Last Bond Novel You Read

saint mark wrote:

Casino Royale, it has been some time ago but I prefer the book easily over the movie.

Of course you do. You can't compare any Fleming novel with the movie, especially Casino Royale.

Death is Forever, was a great improvement if a bit stodgy overall. And what's with Gardner's desire to build the female characters up so much? Not every woman is a potential Mrs. Bond!

And then it all comes down with Never Send Flowers. The setup is fine, Flicka is an interesting match for 007, but the story itself is silly! Why is 007 investigating murders? Why would a respected actor all of a sudden decide to go off and kill political figures? What is the point of this book? Is there one?

About halfway through Seafire now, which is better in some ways but not particularly good either.

Walecs wrote:

saint mark wrote:

Casino Royale, it has been some time ago but I prefer the book easily over the movie.

Of course you do. You can't compare any Fleming novel with the movie, especially Casino Royale.

I'd say GF and DAF were better than their novel counterparts.

Python wrote:

Walecs wrote:

saint mark wrote:

Casino Royale, it has been some time ago but I prefer the book easily over the movie.

Of course you do. You can't compare any Fleming novel with the movie, especially Casino Royale.

I'd say GF and DAF were better than their novel counterparts.

I haven't read DAF, but I disagree about Goldfinger for several reasons, like the fact Bond let the Soames sisters die (after almost killing himself Tilly and destroying her car) and the movie had some plot holes, at least unclear for those who haven't read the book.
The novel was very emotional when you know that Jill died to get married with Bond.

What plot holes? The big one in the book is the impossibility of Goldfinger's scheme and the movie actually fixes that.

The fact Goldfinger is deaf (well, he pretends to be so), how Bond told Felix about Goldfinger's plan, why Goldfinger left him alive, why Goldfinger painted Jill of gold (and I can't even remember if it is told how she died).

Walecs wrote:

The fact Goldfinger is deaf (well, he pretends to be so)

Not sure how that's supposed to be a plot hole.

Walecs wrote:

how Bond told Felix about Goldfinger's plan

Sharky already explained that a page ago.

Largo's Shark wrote:

Walecs wrote:

Fairbairn-Sykes wrote:

I think the movie improves on some plotholes and adds some unique elements, similar to what GF does. But nothing beats just reading Fleming's prose.

Many criticize the book for plot holes, but I really can't remember any, and for what I remember, the movie had big plot holes. For example, how did Bond tell Felix about Goldfinger's plan?

Through Pussy.

Quote :

Why Goldfinger left him alive.

Killing him would attract the British and Americans. Goldfinger didn't want to take that chance.

Quote :

why Goldfinger painted Jill of gold (and I can't even remember if it is told how she died).

He's obsessed with gold and Jill's death is explained in M's office.

Python wrote:

Walecs wrote:

The fact Goldfinger is deaf (well, he pretends to be so)

Not sure how that's supposed to be a plot hole.

To explain why he has that thing at the ear.

About the others, I knew the replies (through Pussy, and because he's obsessed by gold), but only because I've read the novel.

Walecs wrote:

Python wrote:

Walecs wrote:

The fact Goldfinger is deaf (well, he pretends to be so)

Not sure how that's supposed to be a plot hole.

To explain why he has that thing at the ear.

He has that thing in his ear so he can listen to Jill Masterson telling him what cards his opponent has.

Quote :

About the others, I knew the replies (through Pussy, and because he's obsessed by gold), but only because I've read the novel.

The film gets the point across just fine for folks who haven't read the novel.

Python wrote:

Walecs wrote:

Python wrote:

Walecs wrote:

The fact Goldfinger is deaf (well, he pretends to be so)

Not sure how that's supposed to be a plot hole.

To explain why he has that thing at the ear.

He has that thing in his ear so he can listen to Jill Masterson telling him what cards his opponent has.

Quote :

About the others, I knew the replies (through Pussy, and because he's obsessed by gold), but only because I've read the novel.

The film gets the point across just fine for folks who haven't read the novel.

1. I know, it's pretty well explained in both the movie and the novel but the "fake explanation" he gives in the book is that he's deaf.
2. Really? Didn't notice it.

It so happens I'm reading Goldfinger now.

I don't worry about plot holes - I just enjoy reading a Bond book which I haven't read in a while.

I'm looking forward to Pussy Galore spontaneously giving up her lifetime of "confused" sexuality for a night with Bond before being carted off to prison.

Walecs wrote:

1. I know, it's pretty well explained in both the movie and the novel but the "fake explanation" he gives in the book is that he's deaf.

And that's in the film too.

Quote :

2. Really? Didn't notice it.

"This is gold, Mr Bond. All my life, I have been in love with it's color, it's brilliance, it's divine heaviness."

Walecs wrote:

AMC Hornet wrote:

It so happens I'm reading Goldfinger now.

I don't worry about plot holes - I just enjoy reading a Bond book which I haven't read in a while.

I'm looking forward to Pussy Galore spontaneously giving up her lifetime of "confused" sexuality for a night with Bond before being carted off to prison.

Spoiler:

Thanks for the heads-up, Walecs - but as stated above, I have read Goldfinger before, just not in a while. I haven't forgotten where Pussy Galore's story appears. :study:

Listening to Goldfinger outline his plan for the hood's congress, I'm still surprised that they went for it.

"Bankrupt our own country? You escape by train while we're still loading our trucks? Hire the Teamsters to drive our haul to Mexico or Canada? Sure. no trouble at the border."

Clearly Goldfinger didn't care what happened to the gangs once he got his own loot - there may even have been another double-cross planned, had Bond's message not got out. :pirat:

Finished YOLT. I remember enjoying this one to an extent when I read it the first time, it was mostly the Japanese travelogue stuff that almost dulled it. Now on my second read I was engaged all the way through and while the emphasis on the travelogue might overwhelm the thriller elements it worked enough for me to really feel like I'm seeing through the eyes of a gaijin like Bond. Another that surprised me was how I forgot some of the elements that ended up in the film, though the story is nothing alike (Blofeld's trap floor becomes Tiger's in the film).

I don't care how it's done, I want to see the "Garden of Death" realized on film. It's a shame the 1967 film wasted the entire story.

Moonraker
Casino Royale
Dr. No
From Russia with Love
You Only Live Twice
Live and Let Die
Thunderball
Goldfinger
Diamonds Are Forever

Finished Die Another Day two days ago, started On Her Majesty's Secret Service.

Walecs wrote:

Finished Die Another Day two days ago, started On Her Majesty's Secret Service.

From the outhouse to the penthouse.

Reading The Man with the Golden Gun for the first time. So far so good. M's loyalty to Bond is something I hope for the films to recapture.

Python wrote:

Reading The Man with the Golden Gun for the first time. So far so good. M's loyalty to Bond is something I hope for the films to recapture.

Loyal, but in a cruel way. Sending him to chase after Francisco Scaramanga, wot.

But perhaps Silva will be a Scaramanga of sorts, with a debilitated Bond ("There's nothing wrong with admiting you've lost a step.") setting after him to recompense some transgression ("She sent you after me, knowing you're not ready, and you will likely die.")

Cold-Fall. What. The. Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu.
I had forgotten how weird/divided/nonsensical/silly/odd this book was.

Giving The Man With the Golden Gun a second whirl. Last time out didn't leave much of an impression. This time round it's alright, but the writing doesn't feel right. Like the opening with Bond trying to get in touch with M up to the assassination attempt.

After a month of Tom Clancy's works I've slid back to Bond and Thunderball. Watching the film a few weeks ago made me re-seek it knowing it's quite close to how the film ended up anyway.

A hundred or so pages in it's been quite good. From the off with Bond's savage thoughts on his "ugly" secretary to his conversation with the young taxi driver taking him to Shrublands. Paid greater heed to the line "see you later, irrigator". The film's use of the line (alligator) seemed a jar but so be it.

As with LTK last week and Skyfall before it, this increases my itchiness to write Bond fic once more and ideas have circulated...though God knows if it's worth the effort.

SKYFALL has gotten me itching to read Pearson's Biography again. So I am.

His James didn't go angst in a cave when his parents died.

"James Bond surprised everyone with his self-possession. He says that in a strange way he was prepared for what had happened. When his father saw him off from King's Cross three weeks before, he knew that he would not be seeing him again. Now he remembered his father's words, 'You must look after yourself laddie. If you don't there's no one else that will.'"

Fairbairn-Sykes wrote:

SKYFALL has gotten me itching to read Pearson's Biography again. So I am.

His James didn't go angst in a cave when his parents died.

"James Bond surprised everyone with his self-possession. He says that in a strange way he was prepared for what had happened. When his father saw him off from King's Cross three weeks before, he knew that he would not be seeing him again. Now he remembered his father's words, 'You must look after yourself laddie. If you don't there's no one else that will.'"

Except for brother Henry (who I now picture as Sean Connery in LAST CRUSADE), I don't think Pearson cooks up anything outrageous in terms of a departure from Fleming, and he does a helluva job of giving Bond a complex and moving backstory. And he incorporates Fleming well, too.

Up to partway through Doubleshot. I used to adore The Facts of Death, which along with Zero Minus Ten has paled a bit for me now though I still enjoy them thoroughly. That said, I think the single best post-Fleming novel may very well be High Time to Kill.