Last Bond Novel You Read

And the girl upper right with the headband, an episode of the Fall Guy. :)

Heh, indeed ... balloon in upper right corner either influenced by Octopussy or the not-contained-within-the-omnibus YOLT.

Didn't read it yet... but I finally got around to picking up a copy of Carte Blanche. Despite my love of the Bond novels, I just never felt compelled to order it or run out and pick it up for some reason.

Happened to be in a book store and saw it in Hardcover for $7 bucks, so I figured why not. Now I wonder how long it will take to get around to reading it. Too many books to get through at the moment.

I've been meaning to re-read the Fleming and Gardner novels for years. In some cases, it has been almost a decade since I last read some of them. It just so happens the other night I finished the last book in my backlog. My backlog has been around for years. Piles and piles of unread books. I was simply not used to the idea that I didn't have any unread books laying around anymore, so when I finished the final one I was surprised when I went to my shelf and realized I had nothing new to read.

I ordered a few books off the web, but it will be a week or so before they arrive, so I figured there was no time like the present to delve back into Bond.

I randomly decided to start by re-reading No Deals, Mr. Bond.

I didn't recall much about this book. I've always enjoyed Gardner's Bond (and non-Bond) works and I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed it. It is certainly not the most remarkable Gardner effort, it hardly stands out as a highlight of his tenure, but it is definitely a solid, good read.

Not sure which one I'll go with next.

Nobody Lives Forever - brisk and enjoyable Gardner Bond.

Well, following up my last post....my new book orders arrived this week. Despite having brand new, fresh material to read, I've got a bit of a Bond-bug at the moment and I decided to continue re-reading the Bond novels that I haven't touched in ages. I've moved from Gardner back to Fleming.

I re-read Thunderball. Very, very enjoyable. Pretty well done with a lot of great passages that are great. The chapter where Bond meets Domino is the essence of Bond. Everything about that scene is the perfect encapsulation of the character of James Bond.

I'm planning on re-reading at least one more Fleming. I've been having fun re-visting Fleming. It is bringing back some good memories. I remember when I was younger seeking out the Fleming(and later, Gardner) books at the library.

I remember when I bought a copy of Doctor No at the store on a winter's day, came home, and finished the book that day. Good times...and reading them the second time has not decreased my interest. With Thunderball, despite knowing the story top to bottom I was still riveted and sitting on the edge of my seat to see how Bond got out of the mess. They are just as enjoyable now as they were the first time I opened them up.

Strictly speaking, Thunderball is not pure Fleming. He was only credited as sole author in the first edition, IIRC, and even that was because Cape claimed it would ruin them financially to recall the book.

Maybe it's not pure Fleming, but it's always been one of my favorite Bond novels.

Erica Ambler wrote:

Strictly speaking, Thunderball is not pure Fleming. He was only credited as sole author in the first edition, IIRC, and even that was because Cape claimed it would ruin them financially to recall the book.

Of course, but even knowing the history of Thunderball and the problems that emerged from Fleming turning script to novel without McClory/Whittingham's permission, the book is still well done. And, as I said, the chapter on Domino I think hits all the right points. The dialogue between Bond/Domino and the passages about Bond just seem to nail the character so perfectly.

Finished re-reading Doctor No.

It was a very enjoyable re-read and a fun way to pass a few hours, but I would have to agree with Fleming's own assessment of the book being rather "cardboardy." The story does not seem as suspenseful and the characters not as rich as in the other Bond adventures.

Still, a good read.

Still miles more enjoyable than the film, though I do enjoy that too, I always feel underwhelmed that it didn't take more advantage of the source. Maybe it was a budget thing, in that case they should have just chose a less potentially expensive book.

I had just registered to this site when I wrote "I wish they used the fight with the giant octopus".

Re-read The Man With The Golden Gun.

Despite Fleming's death before re-writing it and it being considered one of his weakest efforts, I enjoy this book.

OHMSS and YOLT are oddities, in a sense, from the rest of the Bond cannon in that they are much meatier than Fleming's prior works. They are more in-depth and the style and flow seems quite different than from what came before it.

TMWTGG seems a return to that style of old. It's a very simple storyline. I enjoy this return to the old style. The pages just seem to breeze by, it has a nice flow to it. Even if Fleming had lived to do several re-writes, there's no way it would followed the style/depth of OHMSS and YOLT.

Of course, the problem with the plot is it is too simple. Bond has to kill Scaramanga. That's it. The problem is Bond has several opportunities kill him and chooses to not do so. He does so, partially, out of curiosity, to see what Scaramanga is up to. But there is no grand plot that he is scheming or anything of the sort. Bond is just wasting time and Fleming is just trying to stretch a vague idea into novel length. All Bond does it put himself at risk and almost get himself killed as a result.

Scaramanga is just a gunman. He is not particularly interesting. He is more of a secondary henchman. I still like the idea presented at the beginning of the film: Scaramanga wanting to kill Bond to solidify his place as the greatest gunmen ever. Of course, we later find out that it was not him who sent the bullet at all, but it could have provided for a great story. He stalks Bond who has no clue what he looks like, etc. It could have had a great build up. Unfortunately, Fleming missed the opportunity to build a stronger story and the film...well... it just awful.

While not the strongest novel or the most fitting conclusion for 007, I find it fun. I like the references to the past... to Honey and where she is in her life now, the return of Felix. All in all an enjoyable read, perhaps if it had been written earlier in Fleming's career, or not when his health was on the decline, it could have been a much stronger, more interesting novel.

Finished up Moonraker and On Her Majesty's Secret Service.

Originally only planned on re-reading one or two, but at this point I might as well go through with it and re-read them all. DAF, FRWL, GF, and TSWLM will definitely be re-read. I haven't read those titles that many times, so they are worth the read through. Probably will tackle YOLT next thought just to continue on from OHMSS.

After I re-read those few, I'll probably revisit LALD (which I've read quite a few times) and the short stories.

You Only Live Twice

Still not sure how I feel about this one. I certainly enjoy it, but it seems to be missing something. The ending, while interesting, never did much for me.

An enjoyable read, but for some reason there's something just "missing." I can't quite put my finger on it, but it just seems off at times.

It's the most morbid of all the Fleming books, but also strangely profound. I always liked the ending with M's obituary and Bond going out with a whimper. The bizzarity of it -- that's one of the big draws for me with Fleming. Dr. No and Diamonds Are Forever are similar in that respect.

It's definitely not a conventional thriller as nothing really happens until the last third of the book. Despite that, I still very much enjoyed it the last time I gave it a read.

Agreed. As you said, not much happens, but it is still quite engaging. The final portion is certainly odd, even for Fleming. Very out there, but it's a good thing. It's all quite silly, but still very enjoyable.

Currently about 50 pages into re-reading Diamonds Are Forever. While I remember it being one of the weaker novels, I think Fleming finally nailed down his writing style with this work. The writing is very tight and very nice to read. Compared to the first three novels, I think it is light years ahead of those works in terms of prose, descriptions, style, etc. Maybe it's just me. I'm only 50 pages in, so that may change.

His writing style has always been impeccable enough that even his weaker entries were still enjoyable. DAF for me just lacks truly interesting villains, as if Fleming was really just going along with Bond's stereotypical viewpoint of Italian mobsters that it comes off more like parody than a genuine threat. It's no coincidence the Spangled Bros were never used in any of the films. I also found it curious that unlike the film version, the book never really took advantage of the Vegas setting. Bond only arrives there near the end but before that he's mostly hanging around drab locations.

Definitely the biggest flaw of DAF. While Le Chiffre and Mr. Big weren't his strongest villains, they still had a presence/menace. Drax was a big improvement on the previous two. But there's really nothing sinister or interesting about the collection of villains that pop up throughout DAF.

I should be getting COLONEL SUN in the mail today. This will be my first venture into the Bond novels not written by Fleming.

Funnily I think I read a shedload of Gardner before going through the majority of Fleming's. I'd read OHMSS and YOLT as a kid but diverted into Gardner.

I do have CARTE BLANCHE, but I never got around to reading a word of it. I always felt I should jump into the continuation novels in release order before tackling either that or SOLO.

I wouldn't exactly skip to Carte Blanche. Good idea to do it in release order, I'd do it myself but my reading pile is immense.

My copy just arrived. It's the first paperback release by Bantam from 1969, and in VERY good condition, surprising given that I bought it for $4.99, when most copies are well above $20.