How different are the Books?

AlphaOmegaSin

I want to start collecting the Bond Novels, as I still have not read any of them in all my years of being a Bond Fan

Anyway, I'm curious to know how different they are from the Films? I know that Book to Film Adaptations generally leave out large Sections of the Books (LOTR for Example)

welshboy78

AlphaOmegaSin wrote:

I want to start collecting the Bond Novels, as I still have not read any of them in all my years of being a Bond Fan

Anyway, I'm curious to know how different they are from the Films? I know that Book to Film Adaptations generally leave out large Sections of the Books (LOTR for Example)

I am on the 5th one, some are similar some are way different e.g. Moonraker is completely different and a great read!!

Also you see its of plots from the books that made it into other films e.g. Licence to Kill

Start off on Casino Royale and work your way thru them in order, they are great fun and cheap as chips if your not worried about edition collecting wise!

AdamOmega

They are quite different from the films; a little more subdued, and a lot more introspective with regards to Bond himself (his diet, his past, his attitude towards paperwork, etc). For the most part they are not outrageous, but I would make exceptions for Dr. No (Bond vs. giant squid) and, to a lesser extent, Thunderball (there is a great bit of dialogue between Bond and Felix about the plot as it pertains to "real life").

I'm not a particularly fast reader, but with a good hour or two to spare I can cruise through a Bond book in no time. From Russia With Love in particular was a compelling read.

NeverSayDie

I'm currently reading all the Newspaper comic strip adaptations of the books while listening to the soundtrack from the film. Casino Roayle is very close to the film. I'm now reading Live and Let Die.

Silhouette Man

They're very very different - hardly any of the films resemble the books, so you're in for a real treat, my old son!

jeffch

welshboy78 wrote:

AlphaOmegaSin wrote:

I want to start collecting the Bond Novels, as I still have not read any of them in all my years of being a Bond Fan

Anyway, I'm curious to know how different they are from the Films? I know that Book to Film Adaptations generally leave out large Sections of the Books (LOTR for Example)

I am on the 5th one, some are similar some are way different e.g. Moonraker is completely different and a great read!!

Also you see its of plots from the books that made it into other films e.g. Licence to Kill

Start off on Casino Royale and work your way thru them in order, they are great fun and cheap as chips if your not worried about edition collecting wise!

Its fun when reading the books to see where small bits of inspiration for movies like LTK, TLD and FYEO came from. The 80's Bond films were very much pieced together from short stories and unused elements from the Flemming novels.