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How many Bond novels have you actually read?

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  • 0BradyM0Bondfanatic70BradyM0Bondfanatic7 Quantum Floral Arrangements: "We Have Petals Everywhere"
    edited March 2012 Posts: 28,694
    slyfox wrote:
    I've now read CR and LALD (and AVTAK). Time to move on to MR next...

    Looking forward to it having seen its held in high regard by many here.

    I'm a bit in and so far I love it.
    Bond speaking about how he only gets a few jobs a year and the rest is spent reading files and learning about what is going on in the spy world was great and I love to see Fleming writing it like it is in the real world. I also love the story behind Drax, and the red mustache and blue eyes does seem quite menacing. Beats the hell outta LALD, that's for sure.
  • DCisaredDCisared Liverpool
    Posts: 1,329
    Zero , zilch , none. Am I missing out? :-??
  • 0BradyM0Bondfanatic70BradyM0Bondfanatic7 Quantum Floral Arrangements: "We Have Petals Everywhere"
    Posts: 28,694
    DCisared wrote:
    Zero , zilch , none. Am I missing out? :-??

    Yes my good sir. Read Fleming first though, it is recommended. CR is pure espionage brilliance, and one of the top espionage novels I've ever read. LALD, ahhh misogynistic and racist as hell, but I love MR so far, so there is far more good novels than bad seeds thus far.
  • DCisaredDCisared Liverpool
    Posts: 1,329
    0BradyM0Bondfanatic7 wrote:
    DCisared wrote:
    Zero , zilch , none. Am I missing out? :-??

    Yes my good sir. Read Fleming first though, it is recommended. CR is pure espionage brilliance, and one of the top espionage novels I've ever read. LALD, ahhh misogynistic and racist as hell, but I love MR so far, so there is far more good novels than bad seeds thus far.

    Yes! I'm going on a fortnights holiday to the algarve in the summer so what better time than to kick back relaxing and immersing my self in sun and a few bond novels whilst I'm at it.
    Decision made
    =; ;))
  • 0BradyM0Bondfanatic70BradyM0Bondfanatic7 Quantum Floral Arrangements: "We Have Petals Everywhere"
    edited March 2012 Posts: 28,694
    DCisared wrote:
    0BradyM0Bondfanatic7 wrote:
    DCisared wrote:
    Zero , zilch , none. Am I missing out? :-??

    Yes my good sir. Read Fleming first though, it is recommended. CR is pure espionage brilliance, and one of the top espionage novels I've ever read. LALD, ahhh misogynistic and racist as hell, but I love MR so far, so there is far more good novels than bad seeds thus far.

    Yes! I'm going on a fortnights holiday to the algarve in the summer so what better time than to kick back relaxing and immersing my self in sun and a few bond novels whilst I'm at it.
    Decision made
    =; ;))
    So, do you have the novels at hand, or do you live near a bookstore that you know has them in stock??
  • DCisaredDCisared Liverpool
    Posts: 1,329
    Niether actually mate! I was banking on either waterstones or amazon or something.
    Are they hard to come by?
  • 0BradyM0Bondfanatic70BradyM0Bondfanatic7 Quantum Floral Arrangements: "We Have Petals Everywhere"
    edited March 2012 Posts: 28,694
    DCisared wrote:
    Niether actually mate! I was banking on either waterstones or amazon or something.
    Are they hard to come by?
    I've looked for them ever since I got into Bond madly searching every bookstore I'd come by, but last summer I got to a Barnes and Noble around near Pittsburgh I found them all minus GF and the short story collections. I salivated, I admit, and after all the searching it was finally worth it. Maybe you could find them on Ebooks, or a Kindle??
  • slyfoxslyfox
    Posts: 940
    DCisared wrote:
    Niether actually mate! I was banking on either waterstones or amazon or something.
    Are they hard to come by?
    I had no trouble finding them in Waterstones, @DCisared. In fact, the ones I bought there had three novels joined in one book. Quite a nice idea because they are not over-long stories.

    I'd recommend doing what i'm doing and starting them in the correct order though. Enjoy.
  • 0BradyM0Bondfanatic70BradyM0Bondfanatic7 Quantum Floral Arrangements: "We Have Petals Everywhere"
    Posts: 28,694
    slyfox wrote:
    DCisared wrote:
    Niether actually mate! I was banking on either waterstones or amazon or something.
    Are they hard to come by?
    I had no trouble finding them in Waterstones, @DCisared. In fact, the ones I bought there had three novels joined in one book. Quite a nice idea because they are not over-long stories.

    I'd recommend doing what i'm doing and starting them in the correct order though. Enjoy.

    Yes, always go in order with novels.
  • DCisaredDCisared Liverpool
    Posts: 1,329
    slyfox wrote:
    DCisared wrote:
    Niether actually mate! I was banking on either waterstones or amazon or something.
    Are they hard to come by?
    I had no trouble finding them in Waterstones, @DCisared. In fact, the ones I bought there had three novels joined in one book. Quite a nice idea because they are not over-long stories.

    I'd recommend doing what i'm doing and starting them in the correct order though. Enjoy.



    0BradyM0Bondfanatic7 wrote:
    slyfox wrote:
    DCisared wrote:
    Niether actually mate! I was banking on either waterstones or amazon or something.
    Are they hard to come by?
    I had no trouble finding them in Waterstones, @DCisared. In fact, the ones I bought there had three novels joined in one book. Quite a nice idea because they are not over-long stories.

    I'd recommend doing what i'm doing and starting them in the correct order though. Enjoy.

    Yes, always go in order with novels.


    Cheers for the advice fellas :) I can't wait to add to how I allready feel about bond I have an open mind for the novels ...... Although I wonder which if any of the bond actors I imagine when experiencing the books

  • 0BradyM0Bondfanatic70BradyM0Bondfanatic7 Quantum Floral Arrangements: "We Have Petals Everywhere"
    Posts: 28,694
    Right now reading MR I can't get Sean out of my head. It just fits.
  • slyfoxslyfox
    Posts: 940
    Sometimes it changes for me. With LALD, there were large parts of TD, especially with the LTK similarities.

    MR is probably very easy to distance from Roger because I've heard its the polar opposite to the film!
  • DCisaredDCisared Liverpool
    Posts: 1,329
    I'm very intrigued and itching to get reading now, I should think I'll imagine my self as bond like I do when I'm listening to the various soundtracks ha ha
  • IndyfanaticyaIndyfanaticya
    Posts: 53
    I've read all the Fleming's works, Charlie Higson's, Amis', and Carte Blanche.
    I had read half way through Devil May Care but dropped it because it was just getting stupid when Bond had to smoke from some sort of pipe.
  • Vancouver007Vancouver007
    Posts: 42
    I'm half way thru FRWL having started a few months ago with CR. My favorite so far is MR, what a great novel! Though I am really enjoying FRWL at the moment too so I'm eager to see what the other rest of the book and the other novels bring, exciting time! I've been a Bond fan since I was a little boy and this is a great time to be a fan!
  • DB5DB5
    Posts: 408
    I just finished MR this afternoon. I have to say I'm not as impressed with it as others on this site. After OHMSS it just was something of a letdown. The first third of the book is essentially a bridge game. Then it's not until almost the end of the book before the reader finds out what Drax's plan is. I'm trying to decide which Fleming novel to read next, debating between CR, FRWL and DN. What does everyone else suggest?
  • 0BradyM0Bondfanatic70BradyM0Bondfanatic7 Quantum Floral Arrangements: "We Have Petals Everywhere"
    Posts: 28,694
    DB5 wrote:
    I just finished MR this afternoon. I have to say I'm not as impressed with it as others on this site. After OHMSS it just was something of a letdown. The first third of the book is essentially a bridge game. Then it's not until almost the end of the book before the reader finds out what Drax's plan is. I'm trying to decide which Fleming novel to read next, debating between CR, FRWL and DN. What does everyone else suggest?
    I want to read FRWL so bad, but I recommend CR. One of the best pieces of espionage fiction you'll ever read.
  • DB5DB5
    Posts: 408
    Thanks OBrady, CR it is then. Hopefully it'll be a more interesting read than MR.
  • 007RogerMoore007RogerMoore
    Posts: 1,082
    I read a few pages in the Goldeneye book, by Gardner if I remember correctly. But that was perhaps in 2001 or 2002.
  • MrBondMrBond Station S
    Posts: 2,044
    I've read most of the Fleming books, and i like the novel LALD much more then the film, same With MR, which i think is a very much more workedthrough, and far more realistic!
  • JarrodJarrod
    Posts: 232
    Read all the Fleming novels, part of Colonel Sun (for some reason didn't finish, will probably start again at some point). I have the first 3 or 4 Gardner hardbacks, but have yet to read them (are they worth it?). I have some other misc. titles as well, but haven't read them yet either.
  • James_A_FJames_A_F
    Posts: 9
    I have read all of the Fleming Novels (I skimmed through The Spy who Loved Me until I got to the part where Bond shows up), Raymond Benson's: Zero Minus 10, Never Dream of Dying. Currently I'm in the middle of a few, including, Benson's Doubleshot and The Man with the Red Dragon Tattoo. Also, Faulkes' Devil May Care, and Deaver's Carte Blanche.
    Other than Fleming, I have to say I enjoy Benson's way of writing a lot more... The background details don't seem to drag as long as compared to the last two books that I mentioned.
    Another thing that I don't care for in Carte Blanche is the name of the agency Bond joins; it sounds too much like an enemy he would engage. Instead, I would have called the organization 'Zero Oversight', hence the OO origin, a '0' with an 'O'.
  • DouglasQuaidDouglasQuaid
    Posts: 115
    I've only read Casino Royale, From Russia With Love and Man With The Golden Gun despite owning nearly all of Fleming's books and the early Gardener novels. I'm going to read Dr. No next once I've found the time.
  • DB5DB5
    Posts: 408
    OBrady- Thanks so much for your CR recommendation. I just got the book from the library yesterday and already I;m more tham a third of the way through (which is a lot for me cause I'm a slow reader). I can hardly put it down! Good choice!
  • 0BradyM0Bondfanatic70BradyM0Bondfanatic7 Quantum Floral Arrangements: "We Have Petals Everywhere"
    Posts: 28,694
    DB5 wrote:
    OBrady- Thanks so much for your CR recommendation. I just got the book from the library yesterday and already I;m more tham a third of the way through (which is a lot for me cause I'm a slow reader). I can hardly put it down! Good choice!
    I'm happy to hear that! It was a quick read for me too, a true "you can't book me down" novel. Realistic espionage action that puts the B-O-N-D in Bond.
  • connerybondconnerybond
    Posts: 163
    As a bunch of university students, we pooled our pennies and bought Dr No hardback edition (not sure who has it now as we all dispersed after graduation) when it was first published in 1958. Fleming's writing style was different and appealing, and the consequence then was we again pooled our pennies together: we could get some part-time work, and good wages in the Summers of 1959 and 1960, and hence bought and read all the previous ones- Casino Royale, Moonraker, Live and Let Die, Diamonds Are Forever, as well as the later ones Goldfinger, Thunder Ball and For Your Eyes only.

    DN release in 1962 was a great year after our graduation; but then we continued to buy Fleming’s Bond novels-the last 5 of them, as we had each a few more pennies in our pockets as we started working in proper jobs.
  • ENRNST_CATENRNST_CAT
    Posts: 18
    0
  • BennyBenny Shaken not stirredAdministrator, Moderator
    Posts: 15,138
    ENRNST_CAT wrote:
    0

    Get into them ENRNST, you really are missing out on a whole new world of Bondian pleasure.
    Best I would say to read them in chronological order, unlike the films, they do follow on from each other.

  • DarthDimiDarthDimi Behind you!Moderator
    Posts: 24,187
    Agreed. Fleming is mandatory reading for Bond fans. There's so much to discover from the books and they might throw a whole new perspective on some of the films. Also, in their own right they are fabulously written thrillers with some tense and exciting moments in them.

    Having read them about 4 times each so far (once in Dutch, my native language, three times in English) I can only say... I will read them again. ;-)

    Benny's suggestion is hereby seconded. If they're read in chronological order, the fullest experience is guaranteed!
  • slyfoxslyfox
    edited April 2012 Posts: 940
    0BradyM0Bondfanatic7 wrote:
    slyfox wrote:
    I've now read CR and LALD (and AVTAK). Time to move on to MR next...

    Looking forward to it having seen its held in high regard by many here.

    I'm a bit in and so far I love it.
    Bond speaking about how he only gets a few jobs a year and the rest is spent reading files and learning about what is going on in the spy world was great and I love to see Fleming writing it like it is in the real world. I also love the story behind Drax, and the red mustache and blue eyes does seem quite menacing. Beats the hell outta LALD, that's for sure.

    I'm underway now into MR and absoluteley loving it. You make a good point about the deskwork and few jobs a year part. Fantastic examples of Fleming. I love the down-to-earth realness of this novel so far and even nice little touches like Bond going down to eat in the MI6 canteen.
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