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How many Bond novels have you actually read?

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  • Samuel001Samuel001 Moderator
    Posts: 13,355
    I had no idea that Bond actually did some desk work every now and then.
    :O

    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.
  • 00Beast00Beast
    Posts: 4,762
    It's because they don't want to bore the audience with Bond's small tasks; they want the action to be more dominant than slower scenes, and I guess that's very reasonable. However, some of Bond's more well-rounded, human tasks could be nice for a change of pace.
  • thelordflasheartthelordflasheart
    Posts: 1,370
    It's because they don't want to bore the audience with Bond's small tasks; they want the action to be more dominant than slower scenes, and I guess that's very reasonable. However, some of Bond's more well-rounded, human tasks could be nice for a change of pace.
    What's interesting in the Fleming books is how mundane Bond's job can be at times. Desk work, reading memos about obscure facts that he'll never need to know...interesting stuff but wouldn't translate well to film unless it was for a brief bit of "colour".

    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.

  • 00Beast00Beast
    Posts: 4,762
    Thanks for the advice @thelordflasheart! I'll have to give those short stories a try if I can get a hold of them.
  • Samuel001Samuel001 Moderator
    Posts: 13,355
    I love how in The Hildebrand Rarity, Bond has completed his assignment so spends his time off before his next mission where he already is, in this case the Seychelles and that's the when the story is set. We follow Bond's "time off" that doesn't become that at all. Another thing I'd love in the film series.

    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.
  • namideonamideo
    edited June 2011 Posts: 6
    I've read all the Fleming books, Devil May Care, Colonel Sun, License Renewed, and Zero Minus Ten. 18 books total so far.

    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.

  • j7wildj7wild Suspended
    Posts: 823
    I read all of them: Fleming, Gardner, Benson, Amis including Blast from the Past and Live at Five and the films to books adaptations and also the MoneyPenny diaries

    why don't they make the Gardner and Benson's books into movies?
  • jonhjonh
    Posts: 7
    I got Live and Let Die for 2.50 plus tax was 6 cent B-)
  • SharkBaitSharkBait
    Posts: 2,107
    35 if I counted right. I counted the James Bond -the authorized biography and Young Bond novels (that I've read so far) and one short story collection in my adding.

    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
  • brinkeguthriebrinkeguthrie Piz Gloria
    Posts: 1,400
    I have all the original 60's Fleming paperbacks- they disintegrate a bit each time I open one. I've read all the others but those of course are the standard.

    Tip: don't miss the Moneypenny Diaries series. Outstanding.
  • Smirnoff_PurpleSmirnoff_Purple
    Posts: 110
    I've read all the Fleming novels and short stories and the first four Young Bond novels (having just found out that the last one has been available in the U.S. for over a year, a fact of which I was totally ignorant). I've got but have yet to read The Union Trilogy and Carte Blanche. The latter was picked up at (I believe) a Waterstone's at Heathrow earlier this summer, but I'm afraid, with books needing to be read for the coming school year, it'll end up getting put off until summer of next year. A bit of a wait, but I figure it might be even more enjoyable with Bond 23 right around the corner.
  • do_me_nicelydo_me_nicely Banned
    Posts: 106
    I tryed reading the casino royale but no Bomb Chase .

    they are boring ?
  • 0BradyM0Bondfanatic70BradyM0Bondfanatic7 Quantum Floral Arrangements: "We Have Petals Everywhere"
    edited August 2011 Posts: 28,694
    Casino Royale has plenty of action in it if you would have continued on. You must realize @do_me_nicely that the book is a 50's work and Fleming's style in it is very smart and realistic than some of his later books. Mollaka(and the chase),Carlos, Obanno and Dimitrios along with his Aston are gone from the book. That was added to 2006's CR to make it modern. In the book Le Chiffre is a paymaster to SMERSH while in CR 2006 he is a financier for terrorists. Give CR another read. You won't regret it.
  • Creasy47Creasy47 In Cuba with Natalya.Moderator
    Posts: 40,978
    Fleming's CR, DN, and FRWL. I own another one - can't recall, off the top of my head - that I have yet to read, and I've read DMC and am currently finishing up CB. Went to a local Border's a few days ago, for all of the stores are shutting down and they had some sales going on. Unfortunately, couldn't find any single Fleming novel. Looking to buy some soon.
  • timmertimmer
    Posts: 4,622

    In the book Le Chiffre is a paymaster to SPECTRE while in CR 2006 he is a financier for terrorists. Give CR another read. You won't regret it.
    le Chiffre is a paymaster to SMERSH, but if you've read the book, I know you know the difference. ;-)

  • 0BradyM0Bondfanatic70BradyM0Bondfanatic7 Quantum Floral Arrangements: "We Have Petals Everywhere"
    Posts: 28,694

    In the book Le Chiffre is a paymaster to SPECTRE while in CR 2006 he is a financier for terrorists. Give CR another read. You won't regret it.
    le Chiffre is a paymaster to SMERSH, but if you've read the book, I know you know the difference. ;-)


    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.....
  • CommanderRossCommanderRoss The bottom of a pitch lake in Eastern Trinidad, place called La Brea
    Posts: 8,266
    I read, and re-read all the Flemings. When DMC came out I thought, what the h, I'll try this one, and thought it appalling. Now, after so many here said Carte Blanche was good, I got dissapointed again, but not as bad as DMC. I guess there's no writer currently who can actually make an exciting thriller without using standard tricks.
  • DarthDimiDarthDimi Behind you!Moderator
    Posts: 24,187
    I'm a huge fan of Isaac Asimov. And after finishing his 14+ Robot, Empire and Foundation novels, I decided to give the authorized additions by other authors a try. Eventually, I didn't. Authorized or not, only Asimov can do it right, is what I thought.

    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.
  • DaltonCraig007DaltonCraig007 They say, "Evil prevails when good men fail to act." What they ought to say is, "Evil prevails."
    Posts: 15,718
    It's because they don't want to bore the audience with Bond's small tasks; they want the action to be more dominant than slower scenes, and I guess that's very reasonable. However, some of Bond's more well-rounded, human tasks could be nice for a change of pace.
    I am pretty sure they can pull off Bond's small tasks in a film. If they find the right pace (music, editing...) they can really take 7 minutes of screentime, and have Bond wake up in his apartment, drink coffee, eat scramble eggs, read the newspaper, then ride his Bentley to MI6, write some reports, do some radio-listening, classify his documents, go talk to his PERSONAL secretary, than to go Moneypenny, M and Q. I am sure they can do it right, if only with some thinking and guts... And that would be a killer Bond film !!

  • slyfoxslyfox
    edited August 2011 Posts: 940
    I'm currently reading the Fleming's in order for the very first time. Read CR and just about finished LALD.

    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.
  • BounineBounine
    edited September 2011 Posts: 2,599
    I've read all the Bond books (some of them several times) except for Wood's TSWLM and Benson's novelization of TND. These two books are sitting in my bookcase. I keep putting off reading Wood's TSWLM as I have heard it is really good, as in up there with the Fleming books so I want the suspense and excitement I feel to go on for longer. Once I've read it, that's it. I envy anyone who is yet to read the Fleming books.
    It's because they don't want to bore the audience with Bond's small tasks; they want the action to be more dominant than slower scenes, and I guess that's very reasonable. However, some of Bond's more well-rounded, human tasks could be nice for a change of pace.
    I am pretty sure they can pull off Bond's small tasks in a film. If they find the right pace (music, editing...) they can really take 7 minutes of screentime, and have Bond wake up in his apartment, drink coffee, eat scramble eggs, read the newspaper, then ride his Bentley to MI6, write some reports, do some radio-listening, classify his documents, go talk to his PERSONAL secretary, than to go Moneypenny, M and Q. I am sure they can do it right, if only with some thinking and guts... And that would be a killer Bond film !!

    I would love to see this.
  • 0BradyM0Bondfanatic70BradyM0Bondfanatic7 Quantum Floral Arrangements: "We Have Petals Everywhere"
    Posts: 28,694
    Out of Fleming's novels I have only read CR, but I am about to make the plunge into the rest(except for GF and the short story collections). Except for those I've only read Carte Blanche and Devil May Care.
  • thelordflasheartthelordflasheart
    Posts: 1,370
    Out of Fleming's novels I have only read CR, but I am about to make the plunge into the rest(except for GF and the short story collections). Except for those I've only read Carte Blanche and Devil May Care.
    The Fleming books are a treat and a nice counter-point to the films. Reading them in order definitely helps. I'm just starting DAF; I cringed at parts of LALD but Fleming improves with every book.

    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...
  • 0BradyM0Bondfanatic70BradyM0Bondfanatic7 Quantum Floral Arrangements: "We Have Petals Everywhere"
    Posts: 28,694
    Indeed @thelordflasheart. I enjoy the literary Bond. A vulnerable man who feels pain and is it at times desperate. I too think Craig captures that very well. The emotional and physical cuts.
  • identigraphidentigraph
    Posts: 1,052
    I have read Goldfinger, Live and Let Die, Thunderball and Dr No, this may just be me but when I hear that the new films capture the spirit of Ian Fleming, I really cannot agree, just because their is more gritty feel I don't think this means they are any thing like the novels.

    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.
  • thelordflasheartthelordflasheart
    Posts: 1,370


    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.
    I always picture Connery when reading the Fleming books but that's likely because of the time period that they're set in. If I have time I'll try to post a few sections of dialogue that illustrate what I was saying about Bond speaking "casually" - as I said it's as far away from Moore's version as can be.

  • Geo_BayGeo_Bay
    Posts: 44
    Connery in DN and FRWL gets the Bond character closest, followed by Lazenby and Dalton in LTK.

    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.
  • OHMSS69OHMSS69
    Posts: 2,341
    DN, FRWL, GF, YOLT, TMWTGG, MR, DAF,
    Only ones I read years ago. I liked FRWL best.
  • graemegraeme
    Posts: 5
    I have read all the Ian Fleming books.
    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......
  • CuishCuish
    Posts: 23
    All 14 Fleming's.
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