What are you Currently Reading?

DR NO-ahDR NO-ah AustraliaPosts: 104MI6 Agent
in James Bond Literature
What Bond book are you currently reading or what is the one that you finished most recently?

I am currently reading through Thunderball which is one of the few Fleming's remaining that I haven't read yet.
"Mango, banana and tangerine. Sugar and ackee and cocoa bean!"
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Comments

  • welshboy78welshboy78 Posts: 10,326MI6 Agent
    Ive just given up half way thru Solo (total borefest) and just started Parkers Goldeneye. Im 100 pages in and totally addicted, nice to read about Fleming himself!!
    Instagram - bondclothes007
  • DR NO-ahDR NO-ah AustraliaPosts: 104MI6 Agent
    I have only ventured to Devil May Care outside of Fleming (slowly getting around). So you wouldn't recommend Solo then?
    "Mango, banana and tangerine. Sugar and ackee and cocoa bean!"
  • welshboy78welshboy78 Posts: 10,326MI6 Agent
    I finished Fleming then read Col Sun (good), DMC (enjoyable) then Solo. Im about half way and it really does not feel like Bond at all
    Instagram - bondclothes007
  • Charmed & DangerousCharmed & Dangerous Posts: 7,358MI6 Agent
    welshboy78 wrote:
    I finished Fleming then read Col Sun (good), DMC (enjoyable) then Solo. Im about half way and it really does not feel like Bond at all

    Yes -close but no cigar... :))

    Funny how Kingsley Amis (writing as Robert Markham)'s Colonel Sun really does feel like Bond, but Solo and DMC just don't, IMO. That's perhaps the acid test of the continuation novels...
    "How was your lamb?" "Skewered. One sympathises."
  • Golrush007Golrush007 South AfricaPosts: 3,421Quartermasters
    I remember enjoying Solo when I read it, although I do recall that when the action shifted to the USA my interest started to wane a little.

    In the last couple of months I've been catching up on some of the continuation novels I haven't got around to reading yet. I've read Colonel Sun (second time), Brokenclaw, Nobody Lives For Ever, High Time to Kill and am currently reading Christopher Wood's James Bond and Moonraker.
  • ThunderpussyThunderpussy Behind you !Posts: 63,792MI6 Agent
    I hated Solo. :#
    "I've been informed that there ARE a couple of QAnon supporters who are fairly regular posters in AJB."
  • 002002 New ZealandPosts: 558MI6 Agent
    I'm reading all the Flemings in order. Currently I'm up to For Your Eyes Only.

    I must say that I struggled initially with both Live and Let Die and Moonraker but I thoroughly enjoyed them both. Most of the ones I have read have been superb.

    However, the first real misstep was Diamonds are Forever. We've all discussed what made this title a weaker entry in the canon elsewhere but suffice to say that, although it contains some great sequences with some great characters, it falls down with it's obscure main villains and far too many locations crammed in.

    Unfortunately, I seem to be experiencing the same with For Your Eyes Only. I really don't think that Bond suits the short story format.
  • Sir MilesSir Miles The Wrong Side Of The WardrobePosts: 27,912Chief of Staff
    Thunderpussy wrote:
    I hated Solo. :#

    I thought Solo was the best of the last three Bond books - by FAR !
    YNWA 97
  • ThunderpussyThunderpussy Behind you !Posts: 63,792MI6 Agent
    But NOTHING happened in it. :)) I've read it twice, and that's enough for me. ;)
    "I've been informed that there ARE a couple of QAnon supporters who are fairly regular posters in AJB."
  • Sir MilesSir Miles The Wrong Side Of The WardrobePosts: 27,912Chief of Staff
    Thunderpussy wrote:
    But NOTHING happened in it. :))

    And yet it's STILL 10 times better than the other two - combined ! :o
    YNWA 97
  • DEFIANT 74205DEFIANT 74205 Perth, AustraliaPosts: 1,881MI6 Agent
    DR NO-ah wrote:
    What Bond book are you currently reading or what is the one that you finished most recently?

    I am currently reading through Thunderball which is one of the few Fleming's remaining that I haven't read yet.

    I'm reading through Moonraker again - which, in my opinion, is the best of them all.

    I like your username, by the way, Dr Noah ;)
    "Watch the birdie, you bastard!"
  • DR NO-ahDR NO-ah AustraliaPosts: 104MI6 Agent
    DEFIANT 74205 wrote:
    DR NO-ah wrote:
    What Bond book are you currently reading or what is the one that you finished most recently?

    I am currently reading through Thunderball which is one of the few Fleming's remaining that I haven't read yet.

    I'm reading through Moonraker again - which, in my opinion, is the best of them all.

    I like your username, by the way, Dr Noah ;)

    CHEERS! -{
    "Mango, banana and tangerine. Sugar and ackee and cocoa bean!"
  • 002002 New ZealandPosts: 558MI6 Agent
    Okay, I'm changing my mind about the short story format. I wasn't much keen on "From a View to a Kill", but "For Your Eyes Only" - the short story, that is - was superb.

    I may also be one of the very few who rates "Quantum of Solace" highly, even though it was a retrospective story told in flashback with no Bond elements. However, it was a nice morality tale and probably the best piece of proper character development for Bond himself. I'm a big fan of this particular short story.
  • ThunderpussyThunderpussy Behind you !Posts: 63,792MI6 Agent
    When I first read QOS, as a teen. I hated it, but after a few years when you as a reader have lived a little,
    been through a few relationships etc. It becomes a much more interesting story, of how an intense love, can
    turn to an almost destructive hatred of each other. -{
    "I've been informed that there ARE a couple of QAnon supporters who are fairly regular posters in AJB."
  • DR NO-ahDR NO-ah AustraliaPosts: 104MI6 Agent
    I am currently reading through You Only Twice for the first time now. Absolutely loving it, already one of my favourite Fleming's. And yes, 002 I agree about For Your Eyes only, I would say it is the best short story.
    "Mango, banana and tangerine. Sugar and ackee and cocoa bean!"
  • BarbelBarbel ScotlandPosts: 38,068Chief of Staff
    Yes, and I think it's perhaps the best candidate of all the short stories for expansion to a full novel (we had a thread on that a few years ago). It obviously didn't suit Our Founder at the time to put in the extra effort to do that, but perhaps if he had we wouldn't have got some of the other stories.
  • DR NO-ahDR NO-ah AustraliaPosts: 104MI6 Agent
    I have always been a fan of Risico too. Still holding out for the film version!! :#
    "Mango, banana and tangerine. Sugar and ackee and cocoa bean!"
  • Silhouette ManSilhouette Man The last refuge of a scoundrelPosts: 8,865MI6 Agent
    DR NO-ah wrote:
    I have always been a fan of Risico too. Still holding out for the film version!! :#

    We got at least some of it in For Your Eyes Only in 1981.
    "The tough man of the world. The Secret Agent. The man who was only a silhouette." - Ian Fleming, Moonraker (1955).
  • BarbelBarbel ScotlandPosts: 38,068Chief of Staff
    I re-read the Fleming Bonds recently (again...) and am currently working my way through Donald Hamilton's Matt Helm series. These are very enjoyable books and quite distinct from the Dean Martin movies of the 60s.
  • AlphaOmegaSinAlphaOmegaSin EnglandPosts: 10,926MI6 Agent
    I've been re-reading (For the hundredth Time) the Fleming Novels until GF, in Celebration of Trigger Mortis.
    1.On Her Majesties Secret Service 2.The Living Daylights 3.license To Kill 4.The Spy Who Loved Me 5.Goldfinger
  • 002002 New ZealandPosts: 558MI6 Agent
    Trying very hard to get through The Hildebrand Rarity: it's not holding my interest, I hate to say...
  • ThunderpussyThunderpussy Behind you !Posts: 63,792MI6 Agent
    I do think some of the short stories, depend on your age and life experiences.
    ( I don't mean that in a discourteous way, by the way ;) )
    As Teen I hated QOS, etc. Slow and not much happening but when I recently
    Read them again as a much older man ( still stunningly good looking, of course) :D
    I was amazed at how much they had improved :)) , as an older guy who, unlike my
    Teenage self had now been through a few relationships etc. I saw them as fantastic
    Pieces of writing. More about the characters and their personalities, their interaction
    with Bond. Showing us more of an insight into Bond the man. -{
    "I've been informed that there ARE a couple of QAnon supporters who are fairly regular posters in AJB."
  • 002002 New ZealandPosts: 558MI6 Agent
    Hmmm... depends on how you view age and one's definition of "old", I guess. I'm 43 and loved both QOS and FYEO. THR and FAVTAK both lost me. Risico was a mild diversion and, on the whole I liked it. I'm not sure I would have, had I been in my teens.
  • ThunderpussyThunderpussy Behind you !Posts: 63,792MI6 Agent
    We all like what we like. ;) it was only how I explained it
    to myself.
    "I've been informed that there ARE a couple of QAnon supporters who are fairly regular posters in AJB."
  • AlphaOmegaSinAlphaOmegaSin EnglandPosts: 10,926MI6 Agent
    Only A Week from Today now :) -{
    1.On Her Majesties Secret Service 2.The Living Daylights 3.license To Kill 4.The Spy Who Loved Me 5.Goldfinger
  • PeppermillPeppermill DelftPosts: 2,860MI6 Agent
    I'm currently listening to the Great Gatsby. Having just finished an audio course about the history of London.
    1. Ohmss 2. Frwl 3. Op 4. Tswlm 5. Tld 6. Ge 7. Yolt 8. Lald 9. Cr 10. Ltk 11. Dn 12. Gf 13. Qos 14. Mr 15. Tmwtgg 16. Fyeo 17. Twine 18. Sf 19. Tb 20 Tnd 21. Spectre 22 Daf 23. Avtak 24. Dad
  • AlphaOmegaSinAlphaOmegaSin EnglandPosts: 10,926MI6 Agent
    I've started to go through the Indiana Jones Novels again. There decent Reads, and it's best to think of them As continuations of the Films -{
    1.On Her Majesties Secret Service 2.The Living Daylights 3.license To Kill 4.The Spy Who Loved Me 5.Goldfinger
  • GoldHildingGoldHilding WinnipegPosts: 58MI6 Agent
    AlphaOmegaSin wrote:
    I've started to go through the Indiana Jones Novels again. There decent Reads, and it's best to think of them As continuations of the Films -{

    I love the Indy books! From the ones I read Dance of Giants was my favourite.
  • ThunderpussyThunderpussy Behind you !Posts: 63,792MI6 Agent
    Just started Trigger Mortis. ;) so far it seems very good. -{
    "I've been informed that there ARE a couple of QAnon supporters who are fairly regular posters in AJB."
  • superadosuperado Regent's Park West (CaliforniaPosts: 2,656MI6 Agent
    I'm concurrently reading James Bond, The Legacy by John Cork, Shoot to Kill (Young Bond) and the most current MI6 Magazine that spotlights GE.
    "...the purposeful slant of his striding figure looked dangerous, as if he was making quickly for something bad that was happening further down the street." -SMERSH on 007 dossier photo, Ch. 6 FRWL.....
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