Poll: What is your favourite Fleming Bond novel?

[stockslivevan]

Currently reading Moonraker, just as good as I read it years ago! What a shame that GE and DAD used up all the plot elements of the book. A straight adaption of this would have been fantastic!

[Lord Shark]

My favourite Fleming would be Dr. No. The rampant exoticism and bizarreness gets to me.

[P.Brosnan]

I enjoyed reading Fleming's novels several times, but i think that On Her Majesty's Secret Service is the best.
The best and most compelling told story, the most fascinating characters and characterization of bond himself, and some great action sequences, i.e. the escape from piz gloria.
It also has the closest and best adaption in those bond-films who relly tried to tell the story of the book, even though it lacks sean connery.

[Thunderpussy]

I'm happy to say my favorite Book is also my favorite Film,OHMSS.

[carl stromberg]

I'm happy to say my favorite Book is also my favorite Film,OHMSS.

Looks like most people on the forum agree as OHMSS has a big lead!

[caseyjames]

Sean Connery and Pierce Brosnan are my favorites. Timothy Dalton and Roger Moore were not that bad but Connery was the big daddy of them all.

[Goldeneye]

Sean Connery and Pierce Brosnan are my favorites. Timothy Dalton and Roger Moore were not that bad but Connery was the big daddy of them all.

Welcome caseyjames!

[Sir Dennis Hodge]

I voted for Dr No.

[Kristatos]

My favourite is usually the last one I read or re-read.

[carl stromberg]

My favourite is usually the last one I read or re-read.

Do you dislike any of them?

[Kristatos]

My favourite is usually the last one I read or re-read.

Do you dislike any of them?

Not that I recall, though there are some that I haven't read in so long that I can barely remember them. I'm working my way through them at the moment, starting with the ones I hadn't read at all. I've now completed those (DAF was the last one on my reading list) and am currently going back through the ones I haven't read in a dog's age. I'm reading Thunderball at the moment, which I last read when I was in high school. GF, DN, TSWLM, LALD and YOLT are others that I want to re-read before making that judgement call.

[Capt. Sir Dominic Flandry]

Thunderball is doing quite well which is surprising.

[Kristatos]

Hard to choose just one, but I voted for YOLT, simply because it was so different from the movie. The movie is a guilty pleasure of mine, but I'd still like to see Dr Shatterhand and his garden of death, and Bond fighting a villain in a samurai outfit, in a future Bond film.

[Christmas Jones]

Hi there.

My favourite novel is for sure From Russia with love. Fascinating plot and wonderfully written, this novel is a tremendous chess match between two organizations fighting through their pawns. But I also really enjoy Casino Royale and On her Majesty's secret service. Those three novels are my favourite, and From Russia with love is in the lead.

By the way, I am a new member and I did not find the "Introduce yourself" thread. Is there one ?

[bjmdds]

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to Christmas Jones Welcome.

[commander0077again]

Firstly, have to say all the novels have a special place in my cold heart, I even liked TSWLM, giving a look at Bond from Vesper's POV: her first glimpse is Bond in a blud trenchcoat in the doorway, and she thinks he's one of the gangsters. In the books, actually PB is physically closer than SC, etc, being slim.
Hard to say which is a favourite Fleming Bond, but would have to narrow it down to OHMSS / YOLT. These are later novels, as Bond is nearing the end of his career, and he's quite likeable, with a real sense of humour. OHMSS of course is the film very close to the book, and they're both tops. YOLT gives us a suave tour of Japan, and one can't travel anywhere in Asia without the Bond themes in your head. Pity Connery Bond never spent much time in Hong Kong, being a very scenic and 'electric' place -- it being one of Fleming's 'thrilling cities.' In the big cities of China you can actually play being Bond, and this atmosphere is abundant in YOLT.

[Thunderpussy]

Couldn't help thinking of the Novel Moonraker on reading about this cliff face fall in Dover.
Falling cliff face at Dover

[A Crag-like face]

I voted for Live and Let Die. I find it to be the most thrilling of all the books - it's not a surprise to me that EON scavenged all of its set pieces throughout the 70s and 80s. I am also very fond of Moonraker and the noir atmosphere of Diamonds are Forever.

[commander0077again]

I'm going to add one that's both serious and tongue-in-etc: The Spy Who Loved Me! I've been reading some reviews, and they give me a new take on this. Here, Bond is totally a good guy, sort of a Bogart-type. His appearance comes at the middle of the story, which is told from Vivienne Michel's point of view. Fleming doesn't write as a real female would, but as a Bond girl would. Vivienne has gone through several trashy men, so at the tender age of 23 she meets a man that she'll will never forget, James Bond. The two thugs are about to rape her in a secluded motel in the forest, the zipper of her coverall is ripped down. At that moment, there is a knock on the door. A slim man in a dark blue rain coat stands there. He cooly enters. From there, Bond is a shining knight. He will risk his life for this stranger; it is certain he would do it even for a non-beautiful one. This Bond is definitely not the thug from CR / QOS. He has a heart, and wit. At first he isn't even carrying his gun, and he must retrieve it at his car. At the end of the danger, the love scenes are among the most explicit of the Bonds, (so that's great fun ). He leaves a note, which basically says, don't fall for me. It reminds me of the end of Moonraker. Bond imagines a holiday with that girl with the engagement band. He assumes it's just a ploy. But then, waiting for her in the restaurant, he looks through the window and sees her embracing a man. Bond goes into his cold mode, he forces himself to "be the cold secret agent, a man without a heart." TSWLM is a simple story, and the reviews note that Fleming disliked it; but there are plenty of four and five star reviews online, so I really had to look at it again from the point of view this book is a secret gem. It puts to the grave the notion that Bond is simply a cold-blooded killer. One reviewer writes, "This Bond taught me how to be a gentleman, the Spy who taught me." He doesn't help people from a rage to smash bad guys; he helps people because he's a decent sort. This is the Bond that the REAL M, Sir Miles Messervy, had plenty of respect and affection. That is one of the other traits the new "Bond" has lost. Can you see the new "Bond" and "M" having dinner at Blades? And "M" calling him "James"?

[bjamesobrad]

I voted for Moonraker. I love the card game in the middle, I loved Drax and I loved the chemistry between Bond and Gala Brand. At the end of this novel I kinda felt sorry for Bond because he might always get the girl but he never keeps the girl and will die alone but this is the life he has choosen.

I also like many actually liked The Spy Who Loved Me. I don't know why but I did. Maybe because Bond is super likeable?