Current Events > Best James Bond novel?

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when i first read through it chronologically, i actually really enjoyed live and let die. not because of its offensive outdated stuff, but mostly because it actually did feel like he was starting to learn to become james bond. still kinda green, still uncertain, but learning what works.

Never saw the movies or read the books, but I have been enjoying the BBC radio adaptations.

Those both sound interesting.

Does GoldenEye have a counterpart in literature?

Xethuminra posted...

Does GoldenEye have a counterpart in literature?

i think just a novelization. a few parts were changed from what i recall but it was mostly the same. but it's based on the film and not the other way around.

Interesting.

Didn't realize so much Bond was written after Fleming

colonel sun is great. i tried reading a few from the gardner series but i lost interest about halfway each time. i literally have the benson collection in giant book collection format but i haven't even read a single line. i was also interested in the young bond series but it's just too expensive and i burnt out on reading by the time i got around to it.

i did actually do audiobooks of the latest releases just last year (besides devil may care, i read that myself a few years back). of the newest ones, i'd say "with a mind to kill" was one of the better ones. but honestly the newer novels just aren't as good, imo.

I actually got them all years ago for like $2 each on Kindle but I've only read Casino Royale. I do need to get back to them and I'd also like to read the Gardner/other authors stuff too.

Just like Tarzan, first one is best.

This is hard. Probably Moonraker. It's almost completely different than the movie. Just replace a space shuttle with a nuke. The twist with the villain might be seen as cliche, but I think it fits for the time period and makes sense.

Other good ones are Casino Royale, Live and Let Die (despite some very racist parts), From Russia With Love, Thunderball, Dr. No, and On Her Majesty's Secret Service. I also like "lesser" ones like Diamonds Are Forever and The Man With The Golden Gun. Really the only one of the Flemming books I didn't care for was The Spy Who Loved Me.

Juhanor posted...

Just like Tarzan, first one is best.

I'm a bit embarrassed I didn't even think to read chronologically.

Never read any of the novels but my favorite James Bond movie is Tomorrow Never Dies.

GuerrillaSoldier posted...

colonel sun is great. i tried reading a few from the gardner series but i lost interest about halfway each time. i literally have the benson collection in giant book collection format but i haven't even read a single line. i was also interested in the young bond series but it's just too expensive and i burnt out on reading by the time i got around to it.

i did actually do audiobooks of the latest releases just last year (besides devil may care, i read that myself a few years back). of the newest ones, i'd say "with a mind to kill" was one of the better ones. but honestly the newer novels just aren't as good, imo.

That's what I figured. I tend to have a lot of fun with novelizations due to the imagery of the film, but what draws to me Bond is the opposite. It's the vast differences that I'm really interested in. How the books can paint a new image in place of my childhood memories, also drawing from them

Southernfatman posted...

This is hard. Probably Moonraker. It's almost completely different than the movie. Just replace a space shuttle with a nuke. The twist with the villain might be seen as cliche, but I think it fits for the time period and makes sense.

Other good ones are Casino Royale, Live and Let Die (despite some very racist parts), From Russia With Love, Thunderball, Dr. No, and On Her Majesty's Secret Service. I also like "lesser" ones like Diamonds Are Forever and The Man With The Golden Gun. Really the only one of the Flemming books I didn't care for was The Spy Who Loved Me.

Moonraker sounds interesting.

Wait... They replaced a space shuttle with a disguised nuclear warhead? That's insane!

Xethuminra posted...

Moonraker sounds interesting.

Wait... They replaced a space shuttle with a disguised nuclear warhead? That's insane!

I meant that the plot revolved around a nuclear missile instead of a space shuttle, in case you weren't just joking. In the book Hugo Drax builds a nuke for Queen and country, but all is not what it seems with Drax's project after a major incident occurs.

Southernfatman posted...

I meant that the plot revolved around a nuclear missile instead of a space shuttle, in case you weren't just joking. In the book Hugo Drax builds a nuke for Queen and country, but all is not what it seems with Drax's project after a major incident occurs.

Pretty much

In the movie, it was what, a giant laser or device to terraform the moon? On a space station iirc

Xethuminra posted...

Pretty much

In the movie, it was what, a giant laser or device to terraform the moon? On a space station iirc

The Moonraker was the shuttle to get to Drax's space station which was his haven for those he saw as perfect while he killed everyone on Earth, or something like that.

Southernfatman posted...

The Moonraker was the shuttle to get to Drax's space station which was his haven for those he saw as perfect while he killed everyone on Earth, or something like that.

Oh.

Odd enough I just started this series back up. Right now earlynin the series I'd have to say moonraker.