James Bond books...

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Hound
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James Bond books...

Post by Hound »

I just finished reading Casino Royale and enjoyed it a great deal.

I was surprised by how short the book was but how much story is packed into it.

I was also surprised by how closely the movie follows the book, only changing a very few bits.

I was also surprised by just how much more misogynistic James Bond is in the book than he is in the movies and that is saying something.

This book was a lot of fun and I'm very much looking forward to reading the next book.
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inflatable dalek
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Post by inflatable dalek »

Yeah, the films actually tone down the sexism and casual racism a lot, I guess it shows how much things had changed even in the ten years between the first book and first movie.

Live and Let Die is the only one that's really out and out embaressing to read though because it comes on thick and strong throughout, ironically because Fleming wanted to write black Americans "properly" and was very proud of the effort he put into researching the slang and so on, but it never feels anything less than a middle aged middle class white guy trying to hard to be cool. A bit like the way Furman wrote the supposedly teenage emo girl Verity. It doesn't help he's so pleased with having done a book with a large black cast he has characters constantly pointing out how amazing it is everytime they do something slightly competent ("A negro chauffeur?").

Though the subsequent volumes tend to be relatively less misogynistic (especially if you decide from a character viewpoint that this makes Bond distance himself from making close connections with women).

I've always found it interesting psychologically that the book Fleming wrote to take his mind off his upcoming marriage had what's basically his Mary Sue find out his potential bride is evil right before she dies horribly. No pre-nup nerves there for sure.

I love those exploding Bulgarians. They so should have been in the film.
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Hound
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Post by Hound »

I got the Sean Connery 007 collections. They were super cheap at Walmart. Are they going to release the rest of the bond movies in such a fashion?
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DrSpengler
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Post by DrSpengler »

The only 007 books I've read are "Dr. No" and "The Spy Who Loved Me".

It was middle school, I think, but I remember enjoying "Dr. No", even the bit where Bond fights the octopus (the deathtrap laden airvent is really dull in the movie compared to the book; maybe it could've used an octopus). To a middle schooler that stuff seemed really cool, anyway.

As for "The Spy Who Loved Me", well, it was how I found out that many of the Bond movies used only the title of the books and nothing else.

So I wasn't expecting a book from the point of view of a chick in a motel being held hostage by gangsters with special guest appearance by James Bond.

I dunno if I'd appreciate it more on a second read through, knowing what to expect first hand or not. I sometimes get the feeling that a few of the movie novelizations are possibly better than the original Fleming novels they steal their names from.
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Post by Clogs »

Some of books are downright pulp-horror - Fleming had a blunt writing style and did not pull his punches...

Saying that: I'd love to punch the book Bond, because he's one nasty brute. Gets the job done, like a thug rather than a gent. And is pretentious!
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Post by Sades »

If I'm watching James Bond movies, you're watching Twilight movies.
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Post by Hound »

Ok, if I think Twilight is crap then I don't have to watch any more. If you think Casino Royale is good then you have to watch all 22 007 movies...
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Post by Sades »

That's no fair, even I think Twilight's a bit crap.

I'll watch. I'll have my laptop, but don't be fooled. I'm paying attention. I swear.
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Post by Hound »

Yeah, I'll have my comics but I'll be paying just as much attention to Twilight as you pay to Bond...
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Post by Sades »

Excellent! :up:
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Post by optimusskids »

the Spy Who Loved me the novel is a complete departure from the other books I believe mostly written from a female perspective and sort of gritty in a kitchen sinkway and i think mostly set in a Canadian Motelif If remeber rightly.
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Post by inflatable dalek »

Clogs wrote: Saying that: I'd love to punch the book Bond, because he's one nasty brute. Gets the job done, like a thug rather than a gent. And is pretentious!
I think that's part of the appeal though, he's like Avon or Spike, we all like a bastard who says and does what he wants because a part of most of us would like that freedom on some level.

For example, I'm sure Hound would love not to be Sades bitch and to be able to say "We're not watching Twilight, now go make me a sandwich woman". :p

@Hound, I don't know about over there, but in the UK there were boxsets for Connery, Moore and Brosnan (Dalton and Lazenby, unsurprisingly, didn't get them).

Spy Who... is the book Fleming wound up being completely embarrassed by after the (mostly deserved I have to say) critical mauling it got. To the point he only sold the film makers the title, they were forbidden from using any of the plot whatsoever (though one of the thugs has metal capped teeth). Generally I think EON made the right choices as to when to be faithful to the original works and when to muck them about a bit.
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Post by Cliffjumper »

DrSpengler wrote:maybe it could've used an octopus
Maybe it could have used an octopus? Sir, name me one film, television show or book that couldn't be improved by a fight with an octopus.

Except the ones that already have octopus fights in them, obviously. Though even then they probably could have squeezed another couple of octopi in.
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Post by inflatable dalek »

Though in fairness, the film isn't as "far out" as the full Fu Man Chu style of the book despite being generally faithful. The giant octopus fits right in with the villain who, as well as metal claws for hands, has his heart in the wrong place and completely black eyes. The film is pushing it with the "dragon", I dread to think what the octopus would have looked like.

Though oddly, now we've had the hotel on fire from the book of Spy in Quantum of Solace, that's about the only major action scene from Fleming not to have shown up in some way shape or form in any of the films.
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Post by Sades »

Cliffjumper wrote:Maybe it could have used an octopus? Sir, name me one film, television show or book that couldn't be improved by a fight with an octopus.

Except the ones that already have octopus fights in them, obviously. Though even then they probably could have squeezed another couple of octopi in.
THIS.

And for the record, I thoroughly enjoyed Casino Royale.
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Post by Hound »

Sades wrote:THIS.

And for the record, I thoroughly enjoyed Casino Royale.
This means she's watching Quantum of Solace!
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Post by inflatable dalek »

Sades wrote:THIS.

Best warn you now, Octopussy will not live up to your expectations.
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Post by Decepticon Spike »

inflatable dalek wrote:Best warn you now, Octopussy will not live up to your expectations.
Octopussy was the first 007 book I read. It's about as far from the movie as you can get.
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Post by Hound »

Finally got to order Live and Let Die, also got Moonraker and Diamonds Are Forever.

I am very anxious to read these books.
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Post by Sades »

BUT YOU WON'T, BECAUSE I DEMAND ATTENTION

j/k
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