14 replies to this topic

[Vauxhall]

This article from London's Evening Standard gives a few clues, courtesy of the bookseller who provided books for SPECTRE:

 

http://www.standard....d-a2953686.html

 

 

[Emrayfo]

I had no idea the great Eric Ambler was Ian Fleming's uncle! From memory, Fleming has Bond reading Ambler's 'The Sword of Dimitrios' on an airplane flight. I can't remember in which book, maybe Moonraker?

I have books by all these authors. Cool article, thanks for sharing.

Edited by Emrayfo, 24 September 2015 - 12:52 PM.

[Major Tallon]

It's The Mask of Dimitrios, perfect reading on a flight from London to Istanbul (FRWL, chapter 13).

[Emrayfo]

A-ha! So it is, Major Tallon. Thank you for correcting my hazy memory.

[Dustin]

Highly doubt the part about Ambler being Fleming's uncle...

[Arbogast777]

Yeah, let me also cast doubt on Ambler being Fleming's uncle...

[ggl]

I think they're talking about: John Arlott, who went to school with Fleming's uncle FULL STOP (Also we have) Eric Ambler...

[Dustin]

Yes, now there is a comma and it's a little rephrased. The prior version clearly claimed Ambler to be Fleming's uncle.

[glidrose]

If John Arlott is who I think he is how could he have gone to school with Fleming's uncle? John Arlott was born in 1914 and therefore was younger than IF!

[Arbogast777]

There's something just goofy about this article. As Dustin said they definitely rewrote the passage involving Eric Ambler. Fine. But John Arlott going to school with Fleming's Uncle?

Arlott only went to grammar school, and actually left early. That means that Arlott and the Uncle have to be roughly the same age, meaning that makes Fleming about 5 years younger than the Uncle...

Edited by Arbogast777, 24 September 2015 - 08:37 PM.

[Emrayfo]

Seems there's more than a few problems there...

[glidrose]

Here's the twitter account for the author of the article:

https://twitter.com/lizzieedmo

[Single-O-Seven]

Nice to see Ferro's The Traveller's Tree in there. I wonder if Birds of the West Indes will be glimpsed, albeit with the author's name obscured?

 

What would the rest of you like/think to include if it were up to you? Some Bulldog Drummond or Sax Rohmer maybe? I'd definitely want some Raymond Chandler on Bond's shelves.

[Dustin]

A modern Bond? Some volumes of Jane's, A Good Man in Africa, Great Expectations, Cryptonomicon, some volumes of Ian Rankin and Jo Nesbo, King Lear, Ranulph Fiennes, Reinhold Messner, Ruiz Zafón, James Ellroy, Alan Furst...

[Single-O-Seven]

A modern Bond? Some volumes of Jane's, A Good Man in Africa, Great Expectations, Cryptonomicon, some volumes of Ian Rankin and Jo Nesbo, King Lear, Ranulph Fiennes, Reinhold Messner, Ruiz Zafón, James Ellroy, Alan Furst...

 

Alan Furst certainly makes sense. He and Rankin could parallel both Fleming and his Bond's enjoyment of Chandler and Ambler.