Last Bond Novel You Read

Here's the link to the UK movie tie-in series covers, although I don't think the FYEO, OP or QoS covers really qualify as movie tie-in covers. Released coincident with the films, I guess, but they don't reflect the movie artwork btw you have to follow the drop-down menus with these links. Start with "by series"

http://www.pizgloria.com/books.php?series=UK MOVIE TIE-IN SERIES

There is much variance with the U.S movie tie-in covers. I don't recognize most of them. Canada seemed to follow the UK covers.

http://www.pizgloria.com/books.php?series=US MOVIE TIE-IN SERIES

I'd love to get a hold of these original movie tie-in covers, films 1-7. I've got everything since but for the CR cover, which I never did see on shelves. Maybe it didn't hit Canadian stores. And I don't count the FYEO or OP covers.

Aside from FRWL, the only other movie tie-in I have is LALD which jars in my mind somewhat for Moore isn't quite what I picture for LALD :) Wasn't mad on the CR one. This isn't counting the LTK and GE copies I have.

The majority of my copies (OHMSS, TB, Dr No, DAF & YOLT) are the ones with title in silver font that came out a few years ago, about the time of DAD. Such as this one: http://www.pizgloria.com/images/DAF03.jpg

My FYEO and battered MR copies are PAN, 1962/63 I'd imagine.

My Dad's old copy of OHMSS is also PAN and recently I was given a secondhand copy of the one with the title painted onto the woman that came out the other year.

That website you linked Tiff is fascinating, all those various covers. The stylish, the cartoonish even, the bizarre (e.g. http://www.pizgloria.com/images/TB18S.jpg) and the later Penguins (TSWLM's with the gun on the bedside cabinet, which I have and MR's blurred car which I have also).

Yes its a great site for Bond paperback. In fact I think that's its sole raison d'etre.

Most of my paperback are from the 1974 PAN "Still Life" editions and the 1978 Triad Panther "Girls on Guns" series, although many are later printings (mid '80s). The dates refer to when the artwork first appeared.

My original collection was pretty much the Still Life editions but I lost a bunch of them and had to replace them with later "Girls on Gun" series.

We should start a thread where members can detail their Fleming paperback collections. the Piz Gloria site provides the reference.

I'll start it when I get my own my collection figured out. It's a bit of a hodge podge.

Up to Fritz's death at Piz Gloria on the bobsled run. Quite chilling in it's own way. What a way to go and how, for "interfering" with one of the girls. Bit of a chuckle as always at Bond's "Piotr," he longed to say "and how are my old friends at SMERSH". His pondering of how did they decide on the fate, a meeting as usual with Blofeld at the head.

I hate the "still life" and "girls on guns" series. I have a complete set of the Pan 1960s Raymond Hawkey designs. Those are my favourite Bond covers, with the Jonathan Cape originals in second place followed by the 2002 abstract Penguins in third.

One curious little facet in OHMSS is that Bond is said to have learnt skiing as a teenager at the Hannes Schneider School at St. Anton in the Arlberg. In Octopussy, Hannes Oberhauser taught him (as a teen). I guess Oberhauser taught there perhaps :)

Hilly wrote:

One curious little facet in OHMSS is that Bond is said to have learnt skiing as a teenager at the Hannes Schneider School at St. Anton in the Arlberg. In Octopussy, Hannes Oberhauser taught him (as a teen). I guess Oberhauser taught there perhaps :)

yes perhaps. Let you know when I catch-up. I'm still working thru GF on this latest re-readathon. In GF we learn that Koreans are the cruelest race on the planet.

“They are the cruelest, most ruthless people in the world… When they want women, street women are brought down from London, well-remunerated for their services and sent back. The women are not much to look at, but they are white and that is all the Koreans ask – to submit the white race to the grossest indignities.”

"Bond intended to stay alive on his own terms. Those terms included putting Odd-Job or any other Korean firmly in place, which in Bond’s estimation was lower than apes in the mammalian hierarchy."

Oddjob sure doesn't aid the Korean rebuttal though. But to be fair. Bond can be magnanimous. He does of course does call Oddjob "ape" to his face on several occasions, thus effectively promoting him to full-ape status and thus not lower than ape.


Bond is rather unimpressed at how in-thrall Tilly has become with Pussy.Thus we also learn that sexual confusion can be linked to women getting the vote. I don't do justice here to the thesis, but Fleming does expound at length. Fascinating. 8)

"Bond came to the conclusion that Tilly Masterson was one of those girls whose hormones had got mixed-up. He knew the type well and thought they and their male counterparts were a direct consequence of giving votes to women and “sex equality.” As a result of fifty years of emancipation, feminine qualities were dying out or being transferred to the males. Pansies of both sexes were everywhere, not yet completely homosexual, but confused, not knowing what they were. The result was a herd of unhappy sexual misfits – barren and full of frustrations, the women wanting to dominate and the men to be nannied. He was sorry for them, but he had no time for them."

Bond is at his smartass best in this book. The steady stream of insults he tosses at both Oddjob and GF, after he is captured are gold. I've never laughed so hard reading fiction. He delights in ordering Oddjob around like his bitch. The bowler-hatted baboon seems ready to blow a gasket.

That sound you heard was the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgendered, Questioning, Curious and Other Alliance of Harvard vibrating itself to pieces. Word has it that the Korean Students Association is demanding that Harvard divest from all entities with interests in the UK.

:)

Ten minutes later, Tracy said, "There's a red car coming up fast behind. Want me to lose him?"

if only she had. Remains an awfully crushing ending and in some respects Bond ended here. If Bond had ended here it would've been...well...crushing. Words fail at this late hour. Bond's thoughts in the later pages as he thinks about his life with Tracy or his plans, the fact he appears very much in love with her and then it's all over.

Perilagu Khan wrote:

That sound you heard was the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgendered, Questioning, Curious and Other Alliance of Harvard vibrating itself to pieces. Word has it that the Korean Students Association is demanding that Harvard divest from all entities with interests in the UK.

:)

Fleming ensures that Tilly's misguided trust in Pussy (both literally and figuratively) is ultimately her undoing. Serves her right. And Pussy is ultimately "cured" by the great female sex-disorder therapist, agent 007. Alas she'd never met a real man before.

Hilly wrote:

Ten minutes later, Tracy said, "There's a red car coming up fast behind. Want me to lose him?"

if only she had. Remains an awfully crushing ending and in some respects Bond ended here. If Bond had ended here it would've been...well...crushing. Words fail at this late hour. Bond's thoughts in the later pages as he thinks about his life with Tracy or his plans, the fact he appears very much in love with her and then it's all over.

Time to light a cigarette, and I don't even smoke.

Hilly wrote:

Ten minutes later, Tracy said, "There's a red car coming up fast behind. Want me to lose him?"

if only she had. Remains an awfully crushing ending and in some respects Bond ended here. If Bond had ended here it would've been...well...crushing. Words fail at this late hour. Bond's thoughts in the later pages as he thinks about his life with Tracy or his plans, the fact he appears very much in love with her and then it's all over.

I guess my mood will have to change when I get to OHMSS. I laughed my head off reading GF. Damn is that book funny.

I think once I finish the Flemingathon, I am going to invest in a complete set of Fleming books on tapes, narrated by top dramatic readers. I would like to sit back in an easy chair,with a bottle of bourbon and soda and ice, in homage to the agent himself, and let the words of Master Fleming gently pour into my ear. I do have Ian Ogilvy's rendering of DAF. It's quite invigorating.

These recent radio plays would be worth tracking down as well.

Radio adaptation (2010)
Following its successful version of Dr. No, produced in 2008 as a special one-off to mark the centenary of Ian Fleming's birth, Eon Productions allowed a second Bond story to be adapted. On 3 April 2010, BBC Radio 4 broadcast a radio adaptation of Goldfinger with Toby Stephens (who played villain Gustav Graves in Die Another Day) as Bond Ian McKellen as Goldfinger and Stephens' Die Another Day co-star Rosamund Pike as Pussy Galore. The play was adapted from Fleming's novel by Archie Scottney and was directed by Martin Jarvis.

For Your Eyes Only Collection:

I've knocked down FAVTAK FYEO and AQoS. All three are enjoyable Bond reads. We meet the forgotten Bond-girl Mary Anne Russel in FAVTAK, who actually saves Bond's life at the end. The story really supports the title, unlike the film, given how Bond's tree-perch view leads to a kill.

Fleming sure knew the upper New York state and Ontario Quebec border areas. I know he did spend time in Toronto, as during the war he was assigned to Camp X, a commando training facility, near Oshawa, just outside of Toronto.

Bond travels from Montreal to Ottawa by highway, a route I've done a few times. That was a nice touch. Flemings descripiton of Ottawa's public buildings was interesting. Many of the structures do resemble, "massive blocks of gray masonry built to look stodgily important and to withstand the long hard winters."

Nice that the Canadian Mounted Police could be so helpful in getting Bond ready for his assault on the Vermont woods. RCMP Colonel "Johns" was much help to Bond in getting him ready for his trek. Great climactic gun battle with Gonzalez and his two goons after Judy Havelock had put the arrow to Herr Von Hammerstein (another bald short villain). Judy is threatened with a spanking from Bond. Bond issues a lot of these friendly threats to misbehaving girls. ;)

That poor sap in AQoS, Philip Masters, was such a putz. I'm not terribly bothered his social climbing wife walked all over him. I'm glad things turned out for the former Rhoda Masters. She married a millionaire (a Canadian natural gas millionaire) and wound up dinner-partying with the famous 007, even if poor Bond wearied of her repartee, and she had no idea who he was. If QoS the film had been done with a lighter touch, it would have been fun to work some of these characters into the movie. Bond meets the Harvery Millers and exchanges saucy remarks with Mrs Miller, maybe something to do with plays and shows.

Fleming is awesome. These stores are smartly written and so authentically Bondian.

Bond seems almost lost in his girl chasing daydreaming, as he lounges at Fouquets, Paris.

We also learn one "cannot drink seriously in French cafes."

"Out of doors on a pavement in the sun is no place for vodka or whiskey or gin......No in cafes you had to drink the least offensive of the musical comedy drinks that go with them, and Bond always had the same thing--an Americano--Bitter Campari, Cinzano, a large slice of lemon peel and soda. For soda he always stipulated Perrier, for in his opinion expensive soda water was the cheapest way to improve a poor drink."

Good to know! Thanks Bond. An Americano just so, if I ever find myself lounging about at a Paris cafe or even some similar locale.

When Bond's not punting tookuses, he's spanking 'em.

tiffanywint wrote:

The story really supports the title, unlike the film, given how Bond's tree-perch view leads to a kill.

What? But the movie had such views... to a kill!

Having not picked up a Bond novel in quite a while, I'm reading COLONEL SUN for perhaps the third time and the first time in a few years.

I still think it's by far the best of the continuation novels, and indeed I rate it more highly than some of the Flemings.

Walecs wrote:

tiffanywint wrote:

The story really supports the title, unlike the film, given how Bond's tree-perch view leads to a kill.

What? But the movie had such views... to a kill!

True but the story is so tight and compact that there is no mistaking the significance of the title. With the film, the title implications are more general, less focused. But yes Zorin does dutifully mouth the words, as he views his planned killing field.

The Hildebrand Rarity

What a great little Fleming yarn. Bond really feels for the poor doomed aquatic reef community. I think its clear the wife killed old Milty, but it's rather deft the way Fleming chooses not to spell it all out.

Nice touch. Shoving the fish in his mouth. And the Smithsonian doesn't even get the fish. The Empire triumphs instead. Vive Brittania! Is Fleming doing some flag waving here? Hmmm.

And Bond gets the girl again, :cheers: as Bond and Liz Krest boat off on their happy way. Meanwhile the bastard Krest is fish food.

The FYEO collection, Bond girls; the ones we don't hear too much about.

Mary Anne Russel, Judy Havelock, Lisl Baum and Liz Krest. Bond just keeps spreading the love.

Up next Thunderball! The Spectre era dawns.

Finished Moonraker a couple of nights ago. It's perfect. Simply perfect. A better thriller has never been written. If I taught a lit class on the thriller, Moonraker would certainly be one of the texts. And what a touching final line: "He touched her for the last time and then they turned away from each other and walked off into their different lives."

The heart aches for that coldest of all cold-hearted men.

I'm currently reading DAF. And just for a couple of days i finished MR. Both are great novels indeed!

Just finished up OHMSS -- another rare case where I think the film improves on the novel's base plot, but still a good book. Now reading the oft-disparaged "Japanese travelogue" that is YOLT, of which I have always been a fan.

What do you like more about the movie?

Well, I do prefer the fact Tracy gets kidnapped and Bond saves her, even though it bothers me when Draco hurts her, after all the love he shows for her in the novel. Why does he punch her?
I also dislike some parts in the beginning, it wasn't really clear to me why Draco's henchmen attacked Bond (I later read somewhere they did it in order to see if Bond would be able to protect her).
Other than that, I really love the movie.

Fairbairn-Sykes wrote:

Just finished up OHMSS -- another rare case where I think the film improves on the novel's base plot, but still a good book. Now reading the oft-disparaged "Japanese travelogue" that is YOLT, of which I have always been a fan.

I enjoyed YOLT a lot on my last reading. I do get the criticism as there's no real danger during the first two thirds of the book before Bond enters the castle. Still, I enjoyed a lot of the first two thirds because of the interactions Bond has with Dikko and Tiger, the buildup of Shatterhand exploiting Japanese suicide, Bond's discovery of the identity of Shatterhand and how he keeps it to himself. It's a weird structure to take after the previous novels, but I went along with it fine and that final act in the castle was a real payoff with the most old school espionage of just having Bond hiding in the shadows looking for his prey.

Walecs wrote:

What do you like more about the movie?

Well, I do prefer the fact Tracy gets kidnapped and Bond saves her, even though it bothers me when Draco hurts her, after all the love he shows for her in the novel. Why does he punch her?
I also dislike some parts in the beginning, it wasn't really clear to me why Draco's henchmen attacked Bond (I later read somewhere they did it in order to see if Bond would be able to protect her).
Other than that, I really love the movie.

I think the movie does a better job of building up James and Tracy's romance by keeping her more involved with the story. I like that Blofeld captires Bond and there is a direct face to face confrontation between hero and enemy throughout the story, which makes Blofeld's attack at the end work better. I like thay Bond does more actual spying and really discovers whats up before getting back to England, rather than having to guess at what Blofeld is up to. I like that we know what Blofeld wants, and that it ties in with his desire of the Count title, whereas in the book it all goes unexplained as to what the final endgame of the plan was supposed to be.

Before continuing my Fleming re-read by commencing DAF, I decided I'd start on Carte Blanche again (I quit about 250 pages in). Paid for the damned thing, might as well see it through 'til the end. Already, since re-commencing, I've seen "Bond" get a stiffy over the fact that a woman leaves the business world for the "nobler" pursuit of being a white guilt merchant. But at least he F***S her.