From Russia with Love 1957

Discussion & Review Forum For James Bond Books Written By James Bond's Creator Ian Lancaster Fleming (May 28, 1908 – August 12, 1964)
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Goldeneye
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From Russia with Love 1957

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"Every major foreign government has a file on James Bond, British secret agent. Now, Russia's deadly SMERSH organisation has targeted him for elimination - they have the perfect bait in the irresistible Tatiana Romanova. Her mission is to lure Bond to Istanbul and seduce him while her superiors handle the rest. But when Bond walks willingly into the trap, a game of cross and double-cross ensues - with Bond both the stakes and the prize."
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Re: From Russia with Love 1957

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Has anyone else read this? I think the movie is better than the novel.
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Re: From Russia with Love 1957

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The novel is to be reissued as part of the Penguin Decades series with a new cover by Peter Blake, of Sgt. Pepper album cover fame:

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Re: From Russia with Love 1957

Post by carl stromberg »

Kristatos wrote:The novel is to be reissued as part of the Penguin Decades series with a new cover by Peter Blake, of Sgt. Pepper album cover fame:

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I'm not a fan of the top half. I like the bottom half though!
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Re: From Russia with Love 1957

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I like the cover in the first post better. :up:
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Re: From Russia with Love 1957

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Just finished reading this. The movie was a pretty faithful adaptation of the last two thirds of the novel, but Part 1: The Plan adds a lot of details that weren't in the movie. The book really showed off Fleming's background as a former travel writer, and made me want to read more of his travel writing. I may have to seek out Thrilling Cities, a book I'd never really been interested in before. Next on my reading list, though, is Quantum of Solace: The Complete Short Stories.
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Re: From Russia with Love 1957

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Kristatos wrote:Just finished reading this. The movie was a pretty faithful adaptation of the last two thirds of the novel, but Part 1: The Plan adds a lot of details that weren't in the movie. The book really showed off Fleming's background as a former travel writer, and made me want to read more of his travel writing. I may have to seek out Thrilling Cities, a book I'd never really been interested in before. Next on my reading list, though, is Quantum of Solace: The Complete Short Stories.
I happen to have Thrilling Cities and I consider it a good read. It is interesting to read about Fleming's experiences and opinions of certain cities, and being 50 years after the fact it offers an interesting historical context.
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Re: From Russia with Love 1957

Post by Kiwichris »

He writes some saucy stuff about Paris in From a View to a Kill, including Bond losing his virginity there at 16! From Russia with Love had a lot of suspense, particularly on board the train at the middle and end of the book. It gives a lot of insight into SMERSH, sadly missing from the film, and a masterful cliffhanger ending. I can see why JFK was such a fan of the book!
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Re: From Russia with Love 1957

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Kristatos wrote:Just finished reading this. The movie was a pretty faithful adaptation of the last two thirds of the novel, but Part 1: The Plan adds a lot of details that weren't in the movie. The book really showed off Fleming's background as a former travel writer, and made me want to read more of his travel writing. I may have to seek out Thrilling Cities, a book I'd never really been interested in before. Next on my reading list, though, is Quantum of Solace: The Complete Short Stories.
Thats whats great about Flemings writing. Every place he writes about sounds like hes really been there-and in most cases he had! I have a copy of this from the 60s with Connery and Bianchi on the cover.
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Re: From Russia with Love 1957

Post by carl stromberg »

I had a re read of this recently. I like the bit where he is flying to Turkey and has about 40 alcoholic drinks. Darko is a colourful character! The ending is bit silly now.
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Re: From Russia with Love 1957

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carl stromberg wrote:I had a re read of this recently. I like the bit where he is flying to Turkey and has about 40 alcoholic drinks. Darko is a colourful character! The ending is bit silly now.
I need to read it again to remember the ending properly. FRWL was one of the times Fleming was tempted to end the Bond series. Darko was based on a actual person, I think even down to the conversations in the book.
Strange to think back in the 1957 critics of the pulp fiction world Bond sprang from considered Bond the intellectual's equivalent of his contemporary American characters. Somehow Bond went from that to American action hero experimenting with teenage angst we have today. Suppose it was a long and winding road of movies, spoofs and reboots to get to the modern consensus that Ian Fleming's Bond was essentially FX's Sterling Archer.
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