Subcultural engagement for the 21st Century...
Barbelith is a new kind of community (find out more)...
You can login or register.

Underground > Books, Criticism & Writing >

Bond. James Bond. Book series.

18:21 / 19.03.07

I recently bought the entire run of Fleming's James Bond books - never having read them all in order - and have been alternating them with other books (I'm due to start From Russia With Love after my current book). they are dated, but they are also nicely writen - short, terse sentences which pound out the story in a nice, clipped style. Like the films, they are full of product placement, which is quite interesting, and there are - like many books of old that have been mentioned here of late - questionable racial opinions espoused by characters - but for the most part I'm really enjoying them. In the past I have always thought that reading a series of books seemed like a waste, that it seemed better to read the best of the series - perhaps I wasn't into the characters as much, or perhaps I was just eager to read as many different things as possible.

So - is anyone else a fan? What are people's general feelings about spy series, or indeed books that run off series like this? I'm also tempted to get the Jack Reader novels as well, as the style is similar, short, snappy, well written but to the point. Do you like Bond's character? Fleming's style?

14:01 / 20.03.07

short, terse sentences which pound out the story in a nice, clipped style

Yes, sound familiar Reacher fans? I'm afraid I haven't read any of Fleming's work, but just came across the following publisher's blurbs on one of the old Panther editions:

"Bond is what every man would like to be, and what every woman would like to have between her sheets"

How far we have come.

07:48 / 21.03.07

Ha ha - although Bond doesn't make sure that his coffee is in a styrofoam cup so he can, you know, move at a moments notice.

12:23 / 21.03.07

I read all of the Fleming Bond books when I was 11, WAY back in the summer of 1986. I still remember them pretty well. You Only Live Twice was my favorite...lots of ninja stuff...and not goofy ninja stuff like in the film. Man with the Golden Gun was also good, even if Fleming died before he completed it -- Kingsley Amis ghostwrote the rest of the book. Actually, On Her Majesty's Secret Service, You Only Live Twice, and the Man with the Golden Gun are a trilogy, and would've made for a great series of films if they'd stuck to them with the movie adaptations.

At the time I also read the John Gardner Bond series, which was being published then. At the time I thought they were okay, especially Icebreaker, but I think they aren't remembered very well these days.

Our Lady Has Left the Building

16:35 / 15.09.08

I'm nearing the end of what appears to be the Casino Royale/Live and Let Die/Moonraker trilogy, Casino Royale seems to be vaguely true to the second half of the movie, Live and Let Die was interesting in that it had pretty much no relationship to the movie (though if you're making a film, where are you going to go, Hawaii or Harlem?) and I haven't seen the Moonraker movie so can't say.

What's interesting is the complete absence of the things the films made famous, Q and his gadgets, his attractiveness, even the more tehcnicolour aspects of the world, it's all very grey seeming, I'm not sure but I don't remember Fleming making much use of colour in his descriptions, it's always dark in his stories but then Bond seems to like a borderline depressive/nihilist as his only way to deal with the very high-probability that some day he will not be fast enough and will be killed.

jentacular dreams

21:18 / 15.09.08

Moonraker is a shabby mess of a film which bears less relation to the book than live & let die did. Part of me secretly hopes they'll disown and remake a lot of the Fleming books, with moonraker at the top of the list. Its a pity as it always strikes me as probably the best of the series (that I've read anyway) with stronger detective themes than most.

01:02 / 18.09.08

Plus the tooth into lighter moment always makes me wince!

I managed to get as far as The Spy Who Loved Me before packing ready for the move. So far I've enjoyed them all (Bond is such an idiot, it's great) and think that some of the writing and descriptive prose is fantastic - dated, questionable in its intent yet really readable.

Of the film book comparisons, only Thunderball so far has had anything like more than a title and slight likeness going for it.

I have to wait another month for the slow boat to arrive before I can get back to reading them though.

trouble at bill

15:25 / 18.09.08

I recall liking the style, for those reasons already outlined above.

Also I recall being fairly shocked at the violence, there is something viscerally nasty about all that copious torture stuff which few other authors can capture even if they wanted to. I've heard it claimed that Flemming was a bit twisted IRL and that the two things could be related, but I'm not sure how much truth there is in that.

Our Lady Has Left the Building

04:39 / 22.09.08

Are you suggesting that if he'd been American he'd have been writing Wonder Woman comics?

11:28 / 22.09.08

Fleming was into some light S and M, and Bond does mention that he will or does spank just about every woman that he meets - the torture kind of makes sense, but also the series seems to be about how much a single man can endure and still perform his duty for queen and country.

jentacular dreams

16:28 / 22.09.08

That's one of the biggest themes in Dr. No (well, that and racism), with the phrase 'courage is a capital sum reduced by expenditure' cropping up reasonably early.

trouble at bill

17:26 / 22.09.08

Hmm, on the biographical note I'd what I'd heard was a lot darker than light kinkiness or bondage a la Wonder Woman but I'll check it out before I start speaking ill of a dead man who isn't here to defend himself...

09:56 / 19.12.08

I am contemplating sticking a Bond into a secondary age reading group. (I am no fan, but think this might get boys engaged who are put of by the the children's book tag of the usual offerings)

They seem like fairly straight forward reads, and not very emotionally challenging (good things for teen boys) but I don't want too much controversy about being adult fiction (although this is my main selling point).

Which book (if any) should I choose?

16:57 / 19.12.08

On Her Majesty's Secret Service has him being slightly less misogynist, what with almost getting married and all.

jentacular dreams

16:14 / 21.12.08

One of my friends teaches english and had her class reading and watching casino royale, and writing an essay to compare and analyse the two. Apparently it worked quite well.

01:50 / 30.12.08

Thunderball is fairly tame, and less racist than most of the Caribbean set books, and Casino Royal is pretty good.

09:22 / 30.12.08

Thanks. I've actually just gone for the Charlie Higson "silver fin" but will use your advice to build a further reading list.

If you don't remember Charlie higson had a band which recorded "who stole my Bongos?" and included the couplet
"who is backing the Iraqis?
Yanks are backing the Iraqis!"
Those where the days eh!

11:15 / 03.11.09

I wasn't sure, before, if Charlie Higson should be hung, drawn and quartered.

So cheers for clearing that up

14:44 / 04.03.10

Another very funny moment was when Freeman and Bunk face off against the FBI guys. I laughed a lot while watching season 2, and that's a big part of why I love it so much.