Bond notes that he had never killed in cold blood and disliked watching someone else do it. Yet in Casino Royale he retells the time he shot a Japanese with a Sniper rifle! Fleming seems to be confused.
  • ThunderfingerThunderfinger Das Boot Hill
    Posts: 45,489
    After Bond earns his double o prefix during the war, he doesn t kill again until a decade or so later, in LALD.
  • suavejmfsuavejmf Harrogate, North Yorkshire, England
    Posts: 5,131
    Yes. But he's still killed in 'cold blood.' FRWL states he has never done this in the line of duty.
  • GettlerGettler USA
    Posts: 326
    Must be an error on Fleming's part then.
  • RevelatorRevelator
    Posts: 2,918
    I think Fleming grew increasingly uncomfortable with the idea of Bond being a government assassin and decided in FRWL that Bond would not kill in cold blood. Perhaps this was done to differentiate Bond from Red Grant, who kills in cold blood and loves it. The problem with Fleming's decision is that Bond's job depends on cold-blooded killing--Bond's inability to straight-up kill Scaramanga in TMWTGG almost costs him his own life.
  • ThunderfingerThunderfinger Das Boot Hill
    Posts: 45,489
    Fleming never nitpicked and read through his entire back catalogue before writing a new book, that is obvious.

    Funny how some want more continuity in the films, when it never was a staples of the book series in the first place.
  • suavejmfsuavejmf Harrogate, North Yorkshire, England
    edited January 2016 Posts: 5,131
    It's forgivable within a film series that's spanned over 50 years. But the novels were direct sequels. The books are still class. I was just confused by the error.
  • ThunderfingerThunderfinger Das Boot Hill
    Posts: 45,489
    Bond s birthyear is another thing that changes throughout the series, and what the 00 prefix means.
  • echoecho 007 in New York
    Posts: 6,304
    Don't you mean the 00 programme? ;)
  • ThunderfingerThunderfinger Das Boot Hill
    Posts: 45,489
    But didn t he earn his 00 status during the war?
  • Lancaster007Lancaster007 Shrublands Health Clinic, England
    Posts: 1,874
    Can you change the thread title to Which Bond novel are you currently reading?, it does my head in every time I look at the title!
  • ThunderfingerThunderfinger Das Boot Hill
    Posts: 45,489
    Then why did he kill a Japanese cipher clerc and a Norwegian double agent, if the war was over?
  • ThunderfingerThunderfinger Das Boot Hill
    Posts: 45,489
    It was also stated in CR that he joined the Secret Service before the war, in 38 I believe, but earned his 00 status later. In the first books it merely meant he had to kill in the line of duty. In later books it was changed into having a licence to kill.
  • ForYourEyesOnlyForYourEyesOnly In the untained cradle of the heavens
    Posts: 1,984
    Reading the novel Moonraker reminds me of just how poor the film was (especially in comparison). But if anything, I enjoyed the movie more, which just speaks for Roger Moore's ability to sell poor writing and story as something entertaining.
  • ThunderfingerThunderfinger Das Boot Hill
    Posts: 45,489
    THUNDERBALL

    I love the beginning of this book where Bond is finally caught up by his addictions. And he is in such denial, he hates M for trying to get him back on track.
  • MrcogginsMrcoggins Following in the footsteps of Quentin Quigley.
    Posts: 3,144
    Casino Royale this new edition from the Folio Society with great new artwork .
    http://www.foliosociety.com/media/press/press-release-casino-royale/
  • suavejmfsuavejmf Harrogate, North Yorkshire, England
    Posts: 5,131
    Going to re-read Devil May Care and see if I still like it.

  • DragonpolDragonpol https://thebondologistblog.blogspot.com
    Posts: 18,281
    I'm currently reading John Gardner's No Deals, Mr Bond (1987) and enjoying it. :)
  • ThunderfingerThunderfinger Das Boot Hill
    Posts: 45,489
    ON HER MAJESTY S SECRET SERVICE

    The first book to start in media res, followed by a recapitulation. Once again, Bond dreams about his childhood.

    I like this one much more than the last one I read, Thunderball. That one started out as an excellent book, but started to drag midway through.
  • RevelatorRevelator
    Posts: 2,918
    Thunderfinger wrote: »
    ON HER MAJESTY S SECRET SERVICE
    The first book to start in media res, followed by a recapitulation.

    Perhaps I misunderstood your post, but Casino Royale and Live and Let Die also start in media res, followed by a recapitulation, and they precede OHMSS.
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