Fleming Biography by Andrew Lycett

AlphaOmegaSin

I've seen this being sold on Amazon and the Book Depository. Now, is it worth purchasing ?

http://www.bookdepository.com/Ian-Fleming-Andrew-Lycett/9781857997835?redirected=true&utm_medium=Shopping&utm_campaign=ShoppingUk&utm_source=UK&utm_content=Ian-Fleming

Sir Miles

Short answer...yes -{

David Schofield

Very thorough book but really, hard work to get through. Lycett doesn't make it pleasant to read

And Lycett insists on referring to Fleming as "Ian" suggesting a familiarity and first hand knowledge of Fleming which Lycett never had, and which certainly jarred with me.

Someone who did have a friendship and first hand working relationship with Fleming is John Pearson, and his biography is by far the more entertaining and a delight to read.

But Lycett still is a must. But don''t expect it to be anything other than hard work laced with over familiarity.

Silhouette Man

Yes, it is brilliant and answers many questions regarding Fleming and Bond - an absolute must for your library along with John Pearson's biography of Fleming. And a lot of biographers these days do use Christian names for some reason perhaps as constantly referring to the person by their surname sounds too cold and formal to our more informal age.

The Domino Effect

Absolutely. For me, it is the definitive biography of Fleming. Lycett was authorised by the Fleming estate, had access to all of Fleming's papers and associates and also had the benefit of time to put Fleming in his rightful place. Pearson's biography is definitely more readable, but I find Lycett's more informative and satisfying.

AlphaOmegaSin

Cheers Guys -{

superado

David Schofield wrote:

Very thorough book but really, hard work to get through. Lycett doesn't make it pleasant to read

And Lycett insists on referring to Fleming as "Ian" suggesting a familiarity and first hand knowledge of Fleming which Lycett never had, and which certainly jarred with me.

Someone who did have a friendship and first hand working relationship with Fleming is John Pearson, and his biography is by far the more entertaining and a delight to read.

But Lycett still is a must. But don''t expect it to be anything other than hard work laced with over familiarity.

Totally agree. Though I use the book as a reference for whatever specific piece of info I'm looking for, reading the book straight through is a chore, which is why I ended up getting the audio version on iTunes.

SpyFicGirl07

Just found out you can get this great bio on Kindle - and it's free! http://www.amazon.co.uk/Ian-Fleming-Licence-Nigel-Cawthorne-ebook/dp/B00NO2UWUO/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1415790062&sr=8-1&keywords=ian+fleming+endeavour

Thomo

Just read it and it was very good - now on to Goldeneye by Matthew Parker

AlphaOmegaSin

Cheers for the Link -{

Silhouette Man

Thanks for that link indeed! -{