Literary Bond and Literature
0073
COPPosts: 1,061MI6 Agent
Hi,
I'd like open a new topic for discussion. What do you guys think Flemings Bond has in his library? In Moonraker, chapter "Belly Strippers, etc." it is written: "He was home in fifteen minutes. He left the car under the plane trees in the little square and let himself into the ground floor of the converted Regency house, went into the book-lined sitting-room and, after a moment's search, pulled Scarne on Cards out of its self and dropped it on the ornate Empire desk near the broad window."
In my opinion we must take notice of two key points: one being that the whole room is "book-lined" and two, it takes a "moment's search" to find what he is looking for.
Are we to understand that James Bond is in fact a bit of a bookworm as intended by Ian Fleming, I know some people think that all he has in his book shelf is the "Scarne" and "Bible ment to read as literature".
What do you guys think?
I'd like open a new topic for discussion. What do you guys think Flemings Bond has in his library? In Moonraker, chapter "Belly Strippers, etc." it is written: "He was home in fifteen minutes. He left the car under the plane trees in the little square and let himself into the ground floor of the converted Regency house, went into the book-lined sitting-room and, after a moment's search, pulled Scarne on Cards out of its self and dropped it on the ornate Empire desk near the broad window."
In my opinion we must take notice of two key points: one being that the whole room is "book-lined" and two, it takes a "moment's search" to find what he is looking for.
Are we to understand that James Bond is in fact a bit of a bookworm as intended by Ian Fleming, I know some people think that all he has in his book shelf is the "Scarne" and "Bible ment to read as literature".
What do you guys think?
"I mean, she almost kills bond...with her ass."
-Mr Arlington Beech
-Mr Arlington Beech
Comments
Fiction- Raymond Chandler; Rex Stout; Eric Ambler's "The Mask Of Dimitrios"
Sports & Games- Scarne as above; Ben Hogan's "Modern Fundamentals of Golf"; Tommy Armour's "How To Play Your Best Golf All The Time"
Reference- "The Craft Of Intelligence" by Allen Dulles; "Profiles In Courage" by JFK; "The Traveller's Tree" by Patrick Leigh-Fermor
I agree with you.
The problem that arises is, that if Bond is a pragmatic man of action, then why would he go through the trouble of collecting a sitting rooms worth of books, if has not nor is inclined to read them? It is in the MR that Bond is described to go on a mission two or three times a year and that the remaining year he had the duties of an easy-going senior civil servant. Could he spend his time at home reading, since we learn from the FRWL that he has no television set. Yes he spends his evenings playing cards, or at Crockford's or with a "special" lady friend :x and week ends playing golf, but it can't be every evening, every week. So is this what the books are for, and if so what does he read?
-Mr Arlington Beech
Can anyone here help?
Bond’s Beretta
The Handguns of Ian Fleming's James Bond
John Griswold's concordance book would help...
Fiction- Raymond Chandler; Rex Stout; Eric Ambler's "The Mask Of Dimitrios"
Sports & Games- Scarne as above; Ben Hogan's "Modern Fundamentals of Golf"; Tommy Armour's "How To Play Your Best Golf All The Time"
Reference- "The Craft Of Intelligence" by Allen Dulles; "Profiles In Courage" by JFK; "The Traveller's Tree" by Patrick Leigh-Fermor
LOL, just saw the same list in "Book of Bond" but was daunted to type it out!
To answer 0073's question, that list of literature mentioned in the Fleming books tells me that Bond is pretty practical in his reading and anything for leisure is pretty common fare as you can see in his choice of fiction. Also interesting is how Bond in TLD passed the time reading a cheap pulp novel titled, "Verderbt, Verdammt, Verraten," which had a torrid storyline, a pretty lowbrow choice of literature, but of note is how Fleming himself had erotica in his book collection and shared some of these with his dates.
His particular fields of interest would mirror his hobbies, watersports (not in the internet era way, but diving and fishing), golf, gambling and propably even something about cars. Professional material; more on intelligence and not just the Dulles book, maybe something in military themes, about strategy or tactics, reference books of one type or another, Encyclopidae Britannica perhaps? He would propably have the excellent Applegate Fairbairn book on closecombat, or one or another of the later Applegate re-releases. Something in german or french. Pfhaargh.....
But this is all just guessing, wild shots in the dark. What we have is just a half a dozen books mentioned by name, then there is that paperback in berlin, which is quite safe to assume that it gets discarded, and the a few referenses to topics that Bond has read about one time or anothe, like about the fish in the oceans and about diving. Speaking of which: Did Bond have or did he read on location that J Costeaus book on diving?
Anyways pretty damn maddening this....
-Mr Arlington Beech