Give us the short list of your favourite Bond novels/collections.

chrisisallchrisisall Brosnan Defender Of The Realm
edited November 2021 in Literary 007 Posts: 17,687
Mine:
#1 Moonraker
#2 Dr. No
#3 Casino Royale
#4 For Your Eyes Only
#5 Octopussy & The Living Daylights
#6 Colonal Sun

Comments

  • Posts: 15,785
    1. Casino Royale
    2. Moonraker
    3. Doctor No
    4. Thunderball
    5. Colonel Sun
    6. For Special Services
    7. Goldfinger
  • chrisisallchrisisall Brosnan Defender Of The Realm
    Posts: 17,687
    ToTheRight wrote: »
    1. Casino Royale
    2. Moonraker
    3. Doctor No
    4. Thunderball
    5. Colonel Sun
    6. For Special Services
    7. Goldfinger

    Our first three are there. Cool.
  • Posts: 15,785
    chrisisall wrote: »
    ToTheRight wrote: »
    1. Casino Royale
    2. Moonraker
    3. Doctor No
    4. Thunderball
    5. Colonel Sun
    6. For Special Services
    7. Goldfinger

    Our first three are there. Cool.

    Been years, even decades since I read some of them. I liked Colonel Sun and For Special Services when I was a kid so I thought they deserved a place on this list.
  • Fleming:
    1. Moonraker
    2. You Only Live Twice
    3. Thunderball
    4. Live and Let Die
    5. From Russia With Love

    Short stories:
    1. The Living Daylights
    2. The Hildebrand Rarity
    3. Risico

    Gardner:
    1. No Deals, Mr. Bond
    2. Win, Lose or Die
    3. Icebreaker
    4. For Special Services
    5. Brokenclaw

    Miscellaneous:
    1. Solo
    2. Colonel Sun
    3. James Bond, The Spy Who Loved Me

    Impressed by what I've read and need to read more:
    1. John Pearson (only read The Life of Ian Fleming)
    2. Charlie Higson (only started SilverFin)
    3. Kate Westbrook (only started The Moneypenny Diaries)

    Credit for trying:
    1. Tomorrow Never Dies
    2. The Facts of Death
    3. Zero Minus Ten

    Underrated Fleming:
    1. Diamonds Are Forever
    2. Dr. No
    3. The Spy Who Loved Me
  • BirdlesonBirdleson Moderator
    edited November 2021 Posts: 2,161
    Top Tier
    CASINO ROYALE
    MOONRAKER
    FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE
    DOCTOR NO
    ON HER MAJESTY'S SECRET SERVICE
    YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE

    both Short Story Collections

    Still Pretty Great
    LIVE AND LET DIE
    THUNDERBALL
    THE SPY WHO LOVED ME
    THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN GUN

    Not Quite Up To Par, But Still Some Excellent Fleming To Be Found Within
    DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER
    GOLDFINGER


    Nearly As Good
    COLONEL SUN
    JAMES BOND, THE SPY WHO LOVED ME
    JAMES BOND AND MOONRAKER


    I Enjoy Quite A Bit
    SOLO

  • Agent_99Agent_99 enjoys a spirited ride as much as the next girl
    Posts: 3,099
    Consistent top 3:
    1. Moonraker
    2. Casino Royale
    3. OHMSS
    I have trouble putting them in order after that but TSWLM, Thunderball, Dr No and Goldfinger are probably next favourites.
  • chrisisallchrisisall Brosnan Defender Of The Realm
    Posts: 17,687
    @Birdleson Oh yes, how could I forget Christopher Wood's TSWLM? It was SO good!
  • Posts: 12,243
    Man, as far as Fleming goes (haven’t read others), they’re almost all my favorites haha. A ranking though:

    1. On Her Majesty’s Secret Service
    2. Dr. No
    3. Moonraker
    4. You Only Live Twice
    5. The Spy Who Loved Me
    6. Live and Let Die
    7. From Russia with Love
    8. Casino Royale
    9. Thunderball
    10. Goldfinger
    11. The Man with the Golden Gun
    12. Diamonds Are Forever

    Top 3 are basically interchangeable, which I considered the most flat-out entertaining Bond stories; I feel like if one isn’t going chronologically, MR is a perfect first Bond novel to read. YOLT and TSWLM were two of the most different but also most enjoyable for me. Found LALD super entertaining, FRWL and CR are both classics as well, though I love them slightly less than my top few.

    I would say there’s a line there after 8 in quality a bit. TB, GF, TMWTGG, and DAF are all still very good, but I found the pacing in these to be not quite as great. Now that I got my wish in much of YOLT being mined in NTTD, I hope the few left like MR, TSWLM, TMWTGG, and DAF get explored a bit more in future movies. As for short stories:

    1. For Your Eyes Only
    2. Risico
    3. The Hildebrand Rarity
    4. The Living Daylights
    5. Quantum of Solace
    6. Octopussy
    7. From a View to a Kill
    8. The Property of a Lady
    9. 007 in New York

    All great really, though the last two didn’t stick with me near as much as the others. Really hoping they use up those final four Fleming titles and dig more into his chapter names for film titles in the future.
  • peterpeter Toronto
    Posts: 8,255
    MR
    OHMSS
    FRWL
    DN
    TMWTGG (I can’t help but love this under-baked novel)
    James Bond: The Authorized Biography of 007
  • I started a complete Fleming re-read in March 2020. One book every few months, and I'm just finishing Thunderball now. My ranking for the full novels I've read thus far. .

    1 From Russia With Love
    2 Moonraker
    3 Live and Let Die
    4 Casino Royale
    5 Dr No
    5 Goldfinger
    6 Diamonds are Forever

    I'll do a full ranking when I've finished them all.
  • Posts: 526
    I’m preparing to read them all again. It’s been so long since I’ve read them. I tried to read Carte Blanche, quit it, and now I’m going to try and finish it. Going to start with Casino Royale and go forward. CR is my favorite, no doubt about that.
  • Fleming:
    1. Casino Royale
    2. Moonraker
    3. On Her Majesty's Secret Service
    4. From Russia with Love
    5. The Man with the Golden Gun

    Gardner:
    1. The Man from Barbarossa
    2. Icebreaker
    3. No Deals, Mr. Bond

    Horowitz:
    1. Forever and a Day
    2. Trigger Mortis

    Miscellaneous:
    1. Solo
    2. Colonel Sun
    3. James Bond, The Spy Who Loved Me
    4. Carte Blanche
    5. Devil May Care
  • I’m preparing to read them all again. It’s been so long since I’ve read them. I tried to read Carte Blanche, quit it, and now I’m going to try and finish it. Going to start with Casino Royale and go forward. CR is my favorite, no doubt about that.

    I read Carte Blanche recently and found myself enjoying it more than I expected.

    One thing I'm doing with my Fleming re-read is reading a few other books in between each one. I did a 'Flemingathon' about fifteen years ago when I read one after another and it was a mistake. The stories blended into each other and I was expecting the characters of a previous novel to appear again. I think a few weeks at least between each book is needed, to let the stories breath, and work as individual stories.
    I'm surprised this time round, of how much previous adventures and situations are referenced in the books. Just little nods here and there, a mention of Vespa, or a memory of a previous visit somewhere. Fleming obviously took his Bond universe seriously.
  • SIS_HQSIS_HQ At the Vauxhall Headquarters
    Posts: 3,382
    Casino Royale
    Moonraker
    Thunderball
    The Living Daylights
    Goldfinger
  • NickTwentyTwoNickTwentyTwo Vancouver, BC, Canada
    Posts: 7,518
    Blofeld Trilogy
    Folio Society Collection
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