Which Bond novel are you currently reading?

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  • Posts: 613
    vzok wrote: »
    Like what I said in the Last Movie Watched thread, i'm keeping my mind occupied on as much things as possible. i have also decided to re-read the whole Bond cannon, starting with Forever And A Day, and finishing with Carte Blanche. I am also going to include Per Fine Ounce, which I never finished reading, on my first attempt.

    Read the first 3 chapters earlier.

    Was Per Fine Ounce published?

    Only a few pages of Geoffrey Jenkins' Bond story were located. The novel by Peter Vollmer is actually a sequel to Jenkins' A Twist of Sand and Hunter-Killer, though it does contain pages from Jenkins' Bond manuscript at the beginning of the book.
  • Posts: 613
    Birdleson wrote: »

    Yeah, the prices are insane. I was able to find an inexpensive copy on E-Bay a couple of years ago.
  • DragonpolDragonpol https://thebondologistblog.blogspot.com
    edited April 2020 Posts: 17,727
    Birdleson wrote: »

    @Birdleson: If I remember correctly there was a second edition published that removed all the typos and grammatical errors. I know I bought a copy of one of the editions at the time but I never got around to reading it.
  • CraigMooreOHMSSCraigMooreOHMSS Dublin, Ireland
    Posts: 8,009
    Halfway through Thunderball, and I much prefer how the novel handles the Lippe subplot.
  • edited April 2020 Posts: 17,241
    Halfway through Thunderball, and I much prefer how the novel handles the Lippe subplot.

    I'll be reading Thunderball for the first time as soon, after I finish reading a couple of other novels. Looking forward to it.
  • Posts: 4,023
    Thanks @Dragonpol @Birdleson @Escalus5 for all that information.
  • DragonpolDragonpol https://thebondologistblog.blogspot.com
    edited April 2020 Posts: 17,727
    Birdleson wrote: »
    @Dragonpol I’d try a copy that had been touched up if I could find one.

    Yes, I hope I'm remembering that right but I think I am. It's rather strange that the book has become so very expensive. Perhaps the print run was very small? I suppose it was rather a niche publication though. I can't remember now if I bought that second revised edition or not.

  • MajorDSmytheMajorDSmythe "I tolerate this century, but I don't enjoy it."Moderator
    Posts: 13,882
    Birdleson wrote: »
    @MajorDSmythe if you don't mind, could you update this list as you go through the novels?

    Thanks.

    https://www.mi6community.com/discussion/19631/bond-novel-meter-2020#latest

    Will do.

    I double checked my copy of Per Fine Ounce, and I have the second edition as well, @Dragonpol.
  • matt_umatt_u better known as Mr. Roark
    edited April 2020 Posts: 4,343
    Halfway through Thunderball, and I much prefer how the novel handles the Lippe subplot.

    Agreed. On the other hand, adding Fiona in the film was a smart move. I found the ending in the book better too.

    This week I will start YOLT.
  • Posts: 615
    ice+copy.jpg

    John Gardner's ICEBREAKER (1983).

    First time I've (re)read it since initial publication.

    Am about 35% of the way in right now... It's better than I remembered -- which is something I doubt I'd say about the rest of Gardner's Bond books.
  • thedovethedove hiding in the Greek underworld
    Posts: 4,904
    I'm about to read "Win, Lose or Die" been ages since I read it. One of the rare Bond Books I have as a hardcover.
  • Posts: 623
    I've just finished a re-read of Live and Let Die. I started weeks ago but didn't read the last chapters for some reason. I just have. Smashing romp. Plenty of gripping moments, I found the tensest bit not the keel-hauling, but the bit where Bond and Leiter first get captured in Harlem. I made sure I read the Folio edition, which is the complete text, (more on the censored versions on the 'Fleming in 2020' thread).
    A couple of little things - there's no Tarot cards in the book! Solitaire used playing cards. Yet because the movie is so well known, I thought they were in the book, (been perhaps ten years since I last read it). Those cards are so iconic, I'd have sworn they were in the book.
    When Leiter in maimed, Bond reflects on 'all the many adventures they'd shared' (or something like that). Yet this was only their second assignment together, or did I miss something?
    I love the bits where Bond and Leiter are just chatting about food, and people around them. The cocky Yank and the suave, stiff-assed Brit. Two characters like that would have made for a good TV series! I wouldn't need much persuading to watch that!
  • MaxCasinoMaxCasino United States
    edited May 2020 Posts: 4,049
    shamanimal wrote: »
    I've just finished a re-read of Live and Let Die. I started weeks ago but didn't read the last chapters for some reason. I just have. Smashing romp. Plenty of gripping moments, I found the tensest bit not the keel-hauling, but the bit where Bond and Leiter first get captured in Harlem. I made sure I read the Folio edition, which is the complete text, (more on the censored versions on the 'Fleming in 2020' thread).
    A couple of little things - there's no Tarot cards in the book! Solitaire used playing cards. Yet because the movie is so well known, I thought they were in the book, (been perhaps ten years since I last read it). Those cards are so iconic, I'd have sworn they were in the book.
    When Leiter in maimed, Bond reflects on 'all the many adventures they'd shared' (or something like that). Yet this was only their second assignment together, or did I miss something?
    I love the bits where Bond and Leiter are just chatting about food, and people around them. The cocky Yank and the suave, stiff-assed Brit. Two characters like that would have made for a good TV series! I wouldn't need much persuading to watch that!

    I read it for the first time last week. I agree with everything you said. The film should have followed the book more in tone and events, preferably with Sean Connery and Jack Lord. Also, Guy Hamilton and Tom Mackiewicz should not be directing and writing. Richard Maibaum and Peter Hunt would be better at adapting a faithful version to the screen. Now I’m reading Moonraker!
  • Posts: 623
    I'm going to read Moonraker next, but I'll get the Folio edition of it if (when?) my self employed lockdown money comes through in June.
    I tried to read them in order before but made the mistake or reading one after another. This time I'm going to have a bit of a break in between them.
  • Agent_99Agent_99 enjoys a spirited ride as much as the next girl
    Posts: 3,099
    I recently remembered I had a stash of audiobooks on cassette, and dug them out (yes, I still own a hi-fi that can play tapes). They turned out to include GF and YOLT read by Rufus Sewell; I have no recollection of acquiring these and one was still in its wrapper.

    I've been listening to YOLT while I work on my current model aeroplane obsession and enjoying it very much, especially Sewell's Dikko voice. It's abridged to fit on two cassettes, and I know the source material well enough that I notice when a bit's been cut, but it's not too jarring.

    The stash also includes Martin Jarvis reading the Jeeves stories, which is a great treat.
  • DoctorNoDoctorNo USA-Maryland
    Posts: 754
    MaxCasino wrote: »
    The film should have followed the book more in tone and events, preferably with Sean Connery and Jack Lord. Also, Guy Hamilton and Tom Mackiewicz should not be directing and writing. Richard Maibaum and Peter Hunt would be better at adapting a faithful version to the screen.

    Totally agree. If only.
  • ThunderfingerThunderfinger Das Boot Hill
    Posts: 45,489
    shamanimal wrote: »
    When Leiter in maimed, Bond reflects on 'all the many adventures they'd shared' (or something like that). Yet this was only their second assignment together, or did I miss something?

    Bond probably doesn t equal one assignment to one adventure, and he certainly doesn t know he is in the second book at this time.
  • Last_Rat_StandingLast_Rat_Standing Long Neck Ice Cold Beer Never Broke My Heart
    Posts: 4,378
    Starting 3 1/2 Love Lane in TMWTGG.

    Definitely can tell that Fleming needed to clean things up. Unfortunately he couldn't due to his passing. But still one of my underrated favorites.
  • Posts: 623
    shamanimal wrote: »
    When Leiter in maimed, Bond reflects on 'all the many adventures they'd shared' (or something like that). Yet this was only their second assignment together, or did I miss something?

    Bond probably doesn t equal one assignment to one adventure, and he certainly doesn t know he is in the second book at this time.

    No, but the reason they were put on the Mr Big case was because Leiter's superiors thought they did well on the Le Chiffre job, where they met. It seems strange that Bond should reflect on "so many adventures" after just a few meetings.

  • thedovethedove hiding in the Greek underworld
    Posts: 4,904
    Just picked up my hardcover version of Win, Lose or Die by John Gardener. I've only just started it. So far so good. Though I can see some of the tropes that Gardener seems to like.
  • Last_Rat_StandingLast_Rat_Standing Long Neck Ice Cold Beer Never Broke My Heart
    Posts: 4,378
    Birdleson wrote: »
    Starting 3 1/2 Love Lane in TMWTGG.

    Definitely can tell that Fleming needed to clean things up. Unfortunately he couldn't due to his passing. But still one of my underrated favorites.

    It still ranks in my upper half of Fleming (I know that I'm a rarity in that way). For me, none of the problems are on the page, it's what is missing. Many jumps in time and story that might have been smoothed out had Ian lived. The reason that I rank it so highly despite the skeletal feel is that much of what we have it among the best passages Fleming has given us. I refer to the opening drama, the bordello segment and the final showdown between Bond, Scaramanga and Felix in the swamp: classic, stimulating Fleming at his finest.

    I would have loved to read about how Bond becomes un-brainwashed. Perhaps going into his head for a page or two.
  • Posts: 7,653
    Just read a Silva Gabriel Allon book and a Gregg Hurwitz Orphan X novel and while the latter is all adventure for boys the geo-political anchor Silva uses for his spy novels are far better palatable. "The other woman" is less of an adventure book than a spy thriller and a mole hunt, really fantastic.

    One can always enjoy a good spy thriller outside the Fleming and continuation genre, for me Silva is the one to go to for adult entertainment.
  • Posts: 2,887
    Eric Ambler would be the fourth horseman of that group, since he was a great influence on the others (or at least Fleming and Le Carre), though he didn't have real life experience in espionage.
  • Posts: 2,887
    His pre-WWII novels are the best place to start: I can recommend Journey Into Fear and The Mask of Dimitrios. The latter of course gets a shout-out in FRWL.
  • Posts: 2,887
    Yes, that's correct. From what I've heard none of the films of Ambler's books fully lived up to the originals. Ambler himself was an in-demand screenwriter (A Night to Remember, The Cruel Sea, etc.)
  • Posts: 7,653
    Just finished DMC it was a bad as I remembered from 2008, now currently reading The diamond Smugglers by one Ian Fleming got a hardcover second impression of that book.
  • MaxCasinoMaxCasino United States
    Posts: 4,049
    Just finished Moonraker, which I greatly enjoyed, I win EON would have adapted it more faithfully, and earlier in the series. Now I’m well into The James Bond of the 1980s, I can’t put it down. Great opinions and viewpoints on the world and it’s cultures at the time, and how they affected James Bond!
  • MajorDSmytheMajorDSmythe "I tolerate this century, but I don't enjoy it."Moderator
    Posts: 13,882
    Finished Forever And A Day & Casino Royale, now working my way through Live And Let Die. I had forgotten just how of it's time this book is. I am by no means woke, or whatever the term currently is, but I am wincing during some of the dialogue.
  • Posts: 623
    Check out the 'Fleming in 2020' thread! I re-read LALD earlier this year, the first time for ages and it really struck me how dated it was. Even more so when one of my younger friends said they were having trouble reading it.
    Can I ask which version you are reading? There is a less fruity American version out there.
  • Have just started reading Christopher Wood’s TSWLM tonight. Almost 50 pages in already. I had high hopes after hearing some good reviews in the fan community, and I’m very impressed so far. The combination of a Fleming-esquire tone with a cinematic plot is a good one, in my opinion.

    Interesting to read about your experiences of Per Fine Ounce, @Birdleson @Dragonpol and @MajorDSmythe. It’s on my list but I’ll look out for a second edition.
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