14 replies to this topic

[Qwerty]

From K1Bond007 on the CBn main page...

Sebastian Faulks To Host Waterstone's Writer's Table

Will be compiling a list of influential books

— U P D A T E —

Sebastian Faulks’
Forty Most Influential Books

[zencat]

Very cool. Will a Bond book make the list, I wonder? (Yeah, I know, it won't.)

[Qwerty]

Very cool. Will a Bond book make the list, I wonder? (Yeah, I know, it won't.)

Are you kidding me?!?

What's not winning about a naked girl with a broken nose and a knife on a beach?

[K1Bond007]

Very cool. Will a Bond book make the list, I wonder? (Yeah, I know, it won't.)

I'm actually expecting one to make it, if only at the end of the list. I'd bet on Casino Royale, though the safe bet is probably From Russia with Love. Whether it truly influenced him as a writer is questionable. Probably not, but I can see why he would probably throw one on there.

[Jim]

I expect there will be one, for marketing purposes.

I've put my mortgage on it being High Time to Kill. Fingers crossed!

[Trident]

I expect there will be one, for marketing purposes.

I've put my mortgage on it being High Time to Kill. Fingers crossed!

Are you serious? Because if you are I suggest you take another mortgage and put it on this three-legged racing horse that is bound to win with fantastic odds at Newmarket's James-Guineas-Festival. Name of 'Lurchin' Old Nag'.

Edited by Trident, 17 April 2008 - 08:40 AM.

[Jim]

I expect there will be one, for marketing purposes.

I've put my mortgage on it being High Time to Kill. Fingers crossed!

Are you serious? Because if you are I suggest you take another mortgage and put it on this tree-legged racing horse that is bound to win with fantastic odds at Newmarket's James-Guineas-Festival. Name of 'Lurchin' Old Nag'.

Oh, all right.

Never Dream of Dying it is.

[Mister Asterix]

— U P D A T E —

Sebastian Faulks’
Forty Most Influential Books

[zencat]

Wow.

I'm pleased to see Fleming make the list, but surprised to see Moonraker. But it is a great book.

[K1Bond007]

It's one of my favorites, but I'm surprised as well.

[Mister Asterix]

The World is not Enough?

[Loomis]

Pleased to see one of my all-time favourites, THE MAGUS, on the list. A lot of the titles mean nothing to me, though - fault doubtless mine. The most recent book I'm noticing is THE LINE OF BEAUTY, which I'm reading at the moment. Extremely well-written, but a bit overrated IMO.

[MkB]

The World is not Enough?

Yes, but by Zoe Oldenbourg, not Raymond Benson!
Gosh, Mr. *, you almost made me have a stroke when I read your post before seeing the actual list

About Moonraker, it's a close second in my list, just after (ex aequo ?) Dr. No, for almost the same reasons as those described by Faulks.

[Qwerty]

Thrilled to see Moonraker (one of Fleming's best and most enjoyable) make the cut.

[Trident]

Some very interesting works there, but most either mean nothing to me or were only briefly mentioned in literature classes during secondary school as must-reads (and thus never actually made it from my to-be-read-during-15-years-on-a-lonly-island shelve to my nighttable).

What I find remarkable is the absence of some obvious candidates: no Hemmingway, Faulkner, (Graham) Greene or Scott Fitzgerald. No Thomas Mann or Truman Capote. Nice to see Faulks going the extra mile and avoid some of the mentioned-to-death names.

Also some curious choices with the titles. 'Moonraker' is not so often mentioned as favourite Fleming novel, I daresay. And with Solzhenitsyn I'd probably chose 'Cancer Ward' or 'The Gulag Archipelago' over Ivan Denisovich. And surprising to find George MacDonald Fraser not only on this list (deservedly IMHO) but also so close to the top.