Bond Book of the Month (Page 39 of 39)

Just finished Licence  Renewed ( again    ) and was struck
By how many boxes Gardner ticked with his first Bond
Novel.  The larger than life villain, with dangerous henchman.
The maiden needing to be saved, the torture/interrogation
Scene, even Bond crashing his car. As well as all the favourite
Bond in M's office sequences
Now to reread one of my Favourite Gardner Bonds.....
... For Special Services.
( although technically I'm listening to it ) 

Thought this might be interesting, some of the guns
J Gardner equipped  Bond with in his books.
https://youtu.be/c2mhhJN4jKc  H&K p7 from Icebreaker
https://youtu.be/0Wq5_3rkqd8 H&K vp70 from For Special Services
https://youtu.be/8us_bIciJ04  Browing 9mm from Licence Renewed
https://youtu.be/-c_0I4BjOWE  ASP 9mm which became
Bond's personal weapon.

Re-reading Goldfinger at the moment, and noticed in the early part of the story
Bond himself says ( to himself ) " Regret is unprofessional "

That is exactly what I was thinking a few months ago Barbel, and I've been listening to a few of the Bond novels on audiobook recently. So I listened to FRWL and DN and it felt great getting back to Fleming, and as always I was reminded of details that I'd completely forgotten, or that I had completely overlooked before. One strange detail that stood out was that I had previously thought that Miss Taro was a character invented for the film of Dr No (and this is probably because the Inside Dr No documentary actually says that) but there she was in the book, where I had totally failed to notice her before. Of course they did a lot more with her character in the film, but she wasn't an invention of the screenwriters.

I've got a few other books on the go at the moment (now including Some Kind of Hero which I received yesterday after ordering it online) but in the near future I plan to listen to the audiobooks of Thunderball and On Her Majesty's Secret Service which I have already purchased on Audible.

Time is certainly a factor...with that in mind I would love to have an audiobook of Some Kind of Hero, but I don't think it has been recorded (unless someone can tell me differently).

Another benefit of audiobooks is that for some reason different details sometimes stand out to me and linger in my memory when I listen to an audiobook that I might gloss over when reading off the page.

Given how many of us now have some time on their hands, I thought I'd Re-visit a few of
My favourite Bond novels. As suggested to me by a friend, I'm starting with My Favourite
OHMSS. I regard this as Flemings " Masterpiece ".
    So if anyone wants to read along, or comment on the books, please feel free to join in.
All views and opinions are welcome.

Fleming opens OHMSS with Bond in a reflective mood, thinking about his Childhood, and I'm
guessing his instincts as a professional spy, is how he targets Tracy as an " Injured " person,
Rather like any predator can spot an injured " Prey animal ".
   So in one chapter we go from the Innocence of Bond as a child playing with Bucket and spade
on a beautiful beach to the harsh and grubbier real world of violence by its end.