Bond Book of the Month

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Comments

  • 002002 New ZealandPosts: 558MI6 Agent
    1950s: Casino Royale, Live and Let Die, From Russia With Love and Dr No stand out for me.

    I'm also a big fan of Thunderball and On Her Majesty's Secret Service although they are 1960s books...
  • ThunderpussyThunderpussy Behind you !Posts: 63,792MI6 Agent
    No deals, Mr Bond :
    Really liked this one, keeps up the pace of Nobody lives forever. Bond has to clean up
    The mess of a failed operation to help M. Traveling to Ireland and Hong Kong. The ending
    With Bond facing almost impossible odds is brilliant. As usual with J Gardner there are a
    Few double agents etc in fact the last one, doesn't make any sense to me other than to
    Add one last twist.
    Still a great story, now for Scorpius. -{
    "I've been informed that there ARE a couple of QAnon supporters who are fairly regular posters in AJB."
  • AlphaOmegaSinAlphaOmegaSin EnglandPosts: 10,926MI6 Agent
    NDMB is one of Gardner's strongest Efforts {[]

    I'm currently reading through Fleming's Output for the millionth Time -{
    1.On Her Majesties Secret Service 2.The Living Daylights 3.license To Kill 4.The Spy Who Loved Me 5.Goldfinger
  • chrisisallchrisisall Western Mass, USAPosts: 9,062MI6 Agent
    a great story, now for Scorpius. -{
    Thanks for these reviews TP, I follow them with some fascination because whilst I own all of the Gardner Bonds up to & including Scorpius, I haven't read them yet... X-(
    Dalton & Connery rule. Brozz was cool.
    #1.TLD/LTK 2.TND 3.GF 4.GE 5.DN 6.FYEO 7.FRWL 8.TMWTGG 9.TWINE 10.YOLT/QOS
  • ThunderpussyThunderpussy Behind you !Posts: 63,792MI6 Agent
    Oh, they're great fun ( not Fleming obviously) but Gardner had some great plot
    Ideas. Hoping A Horowitz gives us a good'un later this year. -{
    "I've been informed that there ARE a couple of QAnon supporters who are fairly regular posters in AJB."
  • chrisisallchrisisall Western Mass, USAPosts: 9,062MI6 Agent
    Hoping A Horowitz gives us a good'un later this year. -{
    It sounds like it will be the pussy's whiskers! {[]

    I need to make more time to read...
    Dalton & Connery rule. Brozz was cool.
    #1.TLD/LTK 2.TND 3.GF 4.GE 5.DN 6.FYEO 7.FRWL 8.TMWTGG 9.TWINE 10.YOLT/QOS
  • BarbelBarbel ScotlandPosts: 37,868Chief of Staff
    Just finished re-re-re... reading DN, it was as wonderful as ever. Can't help seeing the scenes as per the film now- Andress on the beach, Connery throughout, Wiseman at the table with the ocean window behind, etc. After all these years I suppose that's inevitable.
  • ThunderpussyThunderpussy Behind you !Posts: 63,792MI6 Agent
    The last time I read it, I'd forgotten a character or two from the film wasn't in it ;) :))
    the centipede scene is a fantastic bit of writting, still makes me uneasy reading it.
    "I've been informed that there ARE a couple of QAnon supporters who are fairly regular posters in AJB."
  • BarbelBarbel ScotlandPosts: 37,868Chief of Staff
    The last time I read it, I'd forgotten a character or two from the film wasn't in it ;) :))

    Its funny, you think Professor Dent will show up sooner or later.
  • ThunderpussyThunderpussy Behind you !Posts: 63,792MI6 Agent
    :D yes, you keep waiting for it.
    "I've been informed that there ARE a couple of QAnon supporters who are fairly regular posters in AJB."
  • Silhouette ManSilhouette Man The last refuge of a scoundrelPosts: 8,845MI6 Agent
    Barbel wrote:
    The last time I read it, I'd forgotten a character or two from the film wasn't in it ;) :))

    Its funny, you think Professor Dent will show up sooner or later.

    Just like Sean Connery... :))
    "The tough man of the world. The Secret Agent. The man who was only a silhouette." - Ian Fleming, Moonraker (1955).
  • 002002 New ZealandPosts: 558MI6 Agent
    Barbel wrote:
    The last time I read it, I'd forgotten a character or two from the film wasn't in it ;) :))

    Its funny, you think Professor Dent will show up sooner or later.

    Just like Sean Connery... :))

    Connery's always in it when I read it... :p
  • ThunderpussyThunderpussy Behind you !Posts: 63,792MI6 Agent
    ;) I'm always in it, when I read it ! :D
    "I've been informed that there ARE a couple of QAnon supporters who are fairly regular posters in AJB."
  • AlphaOmegaSinAlphaOmegaSin EnglandPosts: 10,926MI6 Agent
    A Part of Dover's White Cliffs collapsing is also worthy of a Mention -{
    1.On Her Majesties Secret Service 2.The Living Daylights 3.license To Kill 4.The Spy Who Loved Me 5.Goldfinger
  • ThunderpussyThunderpussy Behind you !Posts: 63,792MI6 Agent
    As DAD is pretty much Moonraker ;) would the Ice Cliff face collapsing, as Bond
    Tries to get his parachute ready, be " Eon's" modern take on Drax trying to kill
    Bond by collapsing the White Cliffs ?
    "I've been informed that there ARE a couple of QAnon supporters who are fairly regular posters in AJB."
  • AlphaOmegaSinAlphaOmegaSin EnglandPosts: 10,926MI6 Agent
    And Miranda Frost was supposed to be Gala Brand originally :)
    1.On Her Majesties Secret Service 2.The Living Daylights 3.license To Kill 4.The Spy Who Loved Me 5.Goldfinger
  • ThunderpussyThunderpussy Behind you !Posts: 63,792MI6 Agent
    Just over half way through Scorpius and have to say I'm really enjoying it. -{ It's amazing to think
    J Gardner almost predicted the rise of the suicide bomber as a weapon of terrorism.
    "I've been informed that there ARE a couple of QAnon supporters who are fairly regular posters in AJB."
  • AlphaOmegaSinAlphaOmegaSin EnglandPosts: 10,926MI6 Agent
    Scorpius is one of his best Bond Novels -{

    I've always loved how Bond goes berserk on Scorpius at the End.
    1.On Her Majesties Secret Service 2.The Living Daylights 3.license To Kill 4.The Spy Who Loved Me 5.Goldfinger
  • Silhouette ManSilhouette Man The last refuge of a scoundrelPosts: 8,845MI6 Agent
    Scorpius is one of his best Bond Novels -{

    I've always loved how Bond goes berserk on Scorpius at the End.

    I agree wholeheartedly with this. One of my favourites. And as TP says, highly prescient in nature too. :) -{
    "The tough man of the world. The Secret Agent. The man who was only a silhouette." - Ian Fleming, Moonraker (1955).
  • ThunderpussyThunderpussy Behind you !Posts: 63,792MI6 Agent
    OK, finished Scorpius, last night. Really enjoyed it. Starts of as if Bond is getting
    Involved with the exorcist ;) before he has to deal with a flood of suicide bombers.
    Although I do find most of J Gardner's women a little on the boring side, Fleming
    Always seemed to be able to give them " Life". -{
    The villain, only appears in the later part of the novel, and is a bit tight with money,
    As he has various bath robes and towels from various well known hotels etc. :D
    Bond gives him a very gruesome death, very entertaining in a dark way.
    Now on to win, lose or die.
    Going by the Gardner book elimination game, most of these later Gardner Books are
    Not well thought of, as most have already been rejected. :D
    "I've been informed that there ARE a couple of QAnon supporters who are fairly regular posters in AJB."
  • BarbelBarbel ScotlandPosts: 37,868Chief of Staff
    One really nice idea of Gardner's was to name the villain here "Father Valentine"- Fleming's father was Valentine Fleming.
  • AlphaOmegaSinAlphaOmegaSin EnglandPosts: 10,926MI6 Agent
    I mentioned this a couple of Posts up, but I've always loved the Way Bond kills Scorpius -{

    My biggest Problem with Win Loose Or Die is that it just drags. The main Villains are poor Substitutes for SPECTRE, but the Climax is rather good.
    1.On Her Majesties Secret Service 2.The Living Daylights 3.license To Kill 4.The Spy Who Loved Me 5.Goldfinger
  • Sir MilesSir Miles The Wrong Side Of The WardrobePosts: 27,757Chief of Staff
    OK, finished Scorpius, last night. Really enjoyed it. Starts of as if Bond is getting
    Involved with the exorcist ;) before he has to deal with a flood of suicide bombers.
    Although I do find most of J Gardner's women a little on the boring side, Fleming
    Always seemed to be able to give them " Life". -{
    The villain, only appears in the later part of the novel, and is a bit tight with money,
    As he has various bath robes and towels from various well known hotels etc. :D
    Bond gives him a very gruesome death, very entertaining in a dark way.
    Now on to win, lose or die.
    Going by the Gardner book elimination game, most of these later Gardner Books are
    Not well thought of, as most have already been rejected. :D

    I didn't really like Scorpius - although it was the first Gardner Bond book I bought !

    I quite like Win, Lose or Die though -{
    YNWA 97
  • Sir MilesSir Miles The Wrong Side Of The WardrobePosts: 27,757Chief of Staff
    edited May 2015
    My biggest Problem with Win Loose Or Die is that it just...

    Isn't a Bond book :))

    It's Win, Lose or Die

    Sorry, cheap shot :#
    YNWA 97
  • AlphaOmegaSinAlphaOmegaSin EnglandPosts: 10,926MI6 Agent
    We all make Mistakes ;)
    1.On Her Majesties Secret Service 2.The Living Daylights 3.license To Kill 4.The Spy Who Loved Me 5.Goldfinger
  • Sir MilesSir Miles The Wrong Side Of The WardrobePosts: 27,757Chief of Staff
    We all make Mistakes ;)

    Indeed we do...myself more than most -{
    YNWA 97
  • ThunderpussyThunderpussy Behind you !Posts: 63,792MI6 Agent
    Reading win, lose or die. I have to admit it reminded me ( I'm sure everyone knows
    this by now) how much I disliked Bond's promotion, never got used to reading his
    new title, as opposed to Commander. :# It was never a big annoyance, but in my
    Head it didn't sound right. :D
    "I've been informed that there ARE a couple of QAnon supporters who are fairly regular posters in AJB."
  • AlphaOmegaSinAlphaOmegaSin EnglandPosts: 10,926MI6 Agent
    It does get a little confusing having to call him Captain instead of Commander for the Rest of the Gardner Books after WLOD.

    I can't wait for your License To Kill thoughts -{
    1.On Her Majesties Secret Service 2.The Living Daylights 3.license To Kill 4.The Spy Who Loved Me 5.Goldfinger
  • ThunderpussyThunderpussy Behind you !Posts: 63,792MI6 Agent
    I was going to miss out the film tie in books , I only covered TSWLM and MR, as
    There were no Bond Books at the time so they were the closest we could get to
    The literary Bond.
    Although I read it not so long ago, and think that Gardner did a great job mixing his
    Literary Bond and Eon's screen version. ;) even managed to cover the attack
    On leiter. To Quote Die Hard 2, " How can the same sh*t happen to the same guy
    Twice !" :)) or Drax " Once would be considered a misfortune, twice seems like
    carelessness " ;)
    Even using the elimination game as a guide, from here on Gardner's books do drop
    Off in quality, as many ideas seem to be reused, still an interesting read and in my
    Opinion far better than R Benson's output.
    "I've been informed that there ARE a couple of QAnon supporters who are fairly regular posters in AJB."
  • AlphaOmegaSinAlphaOmegaSin EnglandPosts: 10,926MI6 Agent
    I still have yet to return to the Benson Novels. There not bad, but not brilliant either -{

    I've always liked how Gardner added in a couple of Scenes to his Novelization for LTK, and included it in the Literary Cannon. Even if you have to believe that Leiter get's a second Shark mauling :)) The Chapter where this Happens is a good Play on Words.

    Slightly unrelated, but I've just made Bonds DAF Bourbon and Water (I'm using Harrogate Water since you can't get Kentucky Branch Water here in the UK)
    1.On Her Majesties Secret Service 2.The Living Daylights 3.license To Kill 4.The Spy Who Loved Me 5.Goldfinger
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