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Starting The Novels, But Where Do I Start?

JWESTBROOKJWESTBROOK
edited December 2011 in Literary 007 Posts: 5,745
So I recently aquired a Kindle, and have decided to undertake the imminent task of reading all of Fleming's originally published James Bond books.

But where do I start?
I looked up the order in which they are published, but I'm not sure thats the best way to go.
I understand I will likely have a great interest in the plot of You Only Live Twice judging from separate discussion on this forum.

But what do you think is the best way to go about reading the series? How did you do it / are you doing it?
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Comments

  • RC7RC7
    Posts: 10,512
    If you've never read any before I would definitely suggest doing them chronologically. Not for any continuity reason but purely because it gives you a sense Fleming's trajectory.
  • RC7RC7
    Posts: 10,512
    PS. If you do decide to read them out of order I'd personally suggest DAF or OHMSS. I really wouldn't read YOLT first.
  • JWESTBROOKJWESTBROOK
    Posts: 5,745
    Thanks, but why not YOLT first?
  • HASEROTHASEROT has returned like the tedious inevitability of an unloved season---
    Posts: 4,399
    JWESTBROOK wrote:
    Thanks, but why not YOLT first?

    because YOLT is essentially the sequel to OHMSS

  • JWESTBROOKJWESTBROOK
    Posts: 5,745
    Ah, thank you. In order it is. I'll just have to build the suspense up to it. ;)
  • Samuel001Samuel001 Moderator
    Posts: 13,350
    The only order, is the original one, set by Fleming. Please don't read them any other way! You Only Live Twice is a great novel and so late in the series as well, so it's a real treat when it arrives.
  • AgentJamesBond007AgentJamesBond007 Vesper’s grave
    Posts: 2,630
    Start with Casino Royale, then Live and Let Die and so on... you should read it in its original order.
  • thelordflasheartthelordflasheart
    Posts: 1,370
    I recently started re-reading Fleming in order - very interesting to see how his writing style and the series develops. I thought some of the stuff in LALD was really cringe-worthy but the book gets better after they leave NYC. I'm almost done DN now; interesting that Fleming is already starting to reuse phrases from other books!
  • OHMSS69OHMSS69
    Posts: 2,341
    I compliment you on reading the Fleming Bond books. But by all means READ THEM IN THE ORDER THEY WERE WRITTEN. As so many of ,my colleagues on this thread have suggested.
    FRWL comes after DAF as there is reference to Bond's relationship with Tiffany Case getting in the way of his new mission...
    TB-TSWLM-OHMSS-YOLT-TMWTGG should be the final ones you tackle in order. Please.
  • JWESTBROOKJWESTBROOK
    edited December 2011 Posts: 5,745
    Gotcha.

    I started Casino Royale last night. Its hard not comparing it to the movie(s). I'm already about 30% through the book, and having a good time.

    I like how is meeting(s) with Vesper in the book are similar in attitude and their actions as in the book, even eating the caviar. I just wish the movie (2006) had left in
    Bond checking his hotel room, creatively, and the bombing attempt on Bond, as well as the meetings with Mathis.
  • KennonKennon
    edited December 2011 Posts: 297
    Order's the way to go. But my own first encounter was with MR, then GF, then FRWL and I still quite enjoyed it, nothing wrong with that. Reading in order adds to the experience and you're likely to better understand Bond's character arc. A shortcut would be TB - OHMSS - YOLT which should be read in that order. But if you're a novice and want to read them all anyway the best way is to start with CR and follow the Fleming route.
  • JBFan626JBFan626
    Posts: 1,497
    Great to hear the Fleming books are on Kindle now! I've had bits and pieces of the series. But it would be great to have them accessible all at one time now. Thanks!
  • JWESTBROOKJWESTBROOK
    Posts: 5,745
    JBFan626 wrote:
    Great to hear the Fleming books are on Kindle now! I've had bits and pieces of the series. But it would be great to have them accessible all at one time now. Thanks!

    Your welcome. I think I'll turn this discussion into a book discussion. I'm 60% through Casino Royale in a day's time and have so much to talk about.
  • quantumofsolacequantumofsolace England
    Posts: 279
    When I first discovered the perfection of Fleming's literary genius at the tender age of 11 I started with LALD and then rapidly devoured the rest at random. Ever since, though, I've read them chronologically. It's definitely the best way, the events at the start of most of the books following on directly from the end of the last. It makes for one huge, thrilling story. The greatest story ever told!
  • Agent007391Agent007391 Up, Up, Down, Down, Left, Right, Left, Right, B, A, Start
    Posts: 7,854
    Casino Royale, no contest. It works as an introduction.
  • SAMSAM
    Posts: 107
    Agent007391 wrote:
    Casino Royale, no contest. It works as an introduction.

    Completely agree. Casino Royale introduces James Bond and was Ian Fleming's first novel.

    A damn good story also. Best place to start.
  • JWESTBROOKJWESTBROOK
    Posts: 5,745
    Just finished Casino Royale. Simply amazing.

    The ending "I said was, the bitch is dead." I didn't expect. Just abruptly ended. However I love book Bond more than movie Bond now. The book was far greater than the movie, though the movie was one of the best in the series.
  • BounineBounine
    edited December 2011 Posts: 2,598
    True JWestbrook. While I love all the Bond films except for QOS and the Brosnan flicks the books are certainly better. Definitely read them in order. I am...for the 6th time. Call me obsessive. :) Well, the 6th time since 1995.

    Where does Octopussy and TLD come in the timeline though? I know it's not after TMWTGG. Which book is it's predecessor?

    I just read this on someone's website:

    "...though Fleming wrote the stories after many of the novels, it is believed there is a chronology to them. For instance The Living Daylights comes just after Thunderball. Octopussy supposedly follows The spy Who loved Me, then 007 in New York and The Property of a Lady, before On Her Majesty's Secret Service. Fleming is believed to have done so to keep Bond's age at roughly 37."
  • KennonKennon
    edited December 2011 Posts: 297
    I always thought of The Living Daylights as the 'last' story. Bond's so thoroughly fed up with his job, much more than in TB or OHMSS IMO.
  • JWESTBROOKJWESTBROOK
    Posts: 5,745
    I wrote it down.. lets see

    Its Casino Royale
    Live And Let Die
    Moonraker
    Diamonds Are Forever
    From Russia With Love
    Dr. No
    Goldfinger
    For Your Eyes Only
    Thunderball
    The Spy Who Loved Me
    On Her Majesty's Secret Service
    You Only Live Twice
    The Man With The Golden Gun
    Octopussy
    The Living Daylights/Quantum of Solace

    I don't remember where I found that, but I wrote it down to stay in order. Sounds like Kennon's thoughts sound about right.
  • BounineBounine
    Posts: 2,598
    I'm fairly certain that TMWTGG was the last novel Fleming wrote. I'll have to read Lycett's biography of Fleming again if he indeed mentions this. I can't remember.
  • JWESTBROOKJWESTBROOK
    Posts: 5,745
    Bounine wrote:
    I'm fairly certain that TMWTGG was the last novel Fleming wrote. I'll have to read Lycett's biography of Fleming again if he indeed mentions this. I can't remember.

    Like I said, I'm new to the novels. I just found that list online. Perhaps someone thought that was the timeline in the novels, not by publishing dates. Anybody who can back this up?
  • 0BradyM0Bondfanatic70BradyM0Bondfanatic7 Quantum Floral Arrangements: "We Have Petals Everywhere"
    Posts: 28,694
    JWESTBROOK wrote:
    Bounine wrote:
    I'm fairly certain that TMWTGG was the last novel Fleming wrote. I'll have to read Lycett's biography of Fleming again if he indeed mentions this. I can't remember.

    Like I said, I'm new to the novels. I just found that list online. Perhaps someone thought that was the timeline in the novels, not by publishing dates. Anybody who can back this up?

    TMWTGG was indeed last. The order of the full novels goes thus:

    CR
    LALD
    MR
    DAF
    FRWL
    DN
    GF
    FYEO
    TB
    TSWLM
    OHMSS
    YOLT
    TMWTGG
  • JWESTBROOKJWESTBROOK
    Posts: 5,745
    0BradyM0Bondfanatic7 wrote:
    JWESTBROOK wrote:
    Bounine wrote:
    I'm fairly certain that TMWTGG was the last novel Fleming wrote. I'll have to read Lycett's biography of Fleming again if he indeed mentions this. I can't remember.

    Like I said, I'm new to the novels. I just found that list online. Perhaps someone thought that was the timeline in the novels, not by publishing dates. Anybody who can back this up?

    TMWTGG was indeed last. The order of the full novels goes thus:

    CR
    LALD
    MR
    DAF
    FRWL
    DN
    GF
    FYEO
    TB
    TSWLM
    OHMSS
    YOLT
    TMWTGG

    Where's Octopussy and The Living Daylights?
  • 0BradyM0Bondfanatic70BradyM0Bondfanatic7 Quantum Floral Arrangements: "We Have Petals Everywhere"
    Posts: 28,694
    ^
    They were published after as a collection of short stories by Fleming. I don't view them as apart of the novel Bond.
  • JWESTBROOKJWESTBROOK
    edited December 2011 Posts: 5,745
    I can't find YOLT on Kindle anymore :/

    And in total, wikipedia notes 14 Bond novels being published, TMWTGG being the last as a full novel. Your right, OP/TLD are in fact a collection of short stories, often including 007 in New York and Property of a Lady.

    EDIT: Has YOLT ever been included with Thunderball or OHMSS? I can't see why Kindle skipped it, they have all 13 other published books :/
  • Hank_ScorpioHank_Scorpio
    edited December 2011 Posts: 68
    According to the Bond Chronology by George Almond (a must for Bond and Fleming fans) the short stories from For Your Eyes Only precede Thunderball, while the short stories from Octopussy follow TB. Essentially the Octopussy stories (and for that matter TSWLM part with Bond) take place during Bond search for Blofeld. I see them as sort of "side missions".
    Technically speaking, after reading the first five chapters of OHMSS, one should then read "007 in New York" and TSWLM (Bond's part) and then resume OHMSS to keep things in order :)
  • KennonKennon
    Posts: 297
    That's right, TMWTGG was last. Also the part about OP/TLD coming after TB. It's just my own feeling that TLD has an air of finality about it. Sorry I didn't mention this, don't want to throw you off scent @JWESTBROOK.
  • BounineBounine
    edited December 2011 Posts: 2,598
    0BradyM0Bondfanatic7 wrote:
    ^
    They were published after as a collection of short stories by Fleming. I don't view them as apart of the novel Bond.

    Why not? Fleming wrote them.

    I thought he wrote them halfway to two thirds of the way through the series even though they weren't published until after TMWTGG. Yes, as Scorpio says, they are "side" missions. This is more realistic too in the occupation of a spy.
  • Agent007391Agent007391 Up, Up, Down, Down, Left, Right, Left, Right, B, A, Start
    Posts: 7,854
    Octopussy and The Living Daylights was published after TMWTGG, but I believe the individual stories were published before.
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