13 replies to this topic

[Daddy Bond]

I wanted to start reading the Bond novels - starting with Fleming (obviously), my question is...

Is the obvious first book to read from Fleming "Casino Royale" (since it is the first) or would anyone recommend I start with his best novel in his series. If so, which one would that be?

How would you rank the Fleming novels.

Well, the library was out of Bond novels except for "The Man with the Red Tattoo" - so, I'm going to start there - knowing full well it is not Fleming.

How does it stack up? I'm I spoiling future reads of Fleming?

Regards

[tdalton]

For me, I'd start with Casino Royale for two reasons. First of all, yes, it's the first novel in the series. And, secondly, I also think that it is the best of Fleming's Bond novels. If you want to read a couple of his short stories just to get into Fleming's writing before going to the novels, then his short story "The Living Daylights" is quite good.

[Qwerty]

Start with Casino Royale and read the entire series in order if you can. A tall order, but one I'm willing to bet would strengthen the enjoyment from the novels.

[Peter Guillam 006]

I first read OHMSS and was blown away. If you want to (read the basic essentials 007's) read a couple of really good Bonds, Start with Casino Royale, then read OHMSS(there's a little link with CR) and YOLT. I think their the three deepest 007 stories but then I havent read the whole series.

[Qwerty]

If you want to go in complete chronological order (others may of course disagree with me on whether or not certain novels fit in here or not):

IAN FLEMING
Casino Royale
Live And Let Die
Moonraker
Diamonds Are Forever
From Russia With Love
Doctor 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

R.D. MASCOTT
003 1/2 The Adventures Of James Bond Junior

KINGSLEY AMIS
Colonel Sun

JOHN PEARSON
James Bond: The Authorised Biography of 007

CHRISTOPHER WOOD
James Bond, The Spy Who Loved Me
James Bond And Moonraker

JOHN GARDNER
Licence Renewed
For Special Services
Icebreaker
Role Of Honour
Nobody Lives Forever
No Deals, Mr. Bond
Scorpius
Licence To Kill
Win, Lose Or Die
Brokenclaw
The Man From Barbarossa
Death Is Forever
Never Send Flowers
SeaFire
GoldenEye
Cold

RAYMOND BENSON
“Blast From The Past”
Zero Minus Ten
Tomorrow Never Dies
The Facts Of Death
“Midsummer Nights Doom”
High Time To Kill
The World Is Not Enough
“Live At Five”
Doubleshot
Never Dream Of Dying
The Man With The Red Tattoo
Die Another Day

CHARLIE HIGSON
SilverFin
Blood Fever

SAMANTHA WEINBERG
The Moneypenny Diaries: Guardian Angel

[Harmsway]

Well, I personally would start with CASINO ROYALE, and read through all of the Fleming novels in the publication order. At that point, I'd try to get a copy of COLONEL SUN.

I wouldn't bother reading the Gardner/Benson books. The Gardner books are about as bland and forgettable as books can be, and the Benson books, while diverting, are nothing particularly great either.

[tdalton]

Well, I personally would start with CASINO ROYALE, and read through all of the Fleming novels in the publication order. At that point, I'd try to get a copy of COLONEL SUN.

I wouldn't bother reading the Gardner/Benson books. The Gardner books are about as bland and forgettable as books can be, and the Benson books, while diverting, are nothing particularly great either.

I agree that the Gardner and Benson books aren't that great as an overall body of work, but there certainly are some excellent reads in both of the authors' canons. Gardner's For Special Services is quite good, as is Benson's Never Dream of Dying, IMO.

[MarcAngeDraco]

For me, I'd start with Casino Royale for two reasons. First of all, yes, it's the first novel in the series. And, secondly, I also think that it is the best of Fleming's Bond novels. If you want to read a couple of his short stories just to get into Fleming's writing before going to the novels, then his short story "The Living Daylights" is quite good.

Excellent advice from tdalton, I concur!!

Start with Casino Royale and read the entire series in order if you can. A tall order, but one I'm willing to bet would strengthen the enjoyment from the novels.

More terrific advice from Qwerty!

I would absolutely start reading Fleming with CR and then proceed through the Fleming novels in order. If you can't get the Fleming books at your Library, reasonably priced reading copies are almost always on eBay or half.com.

[ACE]

Listen to Qwerty. Him know what him talk about.

[FLEMINGFAN]

I wanted to start reading the Bond novels - starting with Fleming (obviously), my question is...

Is the obvious first book to read from Fleming "Casino Royale" (since it is the first) or would anyone recommend I start with his best novel in his series. If so, which one would that be?

How would you rank the Fleming novels.

Well, the library was out of Bond novels except for "The Man with the Red Tattoo" - so, I'm going to start there - knowing full well it is not Fleming.

How does it stack up? I'm I spoiling future reads of Fleming?

Regards

I would really read the Ian Fleming novels first, and in order, so that you can get the true feel of the evolution, and demise, of the character of James Bond (not as 'dark and gritty' as he is painted to be). After you have read them, pick up John Griswold's book for an interesting exposure to the world that Fleming created. The John Pearson biography of 007 is alos interesting.

After that, as a novelty, you can read any of the others, but they will certainly pale in comparison as none of them truly are about the Bond-world, but just some screenplay-type stories with a character called James Bond.

[codenamel]

DADDY BOND..... I am going to recommend that you not start with CASINO ROYALE as your first novel. I have been reading Ian Fleming since 1965 and my first Bond novel was, in fact, YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE, which was probably not the best place to start either, although I could have done worse. I think that you should begin with a five star Ian Fleming Bond novel, and frankly, CASINO ROYALE, for all its virtues, is only a four star literary effort. The novel is a prime example and probably one of the finest post-war spy novels in the Graham Greene/Eric Ambler tradition. While the author creates some splendid atmosphere, very little happens in the novel and the stakes are very minor indeed. The character of James Bond is manipulated by events and reacts to them very much in the same fashion as characters in Graham Greene and Eric Ambler novels. It probably should be read after you have read the top five novels in the Ian Fleming canon.

My choice for a first novel would be the 1958 novel DOCTOR NO. This is the Bond novel that takes a giant leap from the post-war and World War II spy novels and supercharges the genre, setting the stage for the 1960s and the cinematic James Bond and espionage efforts of the spy craze that dominated the next decade. You will still encounter all the atmosphere of CASINO ROYALE, but much more, including a far more formidable and well developed villain, a female character who is sexier and more interesting, a plot that is part detective story and part science fiction with a little bit of Fu Manchu thrown in for good measure. DOCTOR NO has everything vintage Bond should have from outdoor physical action to a menacing villain of such power that Le Chiffre would barely stack up as a henchman to incredible dangers that include a torture tunnel, a private of army of Chinese/Negro thugs, a foot-long centipede and a giant squid. There were very good reasons why this novel was chosen by Broccoli and Saltzman as the first film in 1962. I know THUBDERBALL was the first choice, but they can thank Kevin McClory that he made them change their plans.

After DOCTOR NO, I would read the SPECTRE/Blofeld trilogy of THUNDERBALL, ON HER MAJESTY'S SECRET SEVICE and YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE with THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN GUN thrown in because it wraps up the story nicely. This is an epic 007 adventure that spans the world and sees the character of Bond fight his greatest enemy, suffer loss and face despair and a physical and spiritual rebirth after enduring the worst the enemy can throw at him. When you finish those five noevsl, then go back and read the lesser, but still excellent efforts like CASINO ROYALE, LIVE AND LET DIE, MOONRAKER, DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER and FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE from the early years, saving GOLDFINGER, THE SPY WHO LOVES ME and the two short story collections for last.

By the way, I am not an Ian Fleming snob. I have been a huge fan of John Gardner since the 1960s, and he receives very little credit for keeping the James Bond literary franchise alive and well. I regard at least five of his novels and three of Raymond Bensons as essential Bond reading. And Charlie Higson has also surprised me with how well his Young Bond novels are written and their appeal to all age groups, a great place for your kids to be introduced to the literary James Bond. I have included a complete list of my absolute essentials below in the order I believe they should be read. Naturally, many will disagree with me on this and I acknowledge the differing tastes of Bond fans, my brethren, the world over.

Ian Fleming novels:

DOCTOR NO
THUNDERBALL
ON HER MAJESTY'S SECRET SERVICE
YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE
THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN GUN
CASINO ROYALE
FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE

Robert Markham novel

COLONEL SUN

John Gardner novels

LICENSE RENEWED
FOR SPECIAL SERVICES
ICEBREAKER
ROLE OF HONOR
NOBODY LIVES FOREVER

Raymond Benson novels

ZERO MINUS TEN
DOUBLESHOT
NEVER DREAM OF DYING
THE MAN WITH THE RED TATTOO

Charlie Higson novels

SILVERFIN
BLOOD FEVER

Read all of these, DADDY BOND, and you will have had a rich and varied taste of the literary Bond. This is the Dom Perignon '53 of the cellar.

[Lazenby880]

First of all, wonderful post there codenamel. That said, I would concur with Qwerty, I really do wish that I had read the James Bond novels in order for the very reason to which FLEMINGFAN referred; in doing so one can trace the evolution of the character until he hits the emotional bottom of the beginning of YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE (THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN GUN is a re-birth, in some ways). CASINO ROYALE is a most entertaining and informative introduction to James Bond in any event, although if choosing a first novel and *not* reading the series in order I would recommend MOONRAKER, one of my favourites and another one that would act as an excellent introductory work to the literary series.

The novel is a prime example and probably one of the finest post-war spy novels in the Graham Greene/Eric Ambler tradition. While the author creates some splendid atmosphere, very little happens in the novel and the stakes are very minor indeed. The character of James Bond is manipulated by events and reacts to them very much in the same fashion as characters in Graham Greene and Eric Ambler novels. It probably should be read after you have read the top five novels in the Ian Fleming canon.

codenamel, are you a fellow Eric Ambler fan? Just finished reading THE MASK OF/A COFFIN FOR DIMITRIOS on the train today. Truly the sophistication and suspense of Ambler has never been surpassed or even matched in the genre since; a superlative author.

My choice for a first novel would be the 1958 novel DOCTOR NO. This is the Bond novel that takes a giant leap from the post-war and World War II spy novels and supercharges the genre, setting the stage for the 1960s and the cinematic James Bond and espionage efforts of the spy craze that dominated the next decade. You will still encounter all the atmosphere of CASINO ROYALE, but much more, including a far more formidable and well developed villain, a female character who is sexier and more interesting, a plot that is part detective story and part science fiction with a little bit of Fu Manchu thrown in for good measure.

In my view DR NO is one of the *worst* novels with which to begin reading the James Bond novels. As much as I thoroughly enjoy it, and while it may be exemplary of the element of the bizarre that was arguably Fleming's trademark, surely the fantastic nature of the novel is not conducive to a first time reader.

By the way, I am not an Ian Fleming snob. I have been a huge fan of John Gardner since the 1960s, and he receives very little credit for keeping the James Bond literary franchise alive and well. I regard at least five of his novels and three of Raymond Bensons as essential Bond reading.

I am not a huge fan of John Gardner's, although I would readily concur that much of the criticism directed towards him is unnecessarily harsh. Another point on which I would depart is the notion that *any* of the Bensons are 'essential Bond reading'; his work is (in my opinion) of little artistic (or otherwise) value and one would be hard-pressed to describe the character in his novels as 'James Bond'. *My* advice (free, obviously, to be ignored) to anyone would be to avoid them and concentrate on the originals and Kingsley Amis' wonderful COLONEL SUN, although as that is but my opinion and as there exists a contingent of Benson fans of a reasonable size on CBn it would obviously be best to read them and decide for oneself.

Edited by Lazenby880, 30 April 2006 - 09:34 PM.

[Aussie21]

It'd be difficult for me to even attempt to make a post that'll stack up to any one of the people that have responded in this thread. That said, I definitely suggest first reading Casino Royale.

After writing a paper for my English class on Fleming, I was interested in reading the literary Bond. I ended up going to the library and checking out CR. I was hooked from then on.

Is it the most exciting? No.
Does it have the sexiest Bond girl? No.
Is it extremely well written and paced perfectly? A resounding YES.

The suggestion that you should start with Dr. No is something I can't agree with. It's entirely too 'sci-fi' for my tastes, and it's not representative of what you can expect from Fleming's Bond in the other novels. It's a terrific book, but just not the one to start with.

Definitely begin with CR and then read them chronologically. It's the most satisfying, I reckon.

Edited by Aussie21, 01 May 2006 - 04:41 AM.

[Blonde Bond]

I'd say Casino Royale, just because it's the first novel. Like I did few days ago. I was in the library and couldnt find Dan Brown's Angels and Demons, so I thought if I'd look for bond books.

Now,I've never read a bond book before, so I looked the shelves until I found Ian Flemings first book. Honestly,if I wouldnt have found it,I would have walked out of the library,empty handed. Because, for obvious reasons,I always want to start my reading from the original book of the series. So,I'd advice you to find the first book "Casino Royale" if possible.