138 replies to this topic

[The Dove]

Great thread... I too have started re-reading the Bond books, well re-listing to them via my Penguin audiobook CD's which I'm currently putting onto my iPod.. Some of the books I haven't read before so it's been quite fun. Here's what's in my collection of audiobooks: From Russia With Love, Doctor No, The Man With The Golden Gun, Octopussy and The Living Daylights, For Your Eyes Only, Moonraker, Goldfinger, Casino Royale, Live and Let Die, You Only Live Twice and Diamonds Are Forever all read by Rufus Sewell and The Spy Who Loved Me read by Samantha Bond.. I think the only Fleming books which I DON'T have in this collection are On Her Majesty's Secret Service (which I do have in print) and Thunderball.

[Skudor]

Who does the reading? I just had the thought that Moore would have been a fantastic choice for that.

[The Dove]

Samantha Bond (Miss Moneypenny, GE, TND, TWINE, DAD) reads The Spy Who Loved Me, and Rufus Sewell reads all the other ones, Skudor..

[archer1949]

When Bond is swimming to Mr Bigs island, Bond is walking across the sand. Next thing he's getting attacked by a Barracuda. It really confuses me.

I think he means the sand at the bottom of the ocean; he's trying to carefully, cautiously walk across it, and next thing he knows, there's a giant damned barracuda -- at least, that's how I took it when I read it.

Hope you like Moonraker; it's a hell of a ride, and much better than the movie.

Amen to that!

[DamnCoffee]

Yeah, I'm rather enjoying Moonraker. I've just got past the card game, between Bond and Drax. Excellent stuff, and so beautifully detailed. Honestly one of the best things I've read. I love the amount of detail Fleming actually goes into, it makes his books feel so alive!

[Chief of SIS]

Yeah, I'm rather enjoying Moonraker. I've just got past the card game, between Bond and Drax. Excellent stuff, and so beautifully detailed. Honestly one of the best things I've read. I love the amount of detail Fleming actually goes into, it makes his books feel so alive!

To me it had always been incredible that my favorite Bond novel was able to keep things domestic. Though Live and Let Die has a blistering third act, I must say, I love Moonraker's just a tinge more.

[Jack Spang]

I am reading Casino Royale at the moment and plan to re-read all the rest of the Fleming books for the 5th or 6th time. LOL. As much as I enjoy CR, I prefer LALD, Dr No, OHMSS and FRWL. Perhaps Moonraker too. I am envious of anyone who is reading or plans to read the books for the first time. I remember first reading them when I was 18 and 19 (not in order, FRWL was my first). What an exciting ride it was! A real adventure! They have had such an influence on me. I went straight onto Gardner's afterwards. I re-read all of Gardner's back in 2009.

Edited by Jack Spang, 16 November 2011 - 05:03 AM.

[Matt_13]

The ending of FRWL blew my mind the first time. You're gunna love that one.

[Jack Spang]

The ending of FRWL certainly surprised me. If I had have been around in the 50's, reading Fleming's books as he wrote them, I would have been saying "oh no, Bond is no more!" like I'm sure many other people thought at the time.

[00Twelve]

Yeah, I'm rather enjoying Moonraker. I've just got past the card game, between Bond and Drax. Excellent stuff, and so beautifully detailed. Honestly one of the best things I've read. I love the amount of detail Fleming actually goes into, it makes his books feel so alive!

First, recapping LALD, can you believe we've still never seen a main baddie meet his end by shark attack? Killifer and random thugs from FYEO and TB don't count.

Anyway, regarding MR, it really is a gem. It moves a little slower than LALD, but the detail of Bond's domestic life is fascinating and the pace will soon pick up around the Drax mansion. MR gets quite intense.

[Chief of SIS]

TB sealed the deal with two simple things.

Spoiler

Blowtorch. Shower.

Need I say more.

[Skudor]

Samantha Bond (Miss Moneypenny, GE, TND, TWINE, DAD) reads The Spy Who Loved Me, and Rufus Sewell reads all the other ones, Skudor..

Thanks - that's pretty good stuff then.

[MarkA]

Great thread... I too have started re-reading the Bond books, well re-listing to them via my Penguin audiobook CD's which I'm currently putting onto my iPod.. Some of the books I haven't read before so it's been quite fun. Here's what's in my collection of audiobooks: From Russia With Love, Doctor No, The Man With The Golden Gun, Octopussy and The Living Daylights, For Your Eyes Only, Moonraker, Goldfinger, Casino Royale, Live and Let Die, You Only Live Twice and Diamonds Are Forever all read by Rufus Sewell and The Spy Who Loved Me read by Samantha Bond.. I think the only Fleming books which I DON'T have in this collection are On Her Majesty's Secret Service (which I do have in print) and Thunderball.

These are abridged versions which I think are a travesty (I have actually sampled them). If you listen to Fleming as i said earlier they must be unabridged. It is all in the writing and Feming's major strength, his discriptive power.

[David Schofield]

Great thread... I too have started re-reading the Bond books, well re-listing to them via my Penguin audiobook CD's which I'm currently putting onto my iPod.. Some of the books I haven't read before so it's been quite fun. Here's what's in my collection of audiobooks: From Russia With Love, Doctor No, The Man With The Golden Gun, Octopussy and The Living Daylights, For Your Eyes Only, Moonraker, Goldfinger, Casino Royale, Live and Let Die, You Only Live Twice and Diamonds Are Forever all read by Rufus Sewell and The Spy Who Loved Me read by Samantha Bond.. I think the only Fleming books which I DON'T have in this collection are On Her Majesty's Secret Service (which I do have in print) and Thunderball.

These are abridged versions which I think are a travesty (I have actually sampled them). If you listen to Fleming as i said earlier they must be unabridged. It is all in the writing and Feming's major strength, his discriptive power.

Fraid MarkA is right - the only unabridge versions I'm aware of are the long out of print Chivers Audio Cassettes read by David Rintoul.

If these are not they and abridged as MarkA and I suspect, you've deluding yourself, Matthew, and deceiving yourself by missing out on the full effect of Fleming's work.

[The Dove]

Great thread... I too have started re-reading the Bond books, well re-listing to them via my Penguin audiobook CD's which I'm currently putting onto my iPod.. Some of the books I haven't read before so it's been quite fun. Here's what's in my collection of audiobooks: From Russia With Love, Doctor No, The Man With The Golden Gun, Octopussy and The Living Daylights, For Your Eyes Only, Moonraker, Goldfinger, Casino Royale, Live and Let Die, You Only Live Twice and Diamonds Are Forever all read by Rufus Sewell and The Spy Who Loved Me read by Samantha Bond.. I think the only Fleming books which I DON'T have in this collection are On Her Majesty's Secret Service (which I do have in print) and Thunderball.

These are abridged versions which I think are a travesty (I have actually sampled them). If you listen to Fleming as i said earlier they must be unabridged. It is all in the writing and Feming's major strength, his discriptive power.

I'm quite sure I have UNABRIDGED versions..3 Cd's per book is abridged?? Hmm.. I'll double check on this this when I get home, but I pretty sure on this..

[MarkA]

Great thread... I too have started re-reading the Bond books, well re-listing to them via my Penguin audiobook CD's which I'm currently putting onto my iPod.. Some of the books I haven't read before so it's been quite fun. Here's what's in my collection of audiobooks: From Russia With Love, Doctor No, The Man With The Golden Gun, Octopussy and The Living Daylights, For Your Eyes Only, Moonraker, Goldfinger, Casino Royale, Live and Let Die, You Only Live Twice and Diamonds Are Forever all read by Rufus Sewell and The Spy Who Loved Me read by Samantha Bond.. I think the only Fleming books which I DON'T have in this collection are On Her Majesty's Secret Service (which I do have in print) and Thunderball.

These are abridged versions which I think are a travesty (I have actually sampled them). If you listen to Fleming as i said earlier they must be unabridged. It is all in the writing and Feming's major strength, his discriptive power.

I'm quite sure I have UNABRIDGED versions..3 Cd's per book is abridged?? Hmm.. I'll double check on this this when I get home, but I pretty sure on this..

Unabridged average about 7 cd's. The Rufus Sewell are not unabridged as I said I have sampled them. You need to either get the Blackstone Audio read by Simon Vance (which includes Colonel Sun and some of the Raymond Benson's) which are superb, or the BBC AudioGO discs which are read by David Rintoul (which includes James Bond: The Authorised Biography).

[The Dove]

Noted for future reference...thanks MarkA Might have to invest in those someday, but the moment I'm perfectly happy with what I have..

[DamnCoffee]

Casino Royale and Moonraker are read by Robert Whitfield, and Live and Let Die is read by David Rintoul. Not sure about the others yet, but they seem Unabridged from what I can see.

Loving Moonraker, though. Drax has just told Bond and Gala his plans. It's a brilliant piece, truly. I think I still prefer Live and Let Die though, but still it's a very enjoyable listen/read. The only thing I didn't really like, was the blatant rip off of Casino Royale. Bond crashing his car and getting captured, then stuffed in the back seat with Gala. I loved the whole bomb/cliff face sequence though. I can easily see Craigs Bond doing that, then after a good few minutes of silence, stating "Well by god, that was close." Could definitely see that getting a few laughs in the cinema.

[DamnCoffee]

Moonraker = Brilliant book. Not as good as Live and Let Die, but a lot better than Casino Royale. Loved that Bonds plan had a lot of civilian casualties. Would be interesting see that on screen. Kill 200 to save 20,000.

[OmarB]

Books on tape/cd. That crap cracks me up.

[00Twelve]

I'm eager to see what you think of DAF, Hark. I'm one of its proponents. Not sure how popular a view that is around these parts nowadays, but it's some lovely fantasy, capturing some great eras of NYC, horse racing, and Vegas. Keep us posted.

[DamnCoffee]

Just started Diamonds Are Forever last night. Took me a good 5 chapters to get into it, started off as rather uneventful, but it soon picked up. Bonds just dined with Felix, which I originally thought was Tee Hee for some reason. (The hook, the laugh) Genius idea with the golf balls. Tiffany is great, and it's nice to finally read about the Spang brothers first hand.

[Single-O-Seven]

Just started Diamonds Are Forever last night. Took me a good 5 chapters to get into it, started off as rather uneventful, but it soon picked up. Bonds just dined with Felix, which I originally thought was Tee Hee for some reason. (The hook, the laugh) Genius idea with the golf balls. Tiffany is great, and it's nice to finally read about the Spang brothers first hand.

Despite it's usual low-ranking, I quite enjoy this book. It's very vivid and its tour through the smuggler's underworld is great fun. I'm envious that you're savouring these books for the first time. The next two on your list are especially enjoyable.

[Trevelyan 006]

I'm eager to see what you think of DAF, Hark. I'm one of its proponents. Not sure how popular a view that is around these parts nowadays, but it's some lovely fantasy, capturing some great eras of NYC, horse racing, and Vegas. Keep us posted.

If Your Looking For A DAF Fan, You've Found One Right Here!


DAF Along With FRWL, LALD, and TB Are Among My Favorites I've Read. Also, Fleming's The Living Daylights Short Is A Very Good Read. I'm Currently Reading OHMSS (OHMSS And YOLT Are The Last Ones I Have Left To Read) And I'm Really Enjoying It. I Can't Help To Picture Connery As Bond Throughout Most Of The Books, He Just Fits I Suppose More Than Any Others, But I Can Say I'm Feeling A Lazenby Vibe With OHMSS!

I Find It Pretty Cool That With Reading The Fleming Books, I Get A Sense Of Seeing Something That Goes Beyond The Films, Like An Inside Look Of The WHOLE Story, Not Just What Made It On Screen. You Can't Really Go Wrong With Any Of The Books, And Much Like You Mharkin, I Was Never Much Of A Reader... Until I Bought My First Bond Book, From Russia With Love, That Is.

[The Dove]

Ugh.. I just can't get into Moonraker..it has to be one of these most BORING of the Bond books in my opinion, and yes I know I'm in the minority here.. I can see why Cubby Broccoli decided to NOT keep anything of the plot and storyline, apart from Hugo Drax's name when making the movie.

[Jack Spang]

"I Was Never Much Of A Reader... Until I Bought My First Bond Book, From Russia With Love, That Is."

I wasn't much of a reader either until I read my first Bond book FRWL at the tender age of 18 way back in December of 1995. After that I read all of the Bond books including the non Fleming ones...and non Bond books.

[DamnCoffee]

So Bond is now very close to falling in love with Tiffany? He's only known her a week.

WHAT IS WRONG WITH THIS MAN!?

[00Twelve]

Ah, you know, he's not the best about having a stable love life. I like that he gets close enough to Tiffany to be that committed to her (and I will contend that her having an Edith Piaf record in her apartment started him down that road). Don't worry, FRWL will fill in the blanks for you on that.

[Santa]

Ahhhh, Harkers. When you're older you'll understand that a bit better .

[David Schofield]

So Bond is now very close to falling in love with Tiffany? He's only known her a week.

WHAT IS WRONG WITH THIS MAN!?

Do you think he might just be faking it just so he has a guaranteed supply of sex?

Wouldn't be the first bloke to use that ruse.

Hell, it can be the only reason Craig-Bond declared his feeling for the awful Vesper Lynd.