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Didn't Amis also do a book on the James Bond Character
yes..
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Posted: |
Feb 16, 2019 - 4:13 PM
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By: |
MusicMad
(Member)
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Re-reading this thread ... I can't believe I've been posting here for more than 10 years! I must update my bio ...
I think I read Thunderball after seeing the first two films (when showing as a double-bill, mid 60s) but before seeing that film (I recall discussing sequences with my father who had seen the film and finding out there were differences). So, for the rest of the 1960s/early 1970s I read the complete set, out of order, with Live and Let Die being the last - I have a reason to know this but won't bore you ...
I was an out-and-out fan, struggling to match the films with the novels (I recall thinking the films were meant to recreate the novels and hence were out of order ...) As posted above - 10 years ago - I've read so many other JB007 novels and associated literature but I never have got around to the latest (multiple) authors' works ... I called it a day after Raymond Benson's last effort (an effort it was to read it!).
I re-iterate: none of the follow-on novels authored by the above were anywhere as good as the originals and I disagree with TG's praise of Kingsley Amis/Robert Markham's Colonel Sun ... it's a dreadful, boring, incomprehensible read (I'll stop there in case I become too critical). I re-read it a few years ago and it's been re-cycled. All of the John Gardner & Raymond Benson novels left my shelves a few years ago ... I couldn't bring myself to re-read those.
But what about the originals: 12 novels and 2 short-story collections. I re-read them all in the mid-70s and up until 10 years ago, had re-read Casino Royale and Goldfinger again. The latter because ... I couldn't recall too much of the exposition; the former because, from time-to-time, I set my mind to try and understand the plot of the 2006 film which does not make sense and I try to utilise the written page ... no luck, so far.
So now, as a way of de-cluttering, I'm disposing of books, inter alia and have, in the last six months, re-read the first two novels. I'd forgotten just how poor the second one is. Perhaps the first has the advantage of being ... the first (the writing is weak but the story holds your attention); the second struggles throughout and whilst I accept it is a product of its time (The past is a foreign country; they do things differently there) I found the racism a struggle to gloss-over. But ignoring the style it is, put simply, a poor novel.
Of course, you may say it's because my tastes are now attuned to more recent works. But I've recently re-read Leslie Charteris's The Saint Sees It Through (1947) ... a far better read; and am presently re-reading Adam Hall's Queen in Danger (1952) ... far from great but so much more enjoyable.
I remain a JB007 fan (despite the last two films) and do recommend reading the source novels if your interest goes beyond the cinematic exploits ... just expect the written word to reveal a different world.
Mitch
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I would love a Netflix series faithfully adapting the books, time period and all. It may be difficult to translate some of the stories into moving pictures, but whatevs. I'd still enjoy seeing it.
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As an aside, I have just finished The Man Who Saved Britain by Simon Winder, an interesting personal musing on the socio-cultural impact of Bond in the books and the films, with regards to Britain's changing view of itself as its role in the world changed over the last century. Worth having a look at, I think, although I'd warn of two things: (a) the author's love of excessively long complex sentences, ]!
Thor will love it!
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Actually, the movie BOND IS MUCH MORE OF A TOMCAT!
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Actually, the movie BOND IS MUCH MORE OF A TOMCAT!
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